I spent a lot of time in the garden this week trying to keep my mind off going to the grocery store and spending money.
I harvested carrots, potatoes and a few pumpkins. I cannot recall a year when the carrots have grown so huge. The Handsome Husband even noticed their size. “Wow, that’s a big carrot.” That man… he’s a talker.
The UPS man delivered a box full of instant coffee (for the HH) scone mix and apple cinnamon applesauce. All free of course thanks to Swagbucks.
Later in the week I received my annual Costco rebate check in the mail.
I hurried on over to Costco and loaded up on flour (for the upcoming baking season) rice, giant potatoes (oh how I miss eating giant baked potatoes for dinner) 3 lbs of sour cream (for the baked potato) 3 dozen rolls & a case of chili for Monkey Boy, American cheese for The Girl, 2 gallons of milk and a 1/2 gallon of whipping cream (which I plan to use for homemade ice cream). After all was said and done I had spent $90.76 of my rebate check. I was given the remaining balance of $29.32 in change.
Then on Sunday I went to Albertsons and picked up a bunch of laundry detergent, TIC TAC’s, toothpaste, Velveeta cups, crackers, cinnamon rolls and gum with my double coupons. My total came to $26.16 (I used my left over Costco rebate money to pay for it and I also earned a $10.00 Albertsons store coupon/catalina to use at a later date.
Also on the “must have list” was butter and apples. My total at Fred Meyer came to $9.62. I still had a little rebate money left over so I used that and then paid the remaining balance of $6.46 out of pocket.
I’m hanging in there…
Total Spent OOP this week: $6.46 (after I used up all my Costco rebate money). I also earned a $10 Albertsons store coupon/catalina too. 🙂
Total Spent Year To Date: $1,146.46
That leaves me with exactly $53.54 cash left to spend, a $10 Albertsons store coupon/catalina & a $100 Albertsons gift card (which I’m still waiting for btw). Only 75 days left to go! Yee-Haw!
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Peggy says
Good job! So how does the Costco annual rebate work? Our closest Costco is an hour away but we are thinking about joining anyway. We used to drive an hour to go grocery shopping once a month so it wouldn’t be all that much different.
Mavis says
I believe a regular Costco card is $50 a year (maybe it’s $55?). An executive Costco membership is $100 a year and you can earn a rebate of 2% of your total purchases with a max. rebate of $500 a year. Basically if you spent $10,000 in one year at Costco you would earn a $500 rebate.
Luckily, my parents purchase me an Executive membership every year for Christmas so I don’t have to pay for one. 🙂
Back in the old days I would by most of my groceries at Costco. I though I was saving money buying in bulk. That was then, Now days because I use coupons, I mostly buy my food elsewhere but I do like to buy things like furniture, clothing, housewares and sometimes discounted gift cards at Costco as well. As you can see, if I would have purchased a Costco executive membership this year it would have paid for itself.
So I guess you would need to sit down and think about how much you think you would spend at Costco in a years time to see which card would be right for you.
Melissa says
Yes please do tell about the Costco rebate. We have a membership and they never mentioned rebates!
Mavis says
Hi Melissa, you probably have the regular ($50) membership card. You can only earn a rebate if you have the “Executive Membership” card. :(.
Desi says
You know Mavis I’m thinkin you can make it to the end of the year. I mean you have endless eggs, a lot of hamburger helper and if you get really hungry those tic tacs could last a good week as a meal supplement. Haha. You could barter that toothpaste (I would not recommend eating it). It’s time to get creative and think outside the box…or inside the box if it’s Hamburger helper. I have a question for ya…What will your next year budget be?
Mavis says
I don’t know. I think I’ll wait until the end of this little experiment before I set a budget for 2012.
Thanks for the encouragement. 🙂
Trish says
You go, Mavis! I recently found your blog, when I was following links with abandon, LOL. I enjoy reading about your adventures. I live overseas, where we don’t have sales, coupons, rebates . . . and I don’t even know what catalina is . . . but I still enjoy how you write, and it seems very home-like to follow along with your shopping.
Thanks for the blog!
Alexis says
What’s costco’s price on butter these days? They always used to have a really good deal on it (this is just out of curiosity since there isn’t a costco close enough) but it seems like I just never find a good deal on butter anymore! Such sadness.
Melissa says
Alexis, I buy my butter at Costco and it’s 4lbs for $8.88 I believe.
Lyn says
Hi Mavis, I love your blog and think you rock. 🙂 Do you have an email contact? I would like to ask you a few questions if that would be okay. Thanks much.
You Can Call Me Jane says
You can do it. If you don’t have the dollars, you have the creativity:-).
Peggy says
With your creativity I know you can make it! One quick question… do you have any orchards nearby? The reason I ask is we get our apples by the bushel from an orchard. Average cost $12 to $15 a bushel, which contains an average of 42 lbs of apples. When we buy 2nds there is an additional discount… they normally are just misshapen which is fine by us. Just thought I would check as I know it can really stretch your money. (They usually store just fine in an unheated garage… just someplace where they can stay dry and cool… for quite some time!)
Good luck! I am really anxious to see how you all do!!
Mavis says
I don’t think we have any orchards nearby but I did notice a sign in front of someones yard regarding apples for sale. I think I’ll have to drive by today and read the sign. Who knows… maybe they need toothpaste. 🙂
LG says
FYI, LG and Pa love Tic-Tacs. Pa only eats White. LG prefers Light Green if you have spares at Xmas 🙂