Meijer - $15.14 I'm really starting to like Meijers and wish we'd have one closer!! They had an awesome General Mills catalina promotion going on!
Kroger - $2.48 I had "free" coupons for the Kashi cereal, Fiber One bars and Yogurt. The Mentos and Dial Hand soap were also free after coupons. I had a $3 catalina that I used to help pay this thus why my out of pocket cost is so low.
Wal-Mart - $7.54 This is the best that I've done at Wal-Mart in a long time! The Orville Popcorn and the Borden Cheese I had free coupons for. I bought 6 packages of razors that gave me $6 in overage to help pay my other stuff!
Target - $8.96 The Motrin PM was free after coupons and I paid $2 a bag after coupons.
Kroger - $3.79 This was the HOT Scrubbing Bubbles deal I posted about here! The Natures Bounty was on sale for BOGO free so that gave me some nice overage by using coupons on the ones the store was giving me for free. It's actually to their advantage when you use coupons on BOGO free items because they're getting money back on an item they're offering you for free. I have $14 in catalina coupons left from the Scrubbing Bubbles to use on my next purchase.
Rite Aid - $5.38 I will be getting back $8.49 in SCRs so this was actually a nice little moneymaker of $3.11. They also had Nature's Bounty on sale for BOGO free.
Wal-Mart - $4.22 This was another good trip to Wal-Mart. Once again the 2 packages of razors gave me $2 in overage! Used a "free" coupon for the Sunchips.
CVS - $6.28 This stuff was actually purchased on 2 different days. I started off with $27 in ECBs and ended up with $20 ECBs at the end of the week. I had rain check for the Dial NutrSkin, 1 box of Pampers and 2 Johnson's Baby Oil.
Total Spent - $54.79
Total Saved w/Coupons - $296.90
Total Saved w/Sales - $28.94
Total Savings - $325.84
Saving Percentage of 83%
Total Coupons Used - 106
How was your shopping this week? Did you find some good deals? Were you able to stay on budget?
Wow Michelle! You did REALLY GOOD this week!
ReplyDeleteTotal Spent: $37.13
Total Saved with coupons: $77.40
Total saved with sales: $45.45
Total savings: $122.85
Saving percentage: 69%
Total coupons used: 50
I know the saved with sales is low because I dodn't know the regular prices of some things that I bought this week. (Dale's and Kroger)
LOL!! Obviously I "dodn't" spell check!
ReplyDeleteMy saved with sales amount is always lower because the only store I track that is Kroger. You did good too! Stayed under your budget! :) I was looking at my Kroger reciepts and there's no way I'm going to be able to get in the $.20 gas off category this month. I only have 144 points. Not even halfway to the $.20 category. I musy have spent alot of money last month at Kroger!
ReplyDeletePLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, tell me how you do all this shopping with children???? And, also , how do you get anything else done at home if do all this shopping???? I would like to know the secret!! :) :)
ReplyDeleteMonica I have no secrets because it's a 3 ring circus when I go shopping. I think I could write a book about this last weeks shopping trips!
ReplyDeleteOn Monday I headed to Newark around 10 and stopped at CVS and Target first. Things went fine. Next I stopped at Meijer. Got everything I wanted and headed to the checkout. The cashier rang up the first transaction, I paid and I only got a $3 catalina back and it was supposed to be a $8 catalina. The cashier said she'll set my 2nd transaction back while I got to customer service to resolve the issue. By this time both children were tired of shopping and very fidgety. While the customer service ladies are trying to figure out the catalina didn't print properly I'm holding L while J is horsing around. I tell him to stand still and if he does I'll give him a horsey ride. Finally after about 10 minutes they finally give me a $8 handwritten voucher good for my next purchase. So I head back over to the registers and buy the rest of my stuff while L is not happy about sitting back in the cart. We stop by the Meijer $.01 Horse and I give both children a ride. I stop at McDonalds next and give the children a break. All went well. Next we head over to Wal-Mart. Jadon takes his drink along in from McDonalds. All is fine until L wants some and she can't suck anything up because it's about all. She gets very mad and throws a fit. I then get her out of the cart and hold her. I'm sure you know it's rather hard to hold a child while trying to push a cart with one hand. We eventually make it out of Wal-Mart in one piece. I have on last stop Kroger because I want to buy a Rotisserie chicken for supper. L's not very happy in the cart so I put her in the basket part. Still not happy so I open up a box of Kashi cereal I was planning on buying and feed her. Finally she's happy. I quickly grab the rest of the stuff I was planning on buying and head to the checkout. By this time Jadon somehow ended up in the cart with L. I drop the groceries off at the van and head to the cart return. Somehow J managed to take his shoe off. He claimed L did it. Since the cart is so tight with both of them in it I take L out and set her on top of the car(cart). I put J's shoe back on and am lifting him out just as L flips off the car onto the pavement. I quickly pick her up and she's crying but not screaming. I give her, her pacifer and she quiets down. I head home and tell myself never again am I to go shopping and try to go to that many stores with the children.
