This is from my trip to Hy-Vee. A good deal of this trip was party food, and I bought diapers. I suppose on days like this I should have the cashier ring things separately for budgeting purposes, and sometimes I will. This particular night, however, I had an especially tired, teething and crabby birthday girl. What a combination. I just had to get in and get out as fast as I possible could (which was not fast enough.)

1 package of peanut M&Ms
1 1/2 gallon of OJ
2 Freschetta pizzas
2 cans of black eyed peas
1 Old Orchard blueberry pomegranate juice
1 jar of pimentos
1 bottle of Hunt's ketchup
1 can of black olives
1 can of green chilies
2 cans of white corn
1 bottle of Louisiana hot sauce
1 package of flour tortillas
1 box of Nutri-grain bars
1 bottle of Italian dressing
2 huge bags of Margaritaville chips
1 box of Nature's Path organic cereal
1 1/2 gallon of organic whole milk
1 package of Klondike bars
1 pacakge of Hillshire Farms honey ham
2 Hormel entrees
10 Dannon yogurts
1 jalapeno pepper
5.5 lbs of braeburn apples
1 green bell pepper
1 bunch of green onions
3 lbs of yellow onions
1 package of 82 sized 4 diapers

Total after tax was $81.26. Oh how did I see how much the non-sale party items added up. ICK.

What a crazy month. I am hosting a wedding shower, my mom's 60th birthday party and my youngest daughter's first birthday party all in the next few weekends. That said, I know we are shamefully over-budget, but I couldn't even really tell you how much. With all of the partying and gift buying, I've been cross-borrowing from our different budgets and envelopes like a crazy person. That being said, I've been able to drop some serious $$$ and not charged anything. Overall, that sounds like a "win" to me.

We stopped at Hen House last night...all of this stuff is for us (ie not for a party.)

1 Charmin toilet paper
4 2 litres of Mountain Dew
2 Organic Ragu spaghetti sauces
1 gallon of Diet Lipton green tea
1 1/2 gallon of strawberry milk (let the little one talk me in to it!)
1 box of frozen Snickers
1 1/2 gallon of BlueBell Groom's Cake ice cream (can't wait to try it!)
1 box of El Monterrey Tornados
1 family sized El Monterrey cheese enchiladas
5 lbs of blueberries

My pre-tax total was $29.22. I saved $32.38 or 53%. Not the best I've ever done, but we'll live. Stay tuned for Friday night's bigger shopping trip.

I was not thrilled at all with the groceries ads this week. I normally would have gone to Sam's on a week like this, but my mom is out of town which meant that I couldn't use her for her membership.

Also, i need to add that I now have a 1 year old who has moved from breastmilk bottles to whole organic milk. I kept my first daughter on all organic dairy (except for cheese) until she was 2. Then, prices started to go up, and I switched to hormone free. I've since strayed from that all together. I decided that as I've watched grocery prices start to come down a little and as I've gotten better at couponing, it's time to add organic back in where I can. We will never be able to go organic entirely, but we will at least be sticking to organic white milk and pairing organic sales and coupons when we can.

My total this week was about $68.00 after tax, but I bought 4 Pepsi 12 packs ($9) and baby wipes ($5.) These items will come out of different budgets this time, which leaves us at about $52.00 pre-tax.

Here's what I got...

1 Old Spice deoderant (This was free. I have a nice collection of stuff for the food pantry.)
2 packages of various hair accessories for the girls
1 box of Good and Plenty
1 box of Strawberry Whoppers
1 Daisy cottage cheese
1 Laughing Cow cheese wheel
2 1 lb bags of peas
2 boxes of plain Cheerios (so glad to buy these now instead of Gerber puffs!)
2 boxes of Chex
2 boxes of Whole Wheat Ronzoni
1 package of frozen shrimp
1 bottle of taco sauce
1 12 oz van of tomato sauce
1 dozen eggs
2 cans of black beans
1 1/2 gallon or organic milk
1 box of Cascadian Farms granola bars
1 pint of Starbucks ice cream
1 box of corndogs
about 5 lbs of fresh chicken breasts
1 gallon of chocolate milk
1 box of Electrasol powerballs
1 Glad clingwrap
4 8 oz bags of cheese
1 lb of stawberries
2.33 lbs of peaches (These were more per lb than I typically pay, but they have been DELICIOUS. Worth every darn penny!)
1 white onion

And, I just noticed that it looks like one of the 12 packs of pop was not free like it was supposed to be. That actually makes my total even better. I'll have to take my receipt in and get my $3.67 back!

Not our best effort, but it is what it is. I'm pretty low on coupons, so that just doesn't help. Also, we are on total food overload, so I truly don't NEED much other than produce and dairy staples. Regardless, this is what we ended up with. It was about $44.00 before tax. I will go to one more grocery store today to get cherries and blueberries (both on sale for $1.00/lb.) I'd like to get a BUNCH to freeze for the winter, but it's not exactly in the budget. I may have to break the rules a little at that price.

Kind of a silly trip. I very seriously considered skipping the store this week. I don't even have ROOM in my fridge, freezer or any of my pantries. Even my section of my MOM''s freezer is fully. But, once again I get back t the fact that I'm afraid skipping a week would cause us to get behind, and we wouldn't get caught up.

So, basically, for this trip I just bought the stuff I needed for our 4th of July functions. Cumulatively, I'm responsible for berry lemonade, pasta salad, chips, a centerpiece for the table, berry crisp and ice cream. Everything else I got was just tryin' to get ahead a little.

1 8 pack of Hershey's snack sized chocolate bars
1 bag of marshmallows
1 bag of Wacky Mac spirals
1 Betty Crocker frosting
1 McCormick cinnamon sugar grinder (This will be a stocking stuffer for my mom. Now THAT's planning ahead!)
2 loaves of Wonder 100% whole wheat
1 4lb bag of sugar
1 gallon of Lipton Diet Green Tea
1 box of Nabisco graham crackers
4 bags of Doritos
1 can of EZ cheese (a small thanks to Daddy who will be heavy-duty on Dad-duty for the next 5 weeks!)
5 various Coke 12 packs
3 1/2 gallons of lemonade
1 1/2 gallon of Breyers ice cream
.93 lbs of brocolli crowns
1 huge tomato
1 green bell pepper
1 dozen beautiful and perfect red roses (what a steal at $5.00!)

I saved $44.47 (49%.) Total after tax was $50.60.