November Budget Review

Is couponing worth it?

A lot of people wonder if couponing is worth the effort. For me it is. Before I started couponing, our grocery bill was over $500 a month (for a family of 8). After couponing for 6 months, I have brought that amount down to about $350 a month, while accumulating a nice food storage along the way.

Now that $350 is just our food budget. All of our other household items (diapers, toilet paper, cleaning products, garbage bags, etc.) would cost us another $200 a month on top of our grocery bill. Our household budget is now cut in half at just $100 a month.

So our grocery and household budget together are now $450 combined, and my goal is to get that number down to $400 a month. This is a work in progress and I will keep you updated. Below is a rundown of my November budget numbers:

Total spent on coupons $20.49 (8 Sunday papers delivered each week- $16, plus 35 coupons purchased from e-bay- $4.49)
Total value of coupons used $117.19 (only includes newspaper coupons, does not include Internet printable coupons that I don't pay for)

Rebates- received $10 in rebates sent in October, and sent in $23 this month (not reflected in numbers below)

Groceries $412
Household $62
Total $474

Where the money was spent:
Albertsons $162
Winco $69
Walmart $42
Costco $130
Fred Meyer $2
Eddy's Bakery $7

When compared to October's numbers, I spent more on groceries and less on household goods, but the total was about the same.