To be continued....
LOL!!!!!! ^^^^^That is exactly why I don't go shopping with my children by myself. Try adding one more to that circus. I nearly go into an anxiety attack if I try it (I did one time and decided never again!!). Glad to know I'm not alone!!
ReplyDeleteI went to Mt. Vernon on Friday to go shopping and it went a little better. No little girls falling off carts. :) But still the children were very tired of shopping by the time I was done.
ReplyDeleteAs far as how I get my stuff done at home. I usually try to get my shopping list and coupons together the evening before I'm planning to go shopping. Then when I come back home it usually takes me the rest of the day to get my stuff put away, enter my receipts and just get back in order. :) I guess I just love the thrill of finding deals that I sometimes push some housework on the back burner.
So yes Monica you are not alone! I dream of a day when I can go shopping all day long by myself!! For now I'm trying to enjoy having my children with me but my patience gets tested so often!!!
Michelle, That is Hillarious! I am sorry all that happened to you...it's just funny because I have been there so often!
ReplyDeleteMonica,
I can only speak for myself. :) I don't go to Newark very often, so I mostly shop at CVS, Kroger, Wal-Mart and Aldi. Usually not all four in one day. Ocassionally I will go to Rite Aid and sometimes if I go to Mt Vernon again later in the week for a DR appt. or something then I will make a few more stops.
My children are older than yours and I only have two. It didn't work as well when they were younger. I didn't start couponing until Judah was almost one. Sometimes I will leave my children at Moms if I go to Newark, although I try not to do it to often because I don't want to just dump them off on her. As far as getting things done here? You know my house isn't spic and span. I don't bake bread, make granola and do very little canning. I would rather spend some time figuring out how to get cheap bread, cereal, Bisquick, etc... than stand at the Kitchen sink for hours on end making stuff from scratch. It's much easier on my back which is a plus. I don't spend hours at the computer. Just 10-15 minutes here and there because I can't sit long. The children can climb in and out of the van, and at least some of the shopping carts like CVS's little carts and the kroger "cars". This week I went to Mt Vernon once and later went to meijer and CVS in Newark while the children stayed at Moms. John went to Columbus on Tuesday so the children and I went along and Leah and I shopped at Target and Old Navy. Of course there I only had one child because she took the other. :) Some weeks I don't do as much shopping when my back is so bad, and then other weeks I go all out. :)
Can you imagine shopping at Walgreens 5 0r 6 times a week, like Rose does?? It would be fun if I didn't have any children and lived next door, but AAAAHHHHH it would never work for me.
It would be so awesome to be able to shop at Wags 5-6 days a week! My husband would probably think I've gone off the deep end for sure!
ReplyDeleteI like your analogy of rather spending time figuring out how to get stuff for cheap than to make it from scratch in the kitchen!
Can you tell me what you mean by "overage" at Walmart? Are you telling me that if your coupon is more than the marked price, they give you a "free" coupon?
ReplyDeleteThe razors that I bought were $1.97 and I had $3/1 coupons I used. So I got $1 in overage per package of razors I bought since the coupons were more than the product itself. That overage that they gave me helped pay my other stuff I was buying. You might not always get his lucky. Sometimes the cashier will round the coupon down so that you are only getting the razors free. Does that make sense?
ReplyDeleteI had a coupon for a free package of Borden Cheese and a free package of Orville Microwave popcorn. This had nothing to do with the overage I received from the razor coupons.
