Consistently saving about 20%

Which is good. It is. It's nowhere near the level of extreme couponing, but it's a good start. However, by September I not only need to be saving a bunch more, but I need to be spending a LOT less. And when I say a lot, I mean a minimum of 50% less. We would survive a lot better if I could cut 70% of the grocery SPENDING down.
It can be done, I know it can. If I can build the stockpile enough for a year for my family, and cut back on the amount of meat we eat, and all that....we can do it.
So, today, I went to Winco and Fred Meyer's.
I had the biggest list for Winco, with matchups from FabulesslyFrugal and a really thick envelope of coupons.
The frustrating part of this trip was a lot of the listed items weren't at the same prices listed. For instance, Nestle Tollhouse morsels were listed at $1.98 a bag just a couple of days ago. And the matchup was for the Winco I go to. But today, the morsels were $2.48. I had coupons so I went ahead and bought them because we're out. And the cereal I wanted, listed for 1.98, was also 2.48. I bought two boxes for DD because we are out of her favorite cereal, but I had coupons for 8 boxes. Some of these coupons I need to redeem soon, as they expire tomorrow or the next day. More for the doublers at Albertsons, I think. I get five Sunday papers so I'll get fifteen doublers. I think, though, that I am really close to the stockpile number for cereal. Just four more boxes and I'll have the 30 needed for a year. I need to get some more cereal for hubby, though, we're kind of lacking in what he likes.
I have enough deodorant for hubby also, and a good start on most everything else. And now I have a good start on coupons.
What will it be like, I wonder, to look at all these coupon sites and matchups and coupons and know I don't HAVE to go to the store? I just can't even imagine.
Okay, at Winco I spent $126 for a TON of food (almost needed two carts) that included a huge amount of canned things and charcoal. I had $15 in coupons, mostly 50 cents off things so they had to get someone over to override the register because I had so many coupons. But I think we have enough beans for a while :-)
At Fred Meyer, I had electronic coupons so I was really curious to see how that worked. It worked well. I bought tuna fish, paper towels, a write on calendar (which doesn't go into the grocery budget), and my best score: chubs of one pound hamburger marked down to $1.74. I haven't paid $1.74 a pound for hamburger in a long time. Those, I grabbed up, all four of them. They went right into the freezer when I got home. Here, I spent about 30 bucks and had about 7 dollars in coupons counting the electronic ones. That rocked. My other really good score: a 6 pack of Sparkle paper towels for $4.99, for which I had a $1 off ecoupon. Usually I spend $2.50 for a pack of two.
Tonight I have to finish my Albertsons list and include the last couple of things on the grocery list. I also need to go to BoiseMilk.com and see what their vegetable pack is next week. I may cancel my delivery on Thursday.
Onward!