Savings on food and health and beauty items for 2010

Since we have a snow day today and expecting about 15 inches of snow, I thought it would be a perfect time to post my numbers for 2010.  Then after I finish writing this, I will have to get some work done and get the kids outside to play in this wonderful snow! I'll freeze but it will be sooooo worth it to see them happy and throwing snowballs at each other. Who knows, maybe I'll join in and throw some at them!

Anyway, back to last year.  My numbers include food, pet stuff, health and beauty products and household cleaners and products.  After sales and coupons, I spent $7433.53, which averages out to $619.46 a month.  My savings, with the sales and coupons, totaled $3218.35.  Not too bad, but I would like to see the spending number go down this year and the savings number, especially the coupon part, go way up.  We were still under the national average for how much we spent on groceries last year, but I know we can do way better.  I know part of the issue is the fact that I am the only person in my household that is not a picky eater.  I will eat just about anything.  The rest of my crew however, will not eat a lot of different veggies, fruits, beans of any kind and not too many casserole dishes.  This really makes it hard to eat on a strict budget.  I can't buy things in season, produce wise, all of the time and I can't plan pasta or rice and beans for meals a couple times of the week.  I know these things would significantly decrease our food bill and I'm going to continue working on these things with my family.

I guess you can say that that is another one of my goals for the upcoming year.

How much did you save on coupons and savings last year??