Phil and I are on a strict budget. Not necessarily because we have to be but because we want to be. We want to be debt free. This summer we paid off my car and we are currently making VERY large payments towards his student loans in an effort to get rid of them in the next year. We each have fun money to spend during the month on things we want and need - Movies, Clothes, Out to eat with friends, starbucks trips, etc. We have decided to cut back on our fun money until June in order to save up money to reroof and put a new deck on our house!
Back to the main reason for this post. We choose to be frugal and I choose to use coupons. I don't need to buy name brands (2 exceptions - JIF and Smuckers). I can't tell the difference between a Kroger, Meijer or Kraft block of cheese. I prefer Meijer brand Crackers. This week I was working on my shopping list for Meijer. I was able to get a few things for a really great deal. For Lafayette! However I am making a trip home to Michigan this weekend where I wil pack in the great deals! Here are just a few comparisons from Indiana to Michigan at Meijer:
Michigan Indiana
Pears .88lb. .99lb.
Straberries 2/4 2.99 a package
Brocolli 1.29 1.49
Chicken 1.49lb. 1.99lb.
Soup .44 .50
Doritoes 1.79 1.99
Mayo 1.59 1.99
Kraft 2.14 1.58 (one thing that is more in MI...weird)
TOTAL 13.62 16.51
These little price difference don't really look that bad until you see the totals! 3 dollars difference! Crazy!
The price of Chicken blows me away. Meat actually in general! It is so stinkin expensive here in Lafayette! Everytime I go to Michigan I stock up on Roasts, Ribs and Chicken. How can't I!?! It is so much cheaper! My mom NEVER pays more than 1.60 a pound for ground beef. Here we are lucky to get that price. The lowest I have EVER paid for chicken here was 1.69 lb and that was for Kroger brand!
Sometimes my couponing makes me unorganized. This week I was at Kroger picking up a few things for Lifegroup. They had a package of bandaids in the clearance for 1.69. I picked them up because that is cheap for bandaids. I didn't have amy coupon book because I was just running in for Milk and one other thing. Today when I was gatherin my coupons for my Miejer trip I found a coupon for .40 off of Bandaids. That may not seem like something to get mad over but coupons are doubled at Kroger and therefore I would have been able to get those bandaids for 89 cents! Oh well!
One final reason why I love Price Comparison and "shopping around" if the price of Milk. It is amazing how the price of this product varies by store. We bought our milk this week at Kroger out of necessity for 2.29. At Meijer it is never more than 1.98 and they have it this week for 1.75!
So be frugal. Use coupons even if only for a few items and compare your prices :)
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1 comment:
I wish I had the time to pay attention to that kind of stuff. My strategy is this: I do most of my shopping at Walmart. Especially for groceries....95% of the time, their regular prices are cheaper than sale prices @ Meijer! It's an obvious difference.
Keep it up girl! Your hard work will pay off! I wish I could pay off student loans in the next year!
Miss ya! XOXO
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