Sunday Savings: Edition 8

For those of you wondering what ever happened to Sunday Savings (yea, all both of ya), it's back. I've still been playing The Grocery Game, but had a few Sundays recently where life kind of took over and I didn't have time to shop as strategically as I would have liked.



I have however, without fail, been collecting my weekly coupons and filing them away until Miss Veronica seems to have put on a few L.B.'s and is getting a little on the heavy side. In fact, I almost couldn't button her closed today.



Yep, Ronni can kiss the Junior's Department good-bye.





Nevertheless, I'm back in the game, and it feels good! (Cue me some John Fogerty here - "Put me in coach, I'm ready to play....today..")



This afternoon Sal Gal (accompanied by Mr. Jones) and I (with my lovely Veronica) went to Winn-Dixie. I saved $58.84 and only spent $60 and some change, cutting my bill in half.



Not too shabby.

That's all I've got for today. It's late and I'm tired.

Until tomorrow...

Edition 7: Sunday Savings

What I really wanted to name this post was: Savings Shmavings... or Ticked Off Strategic Shopper, but that would mess up the whole Sunday Savings setup. Now, this has nothing to do with The Grocery Game itself, it has to do with the stores in our town.

Yesterday, Sal Gal and I got a little frustrated with them. Being from a small town that has only one grocery store and one 'chain' drugstore, we have come to expect the fact that the stores do not feel the need to keep their businesses running at a high efficiency level because there are no competitors nearby. You would think that the stores would want to keep their stores in tiptop shape just for the intrinsic reward it brings. The personal satisfation from knowing your store is running top speed and putting smiles on customers' faces. But no, this doesn't seem to be the case.

Our town's Rite-Aid didn't have their sales posted, were out of many of products, and simply didn't even carry some of the items on the list. When asked why they didn't carry some of the more common name brands, we were answered with, " We jus' don't carry that 'round here."
Great. Thanks for your help.
Rite-Aid's receipts also do not calculate your total amount of savings for you. And to be honest, at this point, I didn't feel like doing it myself. I really think I only saved about $10 bucks on a generous estimation, which isn't bad, but it could've been a lot better.

Now, W/D also got us a little heated. They too did not have their sales labeled accurately and were also out of several items.

What I wanted to say was, "Listen here Mr. Winn-Dixie, if I may speak with you on a personal level, you are in fact NOT 'getting better all the time' as your commercials state." And if I may be frank (not Hollie, but Frank), "I'm not impressed with the fact that your manager would rather check the status of the gel in his hair in the freezer section's glass reflections than help me find a particular item."

I did manage to cut my bill in half yesterday, in spite of all of the drama. I got $66.67 worth of groceries for $33.82, saving me $32.85.
Typing this out just now made me realize that it is indeed still a good amount of savings.
But not hurkey worthy. I really did have every intention of attempting a hurkey for ya'll.
Sorry. Tell hair gel boy at W/D that he blew it.

Edition 6: Sunday Savings

We started a little something different today and changed the list of our usual stores. We decided to give up Publix and Walgreens and added CVS and Rite-Aid in their places for traveling distance purposes. We kept Winn-Dixie because it is the closest 'grocery' store. Besides, Publix and W/D usually have a lot of the same items on their lists and Sal Gal and I decided that we really didn't like giving up our entire Sunday afternoon for the love of savings.

Today was a great day in Savingsville because I actually saved more than I spent at W/D. I saved $52.75 and only spent $41.92. LOVE IT!

Now, we had planned on hitting up Rite-Aid after church tonight but Sal Gal accidentally left Mr. Jones at home and we didn't have time to run back and get it before they closed. She blew it.
Next weekend we'll try to make it to all three stores and I'm hoping the CVS and Rite-Aid change out will prove to be worth it.

Edition 5: Sunday Savings

Okay ya'll, so I had to meet Matt's mom half-way again to pick Kate up from her "Weekend at Grammy's" which means I had to do my grocery shopping tonight after church, which means I had Matt and Kate along for the ride, which meant my shopping trip was doomed needed to be shortened, which means I could only hit up our local W/D for my savings, which meant...j/k.

