April 25, 2008

This Is Telling of My Life

Last night, I dreamed I held a conference at the library, explaining the ins and outs of the Grocery Game. After I was done, I did some Q&A, and then I handed out business cards so that I could get referrel credit. I remember tallying up how many free weeks I would get if everybody there signed up.

And that was the end of my dream.

This is sad, people. Sad, sad, sad.

This may even register as a Boring Emergency. Quick, somebody take me bungee jumping before I bore myself to death!

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April 15, 2008

Free Prints

Okay, I know it's only $2.85, but still. You can order 15 free digital prints from Walgreens today only by entering the coupon "TAXDAY". Hey, that's fifteen free pics! (Thank you, Grocery Game for the tip)

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March 18, 2008

One Teensy Post

Okay, I'm still Spring cleaning guys. But, I just wanted to report very briefly, of my shopping yesterday. Not so much about the savings (I saved $85 though--yeah baby!) but what was on my list.

I had 8 items on my "needs" list. This was eight things that I absolutely had to buy to make it through the week. WOW. I had to buy only eight things at full price, because I had everything else I could possibly need at home. This was an electrifying realization. Oh, the joy of domestic engineering! I was so happy, knowing I've gotten things for the very best prices, saved the absolute most amount of money I could. That's money in our pockets, y'all. That's Christmas presents. Gas money. Flip-flops. Date nights!!

Now, I bought a bunch more stuff, but it was all for stockpiling purposes. I was able to spend the entire rest of my budget on items that were priced at rockbottom prices, so I got a TON. My needs list has shrunk, and my stockpiled items GREW!

One last tip-- in the Walgreens circular that came in the Sunday paper (also found at the front of the store as you walk in), there is a coupon for Coca-Cola. It's 5/$11- the 12packs. That's an AWESOME price. However, our Walgreens doesn't carry the type of Coca-cola products I like, so I took that coupon to Kroger and used it. It IS a manufacturer's coupon, which is kind of rare in a Walgreens paper, but there ya have it. You can redeem that anywhere, so GO GET IT!! You can't beat that price.

That's it. I'm back to Spring cleaning now.

Keep me updated on your Grocery Gaming!!

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March 11, 2008

Proof

Okay, you're all probably sick unto death of hearing me laud the praises of the Grocery Game. I get that. And yet,

I
can't
stop.

My poor husband, he knows more about grocery bargains than he ever wanted to. He knows the sales trends, marketing techniques, and the beautiful marriage of sales items and coupons. I have stretched the boundaries of his attention, I know it, and it doesn't even slow me down. Poor, poor man. Give him a hug next time you see him, because he's earned it.

But Y'ALL!! I saved a gross amount of money last night. I mean, I'm embarassed to even tell you. I think I might have actually STOLEN some stuff. Kidding. But my shopping has gotten outrageous. And I'm gonna prove it, by posting my receipt for Walgreens. It's not long, so don't run away. After this, I swear, I'll try to cut down on the Grocery Game talk. I know it's alienating my male readers (all two of them- Dad, Joey), and it's driving Amy B. into jealous rages. So I'll cool out.

Okay. First I'll list all the items I bought:

2 boxes Cheerios
2 boxes Cinnamon Toast Crunch
4 cans VanKamps beans
2 bags Chexmix
6 cans Hunts tomato suce
3 pairs of latex cleaning gloves
3 large boxes Puffs tissue
1 package paper plates
4 Tufs papertowels
2 bottles Windex antibacterial cleaner
2 OralB crossaction toothbrushes
1 Colgate advanced toothpaste

Still with me? Can you visualize all that stuff? Now let me tell you how much I spent.

Total before coupons/savings: $43

Total after: $24

AND get this-- after a rebate for the toothpaste, it'll be free, PLUS since I had a coupon for it, I'll actually MAKE .75 off of it. I was paid to take this item home.
So, essentially, my bill was really $20.

Look back up at all I got, all for $20. Wowza.

I'll spare you my Kroger bill, which is a bit more complicated, but awesome, too. I saved $60 there.

I feel compelled to say that my grocery budget has not changed yet- I have willingly chosen to keep spending as much as I was pre-GG, for a few weeks anyway, so that I could buy more items on sale. I have so much stuff in my pantry, freezer, bathroom, that I am just amazed! I am really excited to start spending less each week, but for the moment, having all the excess is what matters. I think next week will be a drastic dip for me in spending though, because I'm just getting close to not needing a lot! For instance, I only bought 2 packages of meat this week because it was insanely cheap. I didn't need it, because I'd already stockpiled it. No bread either. But I did get Pamper's Easy Ups, jumbo packs for $6 a pop. I bought 3 of those, because they are regularly $13. What normally would have cost me nearly $40 (if I'd waited and bought it full price when I needed it) only cost me around $18.

Okay, I'm done. I could just keep going, but we've all got better things to do this morning, right?

So I'll let you go about your day, while I sit here and calculate more ways to save.

Somebody, help!

Posted by WonderGirl at 11:24 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

February 25, 2008

Grocery Game Request

By the way, guys... if you decide to try out the GG because of my experiences, please put me down as your referrel! With three referrels, you get 12 free weeks, and I'm all about FREE!! Ha!

(Let me know if that's the case, and I'll shoot you my "real" email address, cause that's the one I used to sign up.)

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February 24, 2008

Money in the Ice Box

I'd just like you all to know...

With the money I've saved so far playing the Grocery Game, I bought a small deep freezer yesterday.

Yeah, baby.

Let the real hording begin!!

PS. I can't help opening it every time I walk past, to peer down into the depths, where two big, beautiful hams, ten packages of frozen veggies, and some plump chicken breasts, wait patiently for their moment in the sun. Oh luxury!

