A Month of Groceries in Pictures

Happy May! I thought I might share some of my weirdness with you in order to possibly help you save money on groceries. When people say their grocery budget is x amount of dollars, my question is, "What does that include?" So, for inquiring minds like mine, I thought I'd show you a month of groceries at our house. The collage above represents everything that came into our house in April. The only thing not included in this total is the clothing in the one picture.(You can click on the picture to make it bigger if you want to see better.)
 I have been taking pictures of my groceries for several years now. The reason?

1. To be aware of what we were spending our grocery money on

2. To be able to look back to see when things cycle down in price

3. It entertains me

The Steps:

A.Whenever I get home from grocery shopping I arrange my purchases on the counter in groups of the store they were bought at and then I take a picture. 

B.I have a plain white envelope where I keep all my receipts for the month.

C. I keep a running tally of where I am at by adding up receipts weekly and writing the total on the front of the envelope. 

D.At the end of the month I add up all the receipts by store and make a running list on the back of the envelope

Using Cash Back Apps

As you can see this month was heavy on the cleaners and smellies. Why? They were all money makers using Snap Saves and other apps. They have offers for Pledge $7 cash back. Pledge was on sale at Walmart for less than that so I'd buy some when in store. Same with the smellies, which I gave away. Money saving apps are a great way to save on your grocery budget. In April I received $186 from Ch51 and Snap Saves. If you don't like to use coupons, but want to save money, this is a good option. (If you use coupons in combination with these apps you can save even more!) All you do is take a picture of your receipts and you are done! In Canada we have:

 Snap Saves, Checkout 51, Save.ca, Cart Smart and Zweet

This month was stock up on toilet paper month. I have found the best deal to be this Soft and Pure case that goes on sale once or twice a year. (May/Sept). The cases cost $17 and there are 36, 2 ply rolls. One case was free at the Grand opening of our Independent store, due to a $10 gift card and 6000 points they gave. April was also the month we needed laundry detergent. We buy the Costco bucket which costs $19.99 and lasts us about 4 months. 

Saving on Meat

As you can see most of our meat has the discount tags on it. I find this a very helpful way to save on the ever rising costs of meat. Mid week is usually when most stores mark their meats down.

Combining Points and Air Mile deals

As often as is possible I try and combine points deals and air mile deals with my shop. For PC points I use the PC plus app and buy my offers at Superstore, but I often Price Match a lower priced store to make the deal even better. This month I cashed in a total of $173.16 in points.(PC Plus, Shoppers, CT)

Buying in Season on Sale Foods

Each week I check the online flyers. I use Reebee and Flipp to make a picture grocery list on my phone. I also use Sale Whale to check the for the lowest price of an item. I subscribe to my city's fresh fruit and veggie store flyers which get emailed to me once a week.

Shopping the Clearance sections

Many stores now have Clearance sections tucked away on a back shelf somewhere. These are good places for find amazing deals.

For more ideas and daily deals join me on Instagram. I'm savingyourhardearnedmoney You can click the Instagram link at the top of the page to go straight there. Happy saving!