Easier than learning an actual cartwheel. Trust me, I can do both.

On Saturday morning I poured a cup of coffee, sat down to the kitchen table with toast & eggs. Harry watched cartoons as I took a bite of toast & scrawled “Groceries” on a fresh page of my notebook. With Doug out of work, there was no ordering pizza on a busy night & I worked on a tight budget. Ground beef, angel hair spaghetti noodles, chicken noodle soup, frozen waffles, apples & green beans. I knew what we had in the pantry & fridge & what we would need for the week – did Tuck need dog food? how was my paper towel stash? – & wrote down meals for each night of the week.

It sounds easier than it was, but the truth was I poured a second cup of coffee while clipping coupons & digging for any way to stretch our slim budget. If beef was on sale, we had meatloaf. If I had a coupon for frozen diced chicken, we had chicken Alfredo. I craved steak & asparagus? No way if we also needed laundry detergent & dog food that same week. It was a delicate balance, frustrating & discouraging work, but I also loved the diligence of it all.

I looked for every way to scrimp & save so that I could always get Harrison’s favorite snacks & our favorite coffee. My days of online ordering & picking up after work were over. While Doug preferred the expensive grocery store near our home & I didn’t mind the cheaper store on the way home from the gym, I found that Target worked best. We have a Target REDCard, which means we automatically save 5% off every purchase. The majority of their generic brands are equally good & every purchase meant in-store coupons for things I already bought (don’t think about that too long, it can feel a little creepy). As a working mom, I prefer a one-stop shop that won’t cut into family or gym or work. Efficiency & effectiveness are my mottos these days.

While meal planning & clipping coupons, I sat with my phone in-hand. Searching through the Target Cartwheel app, I added a 10% discount on dog food & a 5% discount on coffee creamer. Fruit snacks were 15% off & avocados were 5% off. It might not seem like much, but the app saved me about $3.00 on average per $60 grocery trip. Stacking coupons usually got another $2-5 off & then 5% with my REDcard meant $2 off. That’s roughly $7-10 in savings each trip, which meant delicious coffee.

I’ve saved $22.83 in just a few months on things I would have bought anyway. On a non-grocery level, I almost cried happy tears when toddler clothes were 15% off (including sale items) the week we realized Harry’s pants were hitting him above the ankles. Every little bit counts sometimes, you know?

Doug is back at work & our purse strings are looser & yet I find myself still sitting at the kitchen table on Saturday morning. I’ve realized how much money I can save with just a small amount of work & now I’m appreciating the discipline. Especially with my delicious, couponed, Cartwheeled, & REDCarded coffee.

Now one lucky reader from partipating blogs will have a chance to win $1,000 Target GiftCard®. So tell me…how do you save on groceries for the family? I’d love to hear your tips & know that there are so many of us that feel the squeeze of a budget, looking for any small chance to make this part of life a little easier.

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