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February 11, 2008

Grocery Game Update

Okay, Amy. Settle down. I know you're excited about this post, but let's not get carried away.

So, you wanna know how I'm doing, right?

Well, first I need to explain how the GG works. This is important, so you understand how these savings make sense. Basically, you have two lists. Your NEEDS list, which will include items you must have to cook planned menus, and stuff you've run out of, like toilet paper, that kind of thing. Gotta have it. And the second list is Teri's List, which you get off the GG website on Sundays. Teri's List is, well, it's a little bit of manna sent from heaven. It has every item that will go on sale for your particular store during the week. It includes unadvertised sales, too. It's very thorough. What she's done is taken those sales and combined them with coupons that you clip from the paper, from mailouts, from EVERYWHERE you can find them. She knows the monthly cycle of sales items, telling you exactly the best moment to use your coupon to maximize your savings. This is one smart cookie. It's all laid out and organized so that you know how much you're saving. It was intimidating the first time I looked at, but then suddenly, it just clicked with me.

Anyway, so the whole idea behind GG is stockpiling. You buy what you must on your NEEDS list, and you buy as much as you can off of Teri's list for items that you know you'll use and want. So you may buy ten bottles of ketchup for .80 a piece, rather than paying full price later on when you actually need it. You are building your own little store in your home to shop from. And as you do that, your NEEDS list will get smaller because, well, you've already got it. (and you paid a fraction of the cost!) I realize that pantry/freezer space could be an issue here, but I think the savings would cause me to be creative. If I have to hide spaghetti in the closet, I'll do it.

Last week, I saved $29 just using the GG methodology- no coupons. I didn't have many to work with.

This week, I did my first real coupon excursion at Walgreens, and I got 4 bottles of dishwashing liquid, 3 rolls of Bounty papertowels, 2 boxes of Cheerios, and 2 cans of Progresso soup. My total was $22. After coupons, it was $12. Now, I didn't have to go to Walgreens, I just wanted to cut my teeth on it first, before taking on a big grocery store. So I swung by, was in and out in ten minutes. (Well, let me include my embarassing moment- I was so nervous about actually using the coupons, that when the cashier told me how much I had saved, I cheerfully said, "Thank you!" and started wheeling away, and she said, "Oh, ma'am, you forgot to pay." D'oh!)

So on to my grocery shopping, which I planned to do at Kroger. I got a crazy amount of stuff. Way more than I would need for this week, and tons of multiple items. My bill was $147. After coupons and sales, it was $99.

My total savings this grocery trip was $58. I have everything I need for the week (with a little juggling of menu planning this time around so I could buy more items that were already on sale). PLUS, I have additional things I will not have to buy again for AGES, so my NEEDS list just got a little smaller.

So each week, I will buy less items at full price, and more at a reduced one. Does that make sense? Do ya follow?

My suggestion, if you want to try it, check out the website, and make sure it's offered in your area*. You can get a trial membership for a month for $1, with access to unlimited lists to the stores in your area. After that, it's $5 per list. (I think I'll stick to Kroger and Walgreens, though there are others offered in my area.) Then, DON'T SIGN UP YET. Spend a few weeks building up your coupon pile. Get an expandable file to organize it so you know what you've got. Get as many copies of the newspaper as you can, and cut out mulitples of the coupons you want. THEN, sign up for the free month. I sorta wish I'd waited until I had more to work with!

Anyway, so that's it. Just thought you'd appreciate a detailed report on my adventures into Couponology. Thanks, Amy, for being a little nuts about savings. Your obsession has served me well.

*If it's not offered in your area, you can get a Field Guide that explains how to improvise and still use the GG concepts.

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January 30, 2008

Making Groceries

Now that we've moved far, far away from civilization (just kidding, Pineville. No, no, stop crying, it's not that bad! Don't be a baby! Aw, come here.)--

Anyway--

Now that we've moved, we've left behind my precious Aldi. (Oh, Aldi. I could stop right here and compose an ode to you, but that might be a little insane. And this personification of inanimate objects is really getting excessive.)

So I've lost my Bargain Utopia. I've gone through the five stages of grieving, and now I think I'm ready to move on with my sales hunt.

My sister-in-law has talked me into trying The Grocery Game. And I'll be honest, it's intimidating the heck out of me right now. You have to have a Ph.D in Couponology, which I don't, and I'm sure I'll embarass myself royally the first time because of it. BUT, I am willing to learn. I WILL do this, and I WILL save millions of dollars.

Because my family just won't eat less! They insist on eating, every single day! Don't they realize how much money I am spending just to fill their hollow legs? It's like they're food addicts! It never ends! Couldn't they at least skip a day here and there? Sheesh.

Anyway.

I'll let you know how it goes. I'll clip my first coupons in this coming Sunday's paper, and hit the stores Tuesday.

This could be the beginning of something beautiful.

Or it could go horribly wrong and I could actually blow up a grocery store with my wily coupon machinations.

(There's really no in-between with me, is there?)

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December 1, 2007

Love Me Some Saturday

A verra good day.Christmas presents were bought, mall pizza eaten, and a free pair of pearl earrings from the new jewelry store at the Galleria now don my cute little earlobes.  I kid you not.   I got a coupon in the mail, and I redeemed it.  No strings attached, they didn't require my firstborn child, and they didn't bully me into buying the matching necklace.  Although, I did take in my engagement ring for repair, so there's that.  But still.  We like-a the free stuff.So, that's all... just wanted to share good vibes on this Saturday night.More tomorrow!  We're putting up our tree, so there'll be pix to post.

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July 21, 2007

The Cupboard is Bare

Okay, Aldi. Here I come.

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