Glimpse of Yesterday

Glimpse of Yesterday

Monday, February 16, 2009

22.875% Sounds Good to Me!!

Nope, that's not the interest rate on my savings account (I wish!). And it's not the APR on my credit card (thank goodness!). And it's not my body mass index (it will be if I don't lay off of the Boston creme doughnuts!). What that number represents is the amount that I saved grocery shopping on Friday. And I didn't use coupons.

If you don't have a customer courtesy card with your local grocery shopping chain, then you should. I usually buy store-brand items. Almost always when there's a 'buy-one get-one free' promotion. This is when my hubby gets his beloved kielbasa. We have an upright freezer for such bargains. When I do my weekly grocery shopping, I try to get as much as I can to last my family of four the entire week. The only item I usually have to pick up towards the end of the week is milk. We are huge milk drinkers, going through at least four to five gallons per week.

So this past Friday, my daughter and I went to our local Stop & Shop. The items purchased were not just grocery items but included dog food, garbage bags, and a few picture frames that were on clearance for $1 each. My total grocery bill was $130.12 before my courtesy card savings. My total after sale promotions applied was $100.36, a savings of 22.875%. I was practically squealing with delight when, my daughter finding the clearance rack, we found Pupperoni dog treats on sale for $1 each! Now, these are Abigail's (the dog) favorite treats and they are usually priced at $4.59 each. I scooped up all four bags on the rack and immediately saved $14.36!

Stop & Shop also runs a promotion where you earn gas points. For every $1 spent, you earn one point towards saving at their gas pumps. While the Stop & Shop in our town does not have a gas pump, the one about 15 minutes away does. I accumulated my points over the past couple of months and went to the Stop & Shop gas station on Saturday and saved $.60 per gallon on gas to fill my van. I only paid $1.32 per gallon for gas. The customer courtesy card is absolutely free, and it saves me scads of money each year. I could have saved a bit more money on this past shopping trip. I could have saved an additional $3.39 if I didn't cave into the Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies (double chocolate, of course) buy one get one free promo. But, I did make up for it by buying the store brand English muffins over Thomas'. Thomas' were on sale as buy one get one free but the cost of one was over $3. The store brand, however, for the same product (six muffins per package) were priced at $1.29 each. So I got two packages of the store brand cheaper than buying the national brand on sale.

So, what does all of this savings mean? It means that we don't feel 'guilty' when we want to 'splurge' and buy Pizza Hut every once in a blue moon. The time and effort that goes into making our money stretch pays us when we want to splurge. (our 'splurges' generally never cost more than $40) That we're really trying to get the most for our money and try to spend wisely.
I hope that this post is helpful to anyone who is trying to budget more during these confusing economic times. I think if we take control of our own finances, we'll fare better during this recession. And sometimes it's the blessings, like Pupperoni on clearance, that does it for some of us.

Have a great day!

3 comments:

  1. I love that feeling of seeing the savings! We are whittling our bill down more each week.....I also buy marked down/reduced yogurt and meat. If you use it right away it's still fresh!

    It's a fun challenge to see how much we can take away from our expenses and put into savings!

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  2. So glad that you're finding bargains and ways to save money. My grandpuggy adores pupperoni and so I try to have some of those on hand when he comes to visit. They're much easier than the M&Ms I keep for the grandboys. ;> Oh my! You must be lean and mean if your body mass index is lower than 22%! I'm in total awe...

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  3. Lee...I came across this and thought you might like this blog:

    http://www.earlhamner.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete