I went shopping on Friday, but I’m just now getting around to posting about my trip! Thankfully, if you head out tonight you should be able to pick up all of these same deals. This is what I bought:

Of course, this is not a freakishly incredible extreme couponing trip, right? However I have had several friends ask me to explain to them how I am able to feed my family of 4 on just $200 a month, so I figured that I should just show you and give you a couple of tips along the way. OBVIOUSLY the way I shop and the food I feed my family isn’t for everyone, but I like to think I do a pretty good job of keeping my family healthy and happy, and that is my main goal. Well, that and saving a bunch of money so I can be a good steward of my resources.

Today’s big tip is to take advantage of Catalina promotions to save money on groceries. You’ve seen me use Catalinas to lower out of pocket expenses before, obviously, but this time I did something a bit different. Since I budget in money for gifts, and the boys thought it would be a good idea to get Dad some new jeans and shoes for Father’s Day, I decided to purchase him a Kohl’s gift card and earn myself a $10 Catalina to spend on my groceries and lower my out of pocket expense. Safeway is currently running a promotion where you can earn a $10 Catalina when you purchase $50 worth of select gift cards, and your choices are pretty slim pickin’s. Fortunately, my husband has purchased nice jeans and shoes at Kohl’s in the past, so I knew it would be a welcome gift. Please don’t do this unless you have the money set aside for gifts in the first place! It would totally defeat the purpose to spend money you don’t have to save money on groceries. That goes without saying, right? BUT, it is just another way I can use Catalina promotions to my advantage! Last week or a couple of weeks ago Albertson’s was having a similar promotion, except that gas cards were included! Oh, I would have LOVED to take advantage of that promo since we ALWAYS budget for gas!!

Here is a quick breakdown for ya:

The Wheat Thins Sticks are part of the 4 day promo. If you want them and have the coupon to make them 88¢ a box, go tonight!! My kids don’t get crackers that often, but these taste SO good dipped in my homemade hummus! YUM!

The Bulls Eye was FREE after coupon and doubler as part of the 4 day sale.

The Fresh Express Spinach was free after a coupon and a doubler.

I purchase enough produce (grapes, bananas, spinach and onions) to be able to use the $1 off produce coupon that pops up randomly at my store (in the little nutrition pamphlet thingy that has been talked about on the blogs in the past).

I needed milk - $2.49.

Mitch decreed that I must use Mozzarella cheese on my homemade pizza from now on. Not a great sale at 2/$5, but we needed it.

I just about squealed in delight when I saw the big containers of Fage yogurt for only 99¢ on overstock clearance. I’ll be using it as my homemade yogurt starter this week! If ONLY I had one of those Facebook coupons! I could have gotten it for free!

The Classico pasta sauce was 85¢ a jar after BOGO promo, coupon and doubler. (This will go great with all of the free Garden Delight Pasta we’ve been picking up lately, right?)

And, finally, the London Broil was $2.29/lb and packaged in ginormous packages which I had the butcher cut in half for me so that it would fit nicely in my crockpot. There was a $4 off a $20 purchase of Rancher’s Reserve Beef! Love it!

My total came to $36.80 (yikes!), but my Catalina, which I had purchased in the previous transaction, brought me down to $26.80. MUCH better, don’t you think?

I did a little bit of early Christmas shopping to take advantage of the gift card Catalina promo again, so I’ll be spending that one on groceries this coming week.

Happy shopping!

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