Eating Well On A Budget = Coupons!

I figured a great way to start my blog was with saving money.  Aside from wanting to learn to cook to feed my little family delicious and nutritious food, I always want and need to do it on a budget.

So I thought I’d share a little mini grocery trip I made this afternoon to Ralphs where I got the following….

My original total before Ralphs club card and coupons was $ 24.27

Today was not a totally typical trip, just a few odds and ends but I wanted to share how beneficial even minor coupon shopping can be.

• My Pepsi max was on sale for .99 – I had a .25 cent coupon that doubled so I paid .49 cents for it
• The whole wheat bread was on sale for 2.50 – I had a .75 cent non-doubling coupon so I paid 1.75 for it
•  My hamburger helper was on sale for 2.00 and I did not have a coupon (normally this wouldn’t have been a purchase for me especially without a coupon but I needed a very easy fix dinner tonight and wanted to try the new whole grain version is free of MSG and artificial flavors and colors)
• The Smart Water was on sale for 1.00 and I had a.75 cent coupon which doubled up to 1.00 making that free
•  I bought 3 Luna Bars.  Each bar was on sale for 1.00 and I had a .50 cent coupon for each one (all 3 of which doubled) which made all 3 bars free.
•  The Oscar Mayer Sandwich meat combo was on sale for 3.99 and I had a free coupon for it so I paid nothing.
• The Oscar Mayer healthy lunchable was on sale for 3.99 and I also had a free item coupon for that so I paid nothing.

In the end I paid a whopping $ 4.50 for everything, making my total savings today $ 19.77.

The free item coupons were ones I'd gotten from a website (super simple to sign up you just have to watch out for them online) and the others were either from coupon machines in store or in the paper.  It can be time consuming in the beginning but once you get started and used to thinking about and using coupons you would be amazed how it becomes second nature- and by how much you can save!