Hey Local Folks! 4/28

"Hey Cheapo! Did you score any good grocery deals this week?"

Let me first start off by telling you what NOT to do while deal shopping.

1. Do NOT bring your child(s) along with you if you can help it. In the pictures, can you tell what probably wouldn't have been bought if the child was not along? The pound and a half bag of gummy worms you say? Whelp...um...let's move on.

2. Do NOT trust the cashier to ring items up correctly, OR enter coupons correctly. They typically accept the "beep" whether the price is correct or not - so keep on lookin' out. On the coupon end - I had 2 Q's for Welch's Aqua Juice - Buy one get one free (bogof). I got four bottles - two being free, right? My cashier misread the screen and was only entering them as one dollar off each. Good thing I questioned it because it should've been $7.58 off total - not two dollars!

3. Do NOT assume all sizes and types of specific products are on sale. Be sure to grab the correct items/sizes that are found in the sale flyer. In the midst of being bombarded 100 times by the question, "Can we PLEAAASE go to Gamestop after this?", I grabbed the wrong sized cereal box, two of the wrong "flavored" Steamfresh bags, and said "yes" to a few other items that really weren't needed.

4. Do NOT put off a "big" grocery shop for weeks - you'll just end up spending more than you want to. The past few weeks, I really haven't done the planning and "dealing" that I have wanted to, which led me to spend more than I prefered this week. But, that happens I guess. I'm just glad it doesn't happen EVERY week.

5. Do NOT forget to check your receipt before you leave the store or parking lot. If you find a mistake once you get home - forget it. You won't feel like going back to get it taken care of. I didn't find any mistakes this time - but have in the past.

For the local folks, here (above) was my Triple Coupon Day trip at Five Star.

$37.04 - $12.96 Q's = $24.35

Coupons used (regular & triple amounts):

White Castles: $2.99 - $1.50 Sunday Q = $1.49

Skippy Peanut Butter: $3.19 - $1.20 Sunday Q = $1.99 (PB wasn't on sale but was needed)

2 Pop Tarts = $4.00 - $1.00 Sunday Q = $3.00 for 2

Bob Evan's Sausage: $1.99 - $1.05 printable = $.94

4 Green Giant Boxed Veggies = $4.00 - $3.00 Sunday Q's (2) = $1.00 for 4

Aunt Millies whole grain buns: $2.29 - $1.05 Sunday Q = $1.24

Aunt Millies W/W Bread = $3.19 - $1.05 = $2.14

(ahh...I just caught another mistake. The Whole Wheat obviously wasn't part of the sale. grumble.)

4 Cans Alpo Dog food: $2.67 - 2 BOGOF printables = $1.34 for 4 cans

Suave Shampoo & Conditioner = $2.00 - $1.50 Sunday Q = $.50 for both

Even though I don't like to skip town for groceries, I drove to Kroger this week (it's about 20 miles each way). They had their typical 10/$10 sale on LOTS of things - more than was advertised in the sale flyer. Sooo...in other words...I bought more than I needed because of the sale and stocked up on a few $1 items that I can't get in my town.

Coupons Used (Kroger doubles coupons up to $.50 face value): 2 BOGOF Welch's Aqua Juice printables, BOGOF Easy Mac printable, Steamfresh Sunday q's, Betty Crocker potatoes Sunday q's, Free Kashi entree mailer q, 2 Suave Deodorant Sunday q's, Blue Diamond Almond Thin printable q, Fuze Sunday q, Kellogg's blinkie q, 2 McCormick Spice Sunday q's, Tropicana Sunday Q, (ahh..aNOTHer mistake - the OJ didn't ring the sale price. grumble again.) Coffeemate printable q

$149.89 - $24.27 Q's - $52.28 Kroger Plus Savings = $73.34 total

Even though I can't remember the last time I've spent that much on groceries, I got 83 items total at $1.18 per item. I think I'm okay with that - despite the extras and mistakes.

I couldn't help myself - since I had 2 Sunday coupons, I had to stop in Walgreens (WAGS) and check out the Register Rewards program. I don't think it's for me. I know how to work the CVS game and am comfortable with it. This is obviously similar - but not really something I'm in to. Here's how it went:

1st transaction - picked up Breeze 2, some vitamins on clearance and 2 cans of Campbell's soup. Brought wrong Ecotrin coupon (which would've made it free). Gave cashier $30 coupon for monitor (which had to be adjusted down to $14.99 sale price - FREE), $.59 a can WAGS coupon from flyer and printable $1/2 Campbell's printable. So, I got the monitor for free & the soup for $.09 a can PLUS got $5 Register Rewards printed out for my next trip (for buying the Breeze)

Hmm...not so bad, I was thinking. So...

2nd transaction, later in the day at another store - Another Breeze 2 ($5 RR), Ecotrin ($2 RR) and...shoot..they are out of Nivea Body wash ($4.99 RR). Ok, so I grabbed some Rembrant mouth wash which would've given $5.99 in RR. So, got to the counter - cashier slow as molasses - went to cosmetics. Spotted Nivea on an end cap so told the cashier I wanted that instead of the mouthwash. (Son is STILL asking about Gamestop and now my cell phone is ringing - husband is home from work, when will we be home? Can you feel my frustration?) Breeze coupon = no problem. Ecotrin printable = it wouldn't adjust down so I told her I didn't want it because it would've been a $2 money maker with the Q. Nivea = $4.99. I paid with the $5 register reward. Hurried and took my receipt and left (because we STILL had to stop at Gamestop, ya know). By the time I looked at my receipt (while driving down the highway), I realized I only had the $5 RR from the blood monitor and the $4.99 didn't print out from the body wash.

Moral of the story - I'm not doing WAGS again...even though I DO have $5 to the plus to spend. *wink*

Stay Tuned for more "Shopping Adventures."

More Super Saturday Savings at Money Saving Mom!