But I have been thinking, and I've decided to only go to all three of my stores (Publix, Walgreens, and Winn-Dixie) twice a month instead of every Sunday, and just do W/D all by its lonesome the other couple of Sundays. Going to all three stores takes a lot of time, especially since Publix and Walgreens are a good 30 minutes from where I live.

I was especially proud of myself tonight because I did not have my coach (Sal Gal) with me and still managed to rack up the savings.

I got about $70.00 worth of groceries for only $36 and some change.



Not too shabby.

And because I love all things random:

1. I just recently finished painting and hanging the belly cast I made when I was pregnant with Kate. I plan on posting some pics here shortly.

2. Matt is usually not as quick-witted as....oh, I don't know......ME, but he said something yesterday that I thought was pretty funny.
I asked him if he would please hang the shelf I've been wanting him to hang in my closet and he responds with, "Sure, honey" (in an extremely overdone sappy tone).
And then he looks at his brother, Adam, and says, "If one more person needs me to do something, I swear..."
"I heard that!" I snap back.
To which he comes back with, "Oh, I wasn't talking about you."
And then he points to his dad and stepmom's house. And says, "I was talking about Chaka Khan and Chaka Can't over there."

As promised...

...Behind the Scenes: Getting up close and personal with the heel click.

Many of you have commented on my heel clicks and may even assume that they are easy to come by. You're probably thinking that they just happen on the first try, on demand.

Come, come my dear friends, gather 'round. You've been led astray. The heel click is an art form that takes several attempts to get it just right and...camera ready, if you will.

Take for instance the first documented heel click. It took several tries, along with perfect timing on the photographer's (Sal Gal) part, to snap the best one.

Check out the first futile attempts.

Attempt 1:

Here you see that Sal Gal got a little over anxious. Give me a chance to get warmed up would ya?!

Attempt 2:

Oooo, almost. But again, a little trigger happy.

Attempt 3:

Close, but not quite.

Attempt 4:

At this point, Sal Gal is laughing sooooo hard that she basically started snottin' everywhere. I think she may have even had those little sweat beads above her top lip.

Okay, one more try.

Attempt 5:

Bam! Got it!

Now last Sunday was a little different as you may have noticed. On this particular day, Sal Gal was feeling a little athletic. Oh who am I kidding? Sal Gal has NEVER felt athletic a day in her life. Let's just say she was feeling a bit adventurous and decided she wanted to attempt the infamous stunt.

Getting two heel clicks to occur simultaneously definitely demands some major skills. But again, it took several attempts. Take a look.

Attempt 1:

Eww, we were WAY off. I'm not even sure that Sal Gal got vertical on this one.

Attempt 2:

In this one I'm picking up the entire bag of Rolos that managed to spill mid jump. Rolos were this week's mid-game snack of choice. Yea thanks, just stand there laughing and watch me pick them up, nah, I don't need your help.

Attempt 3:

Okay chick, I think you're enjoying this a little TOO much.

Attempt 4:

Here Sal Gal has just slapped me because she decided she would count for us (to keep us in unison). I chose not to follow, therefore she got physical. Control freak.

Attempt 5:
Check out the look of sheer determination on Sal Gals face!
Disclaimer: My shoes are NOT white, they are indeed silver. The fact that I'm from the south + somewhat traditional = I still follow the no white after Labor Day rule!

Even though we finally got it, we may or may not have forever traumatized some local boy scouts who were selling bags of popcorn by the door. They'll forever remember the day at Winn-Dixie when those weird ladies were doing strange looking air calisthenics in the parking lot. Their future girlfriends will NEVER be able to live up to this! Haha!

So there you have it my friends, the heel click in a nutshell novel-length post.

Don't be afraid to give it a try. You may surprise yourself!

