Budget? What budget?

As some of you may know by now, I have been trying my hand at really sticking to a budget. I mean really sticking to it. I clip coupons, print coupons from online websites, look for coupon codes when ordering online, and use online rebates/cash back websites.

This past week I read my sweet friend Jenna's post on her endeavor with budgeting. Even though I have been at this for a while now, she has really inspired me to 'work' harder at it.

On my last shopping trip I had $4.50 in coupons. Brookshires was having a buy one get one for one cent deal. I was able to purchase bread, sausage, gatorade, & sliced cheese using the one cent deal. That alone was a savings of $11.92! These are also items I would normally purchase, so I wasn't just buying something for the sake of having a coupon. Of course I didn't buy everything for less than half my total after savings of $113.22, but hey, it's a good start for my family of 5. I am especially glad I spent so little considering I had to purchase a big bag of cat food, cat litter, and diapers. (Most of the time, I will opt for the store brand rather than name brand on some items. This is a trial and error with some items since not all things are created equal. I prefer Huggies over generic when it comes to diapers, Parents Choice baby wipes over named brand, and Great Value 24 hour allergy over Claritin. This is just something you have to figure out what works better for you and your family.) I was also able to plan my menu for the week with this budget and forwarding a couple of days from last week to help keep from over spending. Just for kicks, here is my menu thus far starting with Thursday:

T- Chicken tetrazinni

F- kinda skipped this with all the ball games going on, so snacked (this day will be forwarded to next week)

S- hot wings, cheese fries, variety of veggies to each ones' taste

S- sausage and cabbage, bread

M- breakfast for supper- eggs, bacon, biscuits

T- Hillbilly spaghetti pie

W- mac n cheese, beef brats, fresh veggies

Here are some links to the places I frequent to get any extra savings:

coupons.com

ebates

smartsource

coupon chief

retail me not

Money saving mom

the Freebie blogger

all of these are free, some require registration.