Ahhh....yes. The joy of shopping with children. :) I can't complain too much. Mine are 4 and 2 and are good little shoppers. (for the most part.. ) If I have plans to go to more then 3 stores I go to a few and then we stop at the McDonalds with a play place and they each get to pick an item off the $1.00 menu and use expend some energy playing. The biggest help I've found is being VERY organized when I go on a shopping excursion. All my lists made, the exact coupons pulled, etc. Takes less time in the store. I don't always manage to check out all the clearance deals and I'm sure I miss a good deal now and then but I just can't spend too much time in each store....
ReplyDeleteThe true test will arrive when baby is born. We'll see how shopping with 3 works out and maybe I'll need to buy a survival guide from someone. Are there coupons available for survival guides????? :)
Did I hear someone say my name? LOL
ReplyDeleteMy two youngest are 4 & 2, and they do great (most of the time). 2 yo. son will sometimes cause fits and 4 yo. daughter gets tired of doing multiple transactions, but I'd rather have that than taking 8 yo. and 6 yo. daughters in yet too. They're the ones who, when I'm trying to figure out my senarios, will start bantering with each other and get sent out to van. :( Not a good idea, I know, but I was so tired of it! I'm not sure what I'll do when school lets out. May have to start doing VERY early morning runs while Dad is still home and sleeping.
Rose,
ReplyDelete:) Yes I was talking about you! :)
DO you have a couponing blog? I think you should start a Walgreens blog. :) I like to see deals and scenarios that other people do. I don't get to Walgreens very much, and have never done RR. Then on the weeks I want to go, I feel so lost.
I would like to get some honey and Olive oil there this week, since you can get such a good deal on it. Depends on how my week goes...
Well, I stopped by to simply say, "Wow, you did GREAT!" but then I got all caught up in reading the interesting and entertaining comments. Whew, shopping with one child sounds MUCH easier that what you all go through. And sometimes I think that it not so fun.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading over all the different comments I realized again how very different everyone is and how we all have our different priorities. Rachal said she'd rather not make here own bread and granola and here I LOVE making my own, partly cause I feel like it is so much healthier. I also realized that I must not be as die hard of a shopper as I thought I was, because I actually get a little tired of making lots of trips to the store sometimes and it sounds like most of you all would love to go more than you do!
Anyway, I enjoyed reading everyone's comments and still feel like I am trying to find the balance between deal hunting and caring for my family. Sometimes I wonder if I let the deal hunting take too much priority...if only there was an easy way to know!
Yes Lydia I think we all need to find what we're comfortable with and stick with it. I make my own bread when I feel like it. :) And when I don't I buy it at an Amish bakery. For myself I decided I'm going to do as much deal shopping as I want to because I know once my children are older and I have to homeschool I won't be as free to go shopping! So I gotta stock up now while I can. :)
ReplyDeleteLydia,
ReplyDeleteI prefer homemade bread and I really like granola. I used to make all that and more, BC. (Before Children) :) It's just easier for me to buy cereal and bread right now. I try to buy whole grains and avoid the sugary, worthless cereals. Maybe someday I can do all that again. :)
Rachal,
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't have a blog. Weeks like this week I would feel very confident in my deals. But come slow weeks, I know it would be more of a drag. Especially when I would have to post everything that I got to use up RR on my blog. :)
Michelle, I had to laugh when I read your comment. I pictured this house with boxes of crackers and cereal and cans of soup sticking in every possible nook and cranny...you know, since you were stockpiling in advance and knew you wouldn't be able to shop much for the 9 months out of the year you were doing home school. Okay, I know that was weird, but it amused me.
ReplyDeleteRachal, your BC thing made me smile too. Yea, I'm sure more children make it more difficult. I know it really helps that I enjoy baking and cooking. Let me assure you though that there are other things that get pushed to the back burner much more frequently. I'd rather bake than clean or sew any day (unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of being able to buy most of my clothes). :)
Glad I gave you a laugh, Lydia! LOL! I just know that it's going to be hard on me that I'm not going to have time to go to all the stores I'd like to go to. Now I'm not going to stop shopping completely! I will still be going to Kroger and CVS. I just not sure I'll have time to go to Meijer and Target if I want to.
ReplyDelete