Why I LOVE the Grocery Game

A picture is worth a thousand words so let's begin there:



Harris Teeter Breakdown:

12 boxes of Hamburger Helper
2 boxes of South Beach Living Bars
1 container of salt
1 can of refried beans
1 bag of snack-pack raisins
1 bag of grapes
Bananas
2 loaves of Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain cinnamon swirl bread
12 yogurts
4 containers of sour cream (FREE!)
2 Spray N Wash (FREE!)
Old English Furniture Spray

Are you ready for the total I paid:

$28.43!!!!

Before VIC card and coupons my total was $81.68 - that's a savings of $53.25. I saved 66%!

Here is what I got free:



The 4 sour creams and 2 spray n wash would have cost me $12.34.

I know it is kind of an odd assortment of items. There were pages more of items I could have bought on sale but didn't need. That's because I have been doing the grocery game since January so I have a HUGE stockpile of food at home (My own mini grocery store). I will take a pic of our stockpile and post sometime this week. The concept of the grocery game is to stock up when the item is at rock bottom price. Coupons are on a 12 week cycle so you buy what you need for 12 weeks at one time. They explain it much better than I do, here is the link.

Because I am a big fat geek, I feel the need to point out that we do NOT consume this much Hamburger Helper. It is a special treat for Spencer (the boy LOVES it) and he has it maybe once every 2 weeks.

HOW IT HAS WORKED FOR OUR FAMILY:

- Until a couple of weeks ago, my brother was living with us. So for a family of 4 adults and 2 kids, we were spending approx. $50 week once we got our stockpile. We try and buy our milk and meat at Costco (and a few other items I get suckered into) and we spend approx $100 there - so we were spending approx. $300/month total.

- Now that Aaron has moved out, we are spending approx. $30/week at the grocery store and I'm going to guess less than $50 at Coscto. Which for 3 adults, 2 kids will put us at around $170/month. Not bad, huh?

- I get most of my toiletries and cleaners DIRT CHEAP or FREE. Around the beginning of the year I got 240 rolls (12 packs of 20 rolls each) of Cottonelle Double Soft Toilet Paper for approx $20. Can't beat that. Most of my toothpaste and toothbrushes have been under a dollar or free. We aren't talking generic brands either, these are the latest greatest products that have the great coupons out for them.

Anyway, the point of all of this is that I fought trying the Grocery Game forever. I figured I didn't have the time or the space. Turns out I have both. I spend an hour on Sunday cutting coupons and that's it. So if you are debating trying it, just do it. I wish I had a year ago when I first heard about it. You can try it for four weeks for $1.00. Not bad, huh?