More Grocery Fun

In the interest of time and due to Betty's observation of how I "like to write long things," I'm just going to write a quick blog to let you know how much I saved when I did another grocery run last night.

Because I'm doing the free trial with the website where I get my lists, I decided to shop at Randall's last night (AKA Safeway) and I found that the list had errors. Some items weren't on sale or they were different brands than what was stated on coupons. I almost didn't stay to get the other stuff on my list, but I forged ahead with my daughter's help. She liked having a mission and she likes food, so we combined the two interests for a family night of fun at the grocery store.

Imagine all three of my kids wearing Heely's and flying around me, the cart, and other people. I spoke sternly to them in the beginning, but as always, they half listen and then get going with their Indy 500 race around the frozen coolers. Finally, I decided to give my boys missions, too. It takes them longer, but it channeled their energy productively. I usually have two of the same coupon, so they had fun being the first to find the item. Zack practices his reading skills and Seth looks for the picture. It kept them close to me and we got done quickly.

Another bonus to getting the kids' help was getting them to understand the value of a dime. When we got to the check out, I told Sarah to watch the "fireworks" with me. We started at a total of $194.29 and watched the deductions go down to $71.21. Woo hoo! Sarah was impressed. The boys just wanted to buy gum.

When we got home and got everything put away, it was bedtime for the kiddies. I wanted to head back out to Kroger for another grocery run. Different things were on sale there, plus, I wanted to see if they restocked items from last week's sale that I still had coupons for.

Before I could head out, there was s a knock at the door and it was Susie. She was holding a couple of bags of groceries and wanted Josh to do a Price is Right game. She set everything out and asked Josh to give a total of how much he thought all of the stuff is worth. Josh guessed about $50 worth and she was impressed that he came so close to the right amount. Then she asked Josh to guess how much he thought she saved. He said 50%, so $25 spent. Then she blew us down with her $5 and change total spent. She loves flooring us. The woman is a legend.

After that, she went home to drop off her stuff and came back to go shopping with me on my Round 2. We left kind of late and got back kind of late, but it was fun (and safer) having someone to shop with at that hour. She did not plan on shopping, but she found coupons in the aisles and saved a bunch on whatever she did buy... I can't remember her totals, but it was like $70 down to $37 or something crazy. My total went from $156 to $78. Not as good as Susie, but I bought some items that were not on sale or I didn't have a coupon for.

All in all, it was another successful week of shopping. I can't wait until Saturday! I look forward to going to buy my Early Edition Sunday papers, and when I have a month's worth of coupons, I'll save even more money because so far, I'm set on toothpaste, soups, kids' snacks and cleaning supplies for the rest of the year. What will I stock up on next month??

Since I'll have to soon start paying full price for the lists, I will most likely stick with Kroger and drop Randall's. I was irritated with the amount of errors on the list (same goes for HEB which doesn't have as many good sales anyway). I did like the way the Randall's receipt printed out in categories, though. That was kind of cool. Still, it seems like less problems crop up at Kroger.

And I am done here! I realize that I am incapable of just giving you totals, and while this is shorter than my first blog, I really do like to write. Sorry Betty!