I feel like I'm spending more $$$

[esquala]

no one wants to read about how to pay full price for something.

Personally, this makes my brains leak out my eyeball holes.

OH! And I can remember when my kids were little, they LIVED for the blinky machines @ Kroger. This was their entertainment. They were good and put the coupons back in the top slot of the machine when they were done tricking it by "hiding" while waiting for that second coupon to spit out. Little sneaks.

[jaws1]

Esquala, know what you mean! ... Those "annoying" little black boxes spitting stuff out and those "darned" display boxes in the middle of the blanking aisle in my way ...
how times change! now I go in search of them, and gripe when there are few or none!!

[jaws1]

It's all hard but I havent been making as many frquent trips to the store. I cant seem to find good meat deals @ KG and buy from HEB instread. But the last time I went to HEB i spent about $32 on meat and some other things,what I bought will last me 2 weeks. I usually spend close to $70 a week! I've stocked up on things like mac and chesse, rice a roni, bolgna, chesse, rolls and what not.

sounds like you're doing good!
A lot of people tell you to plan your shopping around your weekly/monthly menu ... I tried that, years ago ... discovered I didn't know what I was going to be hungry for in 2 hrs, much less 24 hrs from now. Guess my parents always just fed us whatever they had plenty of ... might not have been what we wanted, but it was what there was enough of to cook and put on the table -- if you went to bed hungry, it was your own fault for being picky (or, mom had burned the beans, scraped the pan and put those in a new one, but you still tasted the burned part ... again, "picky"!).
Had someone tell me the other day, they planned their shopping around sales ... I'm thinking, "duh ..?" and then plan their menu around that, again, I'm thinking, "duh...? and ...? if you're waiting for an argument, it ain't gonna be from ME!"

anyway, sounds like you are saving some money, maybe just not what you intended yet. Personally, because we're big meat & veggie eaters, I still spend several dollars a month ... BUT I come home with a lot more stuff for the same money, and help out my sisters with their food/toiletry things because of my savings!

[camille147]

OP- I know how you feel.. I learned by making mistakes.. I would follow other blogs, not know the coupon policies. I learned a great lesson about Walgreen's Register Rewards with 2 males cashiers (one manager and one employee)and 2 boxes of Tampons!!-- 3 cancelled transcations and 15 minutes later!! talk about embarrassing!! ..

I am better, but not awesome.. I used to spend $220/week, now I usually spend $120/week in groceries for a 2 adults and 2 preteens, 1 baby and 2 dogs. BUT!! This week I spent about $180.. I was NOT happy about that.. But I guess that is how it goes..

I have been calculating my savings and I've been saving about $500/month overall between toiletries and groceries.. Just keep trying.. it will get better!!

[jjrogers]

For me the shopping with coupons was a bit counter intuitive to what I had been taught. Now I look for smaller packages because there is a better chance that they will be free of very cheap. And I go to the store a lot more because of doubling coupons. I still kick myself about throwing coupons away at times. But after doing it a year, I have a huge stockpile. There are things that I won't have to buy for 1-2 years. Next year I will be potty training number six and I don't need to buy diapers ever again. And now I am having money left over in my budget because of my stockpile. I didn't buy anything in the daytona deal. I have 60 bottles of detergent already and there just wasn't anything I needed. So now I am focused on getting the free rice from Albertsons. I do buy a lot of fresh produce, but I buy it at sprouts on double ad day. I agree with everyone here that at first you will spend more. But the time comes when that slows down.

[jcpal]

Fixed the math

I don't know the coupons for ragu off the top of my head but if you have 4 ragu and 2 $1/2 capri and 2 purex$.35/1:

$4.96 - (4) Ragu
$6.28 - (4) CapriSun
$4.38 - (2) Purex
=
$15.62
- 2.00 - (2) $1/2 Capri
- 1.40 - (2) $.35/1 doubled
- - ( ) Ragu
=
$12.22 (less the ragu)
and get $4 cat for your next order

Getting the CapriSun though is not a "free"ish deal unles you need them or want them

$4.96 - (4) Ragu
$6.28 - (4) CapriSun
$4.38 - (2) Purex
=
$15.62
- 2.00 - (2) $1/2 Capri
- 2.10 - (2) $.35/1 TRIPLED
- 2.00 - (2) $1/2 Ragu
- 3.00 - (1) Datona Deal
=
$9.10

Gross Total = $6.52 then $4.00 OYNP Catalina for 2 Purex

Net Total = $2.52 84% Savings