For the month of March, I've been doing some super serious hounding - and it shows. I'm currently stocked up beyond belief on cheese, popcorn, crackers, Cheetos, canned soup, and beef stew meat....but, I'm still looking for the next big FREE!

The good news - I've finished up all the shopping needed for our family's Easter baskets (my sister's family, too!).

Total Retail Value: $2,127.51
OOP = $264.89
Savings = $1,862.62
Coupon Savings: $823.87
Quantity of Items: 712
Number of FREEs: 272
Savings Percentage: 88% (I'm new to calculating percentage saved totals, so if I didn't calculate it right, please let me know.)

Finally got my monthly totals for February tallied:

Before discounts: $833.02

OOP: $207.99
Savings: $625.03
Q Savings: $166.68
Qty Items: 304
# Free: 103

I love seeing the numbers in the free column going up!

I've gone a bit over my usual budget, but I'm fairly pleased with January:
Grocery:
OOP: $188.44
Savings: $177.68
Q Savings: $41.75
Item Count: 161
# Free: 8

CVS Totals:
OOP: $58.17
Savings: $321.01
Q Savings: $206
Item Count: 155
# Free: 98

So my monthly totals are-
OOP = 246.61
Savings: $498.69
Q Savings: $247.75
Item Count: 316
# Free: 106

Woohoo - I went $21.61 over budget this month (ouch) - and that's my first time sine July that I came in overbudget, but I saved nearly $500! I think I can live with that.

I, along with my faithful accomplice (DH), went to 6 different CVS stores for a total of 12 transactions yesterday to make good use of that memorable $3 CVS brand item coupon before it expired. My totals are in:
OOP = $58.17
Savings = $321.01
Q Savings = $206
Qty. = 155
# FREE = 98
ECB's Earned = $5

A big thank you to frugalsuz, Sam814, and all the other hounds on the Grocery Challenge - your ideas/scenarios really helped. Though part of me is glad this coupon has expired, I will miss it dearly. There is nothing quite as fun as shopping, especially when you aren't spending that much money. Now, I'm off - tomorrow I'll check out hotcouponworld.com for more deals and look for the next FREE ride.

From June 1st through December 31st (that's when I started tracking my grocery spending on a spreadsheet), my year end totals are listed:
OOP: $1127.47
Savings: $2720.42
Q Savings: $1213.91
# of Items = 2111
FREE Items = 451

I can't wait to see what 2009 brings!

Decembers total are in and I must admit it's far better than expected.

OOP: $129.92
Savings: $169.72
Q. Savings: $83.64
# of items purchased: 145
# of FREE items: 40

Wow - I'm finally getting a chance to update my monthly totals - it has taken far too long to do this. For November, since I host Thanksgiving, my budget for the month is $250. With the great Jell-O deal, many, many trips were made to Meijer's. The total number of Meijer transactions = 44.
My totals:
Meijer: vs. Other stores:
OOP = $35.2 vs. $166.58
Saved: $312.59 vs. $261.96
Q's = $203.50 vs. $63.40
Qty. = 170 vs. 300
FREE = 197 vs. 37
This month, I'm hoping to just live off the stockpile, I'm allowing myself a list of 12 items to search for a rockbottom on, other than that - only items needed fresh (bread, milk, eggs, produce, yogurt, juice).

For October, here are the totals (my budget was $225 for the month).
OOP = $206.80
Saved = 254.76
Q's = 36.2
Qty = 251
FREE = 36
Not my best month, but I did stay under budget. There were a lot of in-stores sales on generic brands that just couldn't be beat. A favorite: Butera with grat deals like $.99/lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, 5/$1 tomato sauce (house brand), and (house brand) Italian styled diced tomatoes for $.39 can (14.5 oz.)

September's Totals:
It seems my summer/early fall totals are always much lower than the winter totals:
OOP = $179.77
Saved = $380.75
Q's = $129.95
Qty. = 273
FREE = 7
This was a really slow month for FREE, but my resolution is to do better next month. I'm still coming in under budget, but some costs of my basics are rising: the worst one is ground turkey, which I've seen double in price over this time last year. It's now bouncing between $1.19-$1.39 a lb. This is a staple of my diet, but I haven't thought of a way to hound down it's current price. If anyone has an idea, I'm eager for suggestions.

Well, I was pretty impressed with last month's grocery totals.
Total Retail Value - $818.88
$ in Coupons Used - $416.15
Total Savings - $713.15
Total OOP - $105.73
Number of Items purchased - 430
Number of FREE Items - 74
Not the greatest at figuring my percentage of savings, but here goes
Savings Percent - 88%
(I keep chasing after that elusive 90% savings marker.)
I'm gunning for it this month!