A Good Grocery Week

As you may or may not know, I've been using the Grocery Game to do my grocery shopping for right at a year now. I get such a rush walking out of the grocery store feeling like I've just stolen things!

A few week ago, Albertsons was doubling/tripling/or quadrupling coupons (every coupon is worth $1), a 10% Military Discount, and a great Proctor and Gamble deal where you got an automatic $10 off a $40 purchase of Proctor and Gamble items. It was a a great deal and so good of a deal that I took 3 kids with me on a Saturday to take advantage of all 3 opportunities.

Here's what I brought home for $49!

Total Savings $57!

I'm going to try to track my grocery savings this year to see how much I'm really spending on groceries. I tell people I spend between $50 and $60 a week, but I could honestly go a week or two and spend $10 on milk and fruit and not buy anything else. It's just hard to pass up great deals especially when Albertsons does their Military Discount and their coupon doubling/tripling/quadrupling deals.

I had a great score at Walgreens this week, but forgot to take a picture before I put everything away. I got a box of trash bags, 6 pairs of knee highs, 2 bottles of lysol toilet cleaner, 2 6 packs of Bic Comfort 3 disposable razors for $7.88 out of my pocket.

Playing the Game Week 2

I've completed week #2 of my Grocery Gaming and have fairly decent results. I'm not sure if I'm doing it completely right and I think it's still fairly early to know if I'm going to be successful at this little venture.

One of my issues is the most conveniently located grocery store on my 'list' has provided nightmare experiences every time I've been there. It didn't help this week that I had the boys with me. Taking them to the grocery store is a nightmare in itself. Yesterday, they overcharged me for the exact same item they overcharged me for last week so I had to go to customer service to have them fix the price. This time, the nice girl refunded my money and didn't charge me the correct price at all, citing some sort of accurate pricing policy or something like that. So I technically got 2 Atkins Bars for -$1.00. I had used a $1.00 coupon for them! That didn't end up being all that terrible, but she handed me cash back and I didn't have time to stick it down in my purse before I got to the car.

As I'm getting to the car, a peddler/homeless person, approached me and my 2 boys begging for money. I gave him my change, but not the cash in my hand. Some would probably say I was being greedy, but when you walk out of the grocery store with your 2 small children and you notice at least 3 different people walking through the parking lot begging for money from the customers and one of them has the audacity to approach a pregnant woman with 2 small children in her cart, I just have a problem with that. Talk about feeling extremely vulnerable! To some degree I hold the store responsible because I think they have an obligation to their customers to make the whole shopping experience pleasant and safe. There's another one of these grocery stores closer to the church that I've been to several times without any issues. Next week, I'll have to go there for my weekly grocery trip.

As far as my savings this week, I saved 42% off the original shelf price of my items at the grocery store. At Walgreens, I saved 56% off the shelf price for my items. That percentage includes $2 in register rewards and about $11 in Easy Saver Rebates that I submitted this afternoon.

I'm going to give it a few more weeks to figure out if the savings is going to be worth my while. I'm also checking into the price of subscribing by mail to a newspaper on the east coast like the Charlotte Observer because apparently the coupon offerings can vary from region to region. I've noticed several times my list has said there was a coupon for a certain item that didn't show up in the coupon inserts in my paper. After a little bit of research, I think I've determined it's a regional coupon insert issue.

Grocery Gaming

I've always had ambitions of being one of these people who can brag about what I've purchased for next to nothing. I'm a self confessed cheapskate! I learned this skill from my mother, who learned it from her mother. She taught me to always walk to the back of the stores in the mall because that's where the clearance racks are! She also taught me that just because something comes from a more expensive store doesn't always guarantee that the quality is any better than something you might buy at a typically cheaper store (Walmart, Kmart, etc.).

Recently, I've become interested in figuring out how to lower our grocery bill. I dabbled in couponing a few years ago, but never achieved the real benefit of savings for the trouble I seemed to go through to clip them. In my couple of years of blogging, I've come across people talking about the Grocery Game and have looked at the website a couple of times. Being able to shop at the Commissary on post, I've questioned whether or not I would really save money shopping at a regular grocery store.

Last week, I bit the bullet and signed up for a $1 - 4 week free trial of Grocery Game lists. I've used her Walgreens and Albertson's lists this week and saved some money - 38% off shelf price at Albertsons and 48% off shelf price at Walgreens. I don't really consider this great savings, but I only had 1 real week worth of coupons from the newspaper. The website says it can take up to 12 weeks before you really get the hang of her system and see the full financial benefit. The jury is still out as to whether or not I'll be able to save more doing this than I do just shopping at the Commissary.

I know I'm going to have to change some of my shopping habits or mindsets. Until now, I've used a master grocery list and mostly bought the same things every time I go to the grocery store. I'll have to be a little more creative in planning our meals to coincide with the things that are on sale and are a good deal. I've also tried to do 2 weeks worth of grocery shopping at a time. This system encourages weekly shopping to take advantage of the weekly deals. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

If you're a Grocery Gamer, feel free to share your Grocery Game experience with me in the comments. If you decide to join in on the fun, you can drop my info as your referrer. I'm not sure what I get for referring, but I know there's some perk.