Grocery Bags, check. Coupons, check. Grocery Ad, check. Obsessively Organized Grocery List, check.Let's go baby, it's time to shop!
Let me know if I'm alone in this, but I get such a rush from finding a really stellar deal! Anyone can go pay full price for something, there's no fun in that. But there is something seriously fun about hunting down a bargain and snagging it! I am like a lioness with coupons going in for the kill! Justin and my friend Laura know this about me and know it's their job to act really interested and excited when I find a particularly good steal!
I totally believe in the saying 'A penny saved is a penny earned!'. When I quit my job last September to be at home full time with the girls, it was really the first time in my adult life where I wasn't making some sort of monetary contribution to the family budget. So I have rationalized in my brain that all the pennies I save being a Bargain Huntress is really my monetary contribution to the family. (I'm a big fair freak, everyone must do their part!)
Take my weekly shopping trips to the grocery store for instance. It has become a game for me to see how much I can save. I get a rush seeing the total fall at the register after getting all my hard sought discounts! I know, I'm weird, but it's the best! In the past I have done meal planning a week in advance so I don't fear the "What's for dinner?" question every night. But this month I did it for an entire month and it has helped me save even more! Because you plan meals using ingredients you already have so nothing goes to waste. For instance, if I'm making Grilled Teriyaki Chicken on a bed of Spring Greens tonight, I know I'll have cashews (which I got half price! Hooray!) on hand from that for the Cashew Chicken Stir Fry I have planned for next week. Also the extra strawberries not used in my Strawberry Spinach Salad that goes with our BBQ Bacon Grilled Chicken we'll be having in a few days, will also go great as a fresh fruit salad with kiwis and oranges thrown with them, to go with that already planned Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry. Get it?!
So after I menu plan, then I devour my Sunday grocery store ads looking for awesome deals. A lot of my food storage is from just grabbing a few extra of the weekly deals at the grocery store. For instance, rather than running out of ketchup and having to pay $1.76 for a bottle, I buy it when it goes on sale for half that and stock up! Instant savings on things you already use! Anyhoot, so before I hit the grocery store, I make sure all my coupons and ad savings are written on my grocery list and I am ready for the hunt!
Today I think I hit my all time best savings! On a $212.90 grocery bill I only paid $66.72 out of my pocket!!! That includes all the food for all our meals for about a week and a half, plus I bought extras to rotate the comfort foods in our 72 hour kits and stocked up on more food storage deals. Isn't that so flippin' awesome?! I saved $146.18 in one shopping trip! Are you feelin' the rush?! And it's not like we're eating Ramen noodles and water. I got boneless skinless chicken breasts, stew meat, pot roast, milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, cold cereal (mmm, Honey Bunches of Oats, only $1.50 a box after discount when you buy 4!) Cliff Bars, Vitamin Water, a ton of produce, laundry detergent. You name it, every aisle was hit up! I love coming home from grocery shopping and stuffing my fridge, freezers and shelves full of my finds! It gives me this little warm spot of security knowing I'm doing my part. Is there anyone else that can relate to the Bargain Huntress in me? If so share the cheapskate love baby! What do you do to score awesome deals?
10 comments:
Honestly girlfriend... I want lessons in becoming a bargain huntress. You are freakin' awesome!
Oh my gosh for a second there I thought I was honestly reading an article you wrote about me. That is exactly how I shop. The other 2 major things I do is make sure I am not hungry when I go and make sure I go ALONE. My cart seems so much fuller when everyone has to go.
I am with you 100%. I get a high off of looking and getting good deals. Just yesterday I got Olive Oil normally $6.99 a bottle for $2.00 a bottle. Oh yeah, I stocked up and I also got big boxes of cereal for $1.50 and $1.00 a box, plus Publix rang it up wrong so I got one for FREE!!!!! My best buy ever was $40 backpacks for .20 not even joking. It was when KMart was closing some of there stores in Arizona and I kick myself for not buying all that they had, but I only bought 11. I know dumb, but it was such a great deal. Oh I could tell you soooo any bargains, like the store paying me to take the cereal off of there hands. you will have to ask me how I did this. Way to go Sarah, you can tell me your bargain stories anytime, I am right there with you.
Girl! I am SOOOO with you! I swear we are related at times! LOL! One of the things I missed MOST when we moved overseas was my Sunday afternoon coupon cutting. Every week I bought the double coupon newspaper and sat down with the ads. I would usually hit Publix and Kroger, but I was more than happy to take canned goods for $.25 from Ingles! Sometimes they even paid me to take toothpaste and other items. It killed me the first time I had to go to the store here and actually pay out my pocket for shaving gel! I saved on average $100 a week, which adds us to a part time job if you ask me!
Ohhh... how I miss the hunt!
Heck yes! Right on! Good for you sister! I love a good bargen too! I love to find clearnce racks for kids clothes. You know, the kind that are 50% or 75% of the lowest clearence tag. Love that! We don't get very many chances to score good deals up here in Alaska, everything is so overpriced to begun with. But I love your menu planning advise, I hate the "what's for dinner" question!
I am just so stinkin impressed! Not only for the bargain shopping but also for the rotating in your 72 hour kits. Now that is impressive. (I tagged you, by the way, but you don't have to do it!)
Okay so what is this about stores paying you to take stuff off their hands?! And how do I get in on some of that goodness!!!
Ok how the heck do you get $212 worth of groceries for $66??? Teach me...PLEASE!! Seriously! That is way awesome! I would love to spenjd only that much money for groceries, but I never ge tout of there under $100 and then I wonder what the heck I bought and still do the "what's for dinner"!! Ya not good! So seriously teach me!
I am learning from the best baby that's all I can say!
Honestly, I can not relate! I know Jared would love that, but I just don't have that in me! Just the thought of it overwhelms me. I can't believe you're so good at it, that's awesome!
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