I have learned a few valuable things in order for me to make our budget for the month. This applies to me, personally, but could be applicable to others as well.

• It's impossible to get every  "good" deal out there and still stay under budget. There are really so many fabulous deals that one must become picky in which ones to use. Making sure that all nutritional categories are fulfilled is vital. Then extras can be just that....extra.
• It's sometimes good to just sit and wait. Instead of buying almost all of the things needed to fill out the menus, sometimes better deals come along later in the month. So I think for the month of May, if I don't do Angel Ministries, I will try to buy partially of what we need the first two weeks. Besides that HUGE trip is a killer on the back. My Kroger buggy was literally sliding across the floor instead of rolling. There was 13 gallons of liquid(milk and juice) plus all the other loot that weighed down the buggy entirely too much. So, I think I will try to stagger the shopping a bit more for May.
• I don't really care for Walgreen's so much after. Per conversation with a friend of mine, we were talking of how the deals sort of don't pan out for us. For me, I have missed filling out mail in rebates and thus, spent more than I would have normally on those products. For my lifestyle, I don't have time for mail in rebates. Once when I got $12 register rewards, they expired in 2 weeks. For those two weeks there weren't any very good sales going on. I had to go in and use or lose those register rewards. The groceries I found to buy with the RR came out costing more than I would have paid elsewhere. So, earning those RR was not all that great afterall. I wanted to roll them over into other good deals. No could do. Oh, also I have been in there to get good grocery deals before and they'd be out of what's on sale even though the sale had just started. Nothing is more frustrating in making a special trip into a store(sometimes with six children in tow) and they don't have their advertised sale items.