Shopping Day: 2 August 2012

Aldi: $89.68
Woolworths: $54.90
Coles: $119.19

Total: $263.77

I'm over the $240 weekly average, and I'm not done yet. Tomorrow I'll go to Costco and grab a few things, which will add another $28 or so, which will bring me up to around $300. I should be able to make up for it in future weeks, but I also need to build up my stockpile again. I'm starting to run low on some things.

Things got a little crazy last month. I had the month off, the two older boys went to their grandparents for two weeks, and I got a little carried away with eating, drinking, and generally being merry. But I kept my receipts, and I'm going to try to piece it all back together and see just what the hell happened.

But for now, I'm just focusing on this week. And the main thing is that I'm pretty damned happy with this week's grocery adventure. I'm a bit bummed out that I haven't seen any really great bargains that make me want to fill up my shopping cart with 643 cans of tuna or something, but on the other hand, I'm happy that my basic trip to the grocery store(s) is costing a lot less than it used to. I've got a weekly menu worked out that the kids are happy with, and I've got another month or so of winter before I'll start changing it up a little.

One of the big changes in recent weeks that's saved us a little money is that I'm buying more fresh fruit and vegetables from Aldi. This week I got shallots (spring onions/green onions), avocados, cauliflower, iceberg lettuce, carrots, leek, sweet potatoes, red onions, bananas, white cabbage, and red capsicums (bell peppers), and it was all cheaper than I could get it at either Coles or Woolworth's. Maybe I could've gotten it cheaper at the Belconnen Markets or at the Farmers' Market, but then again, maybe not. And at this point, I just can't be bothered making those trips to find out.

The trip to Woolworth's was short and sweet, just to grab a few items that were either on sale or just cheaper than Coles anyway. Nothing special, although they're giving me a discount ($2.95 instead of $3.69) on my low-carb SlimPasta because I'm an Everyday Rewards member, so I'm grabbing a couple of packets every time I'm there.

Coles was great this week, because I bought a lot of stuff that was on sale--canned borlotti (pinto) beans, frozen chicken strips, frozen spinach, and more--and because I had a voucher for 500 bonus Flybuys (worth a whopping $2.50) if I spent over $120 (my total was $131.38), plus I saved $2.19 from my Flybuys My5, and then I got another $10 off for spending over $100 (apparently this was a Docket Deal (coupon printed on your receipt), but I knew nothing about it, didn't have one of the coupons, but the checkout chick gave it to me anyway. She also gave us about 4 times as many Sports for Schools vouchers than we'd earned, so the school may end up naming a playground or stadium after Tom or something.

So hey, it's no Extreme Couponing kind of thing, but hell, I got heaps of groceries, started building up my stockpile again, and just eyeballing it, I think I probably saved around 25% on the whole trip.