Edition 4: Sunday Savings

So yesterday Sal Gal and I headed out for some money-saving fun, only this time we came upon the grand fortune of having a personal chauffeur.

Meet Garrett. He's our cousin. He and Sal Gal attend the same church and she recruited him for a "quick run to the grocery store" (wink, wink) so that we could cut our coupons along the way. Unfortunately for him Sal Gal did not give out many details during his recruitment. He had no idea what was in store. Again, pun intended. :-)

Now since we're in the mood for meeting new people, meet Wilson, a.k.a. Mr. Jones.

This is Sal Gal's super-duper, boring, brown coupon binder. Feel sorry for her.

Now meet MY new coupon binder, Miss Veronica. Ronni if you're nasty.

Sal Gal broke the 10th commandment when she met Ronni.

We earned some great savings yesterday and were so proud of ourselves. I saved $30.66 at Winn-Dixie, only spending $27.79 and I saved $43.35 at Publix, only spending $37.82. In other words (I love other words) I got $139.62 worth of groceries for only $65.61!

Evidence please...

Do you feel that? Do you feel it coming on? Oh yea, I think ya do.

Savings like THIS deserve a...............................................................

DOUBLE heel click!

Coming up: A special Behind The Scenes edition of the heel click. Stay tuned...

Quick Preview

Just a quick post to say that I'll be posting about yesterday's Sunday Savings later today.
Here's a sneak peek:





















What's so funny?

And there's more where that came from...

Edition 3: Sunday Savings

Matt was on call today so we were only able to go to Winn-Dixie today for our money saving jaunt. Even so, I saved some cizzash. I got 90 something dollars worth of groceries for 50 something bucks. My savings were around $48.00. No bad for one stop! I lost my receipt this go round. It's somewhere either in the back of my sister's car along with about 103 other random things or floating around in the WD parking lot. Anyway, you believe me don't ya?
There's something to be said about having a house full of groceries. I told my sis that I feel like a real mom and wife now. As if laying spread eagle pushing a child out wasn't enough? Nope, it's the groceries that do it for me. I like knowing that if someone runs out of something, I'm pretty sure I'll have an extra stashed away somewhere. Now whether I'll be able to find it is another story!

Edition 2: Sunday Savings

Alternate title: Saving Some MOE-NAY!

Today we decided to go to all three stores. First we went to Walgreens, then Publix and last Winn-Dixie. I was really impressed with my savings today.

Here's a pic of Sal Gal. She didn't really want me to post it as we were already pretty deep into our shopping. Her exact quote was, "No one looks good midgame, Hollie!"

14 cents Powerade + 98 cents trailmix = perfect halftime nourishment
"Drink powerade, Get powered up!" Because strategic shopping IS a sport!

My favorite quote from her today was when she looked at me dead serious, with wisdom-filled eyes, and said, "Now, you can't be scared of looking like a nerd when you play The Grocery Game." Nerd? You just gave away your age my friend.

We really enjoyed our time together, and she didn't mind hearing me sing "Get your clip on, get your clip, getcha getcha getcha getcha Getcha clip on" (sung to the tune of a once popular Missy Elliott song).

The beauty of The Grocery Game is that you build a stock pile so that when you run out of something, you go to your home store (the mini-grocery store you've created). That way, you're not at the mercy of the seller and their prices. And another great thing is that you try brands and items that you may have never tried. Take for instance, my new found love for Sara Lee's Soft and Smooth bread. I mean, yes we've just started dating but we're already looking at rings. It is soooo good!

Hello lover.


Okay, I should really get to the main star of this post: The Savings!

Walgreens: saved $81.42 spent 102.97

Winn Dixie: saved $54.61 spent $ 74.71

Publix: saved $54.14 spent $51.53

In other words, I got $419.38 worth of groceries for only $229.21! Go ahead, have a seat, take all the time you need. Let me know when you wanna join in. Matt couldn't believe it. If I keep coming home with receipts like this, I could single-handedly be bringin' sexy back.

Savings like this deserve a heel click!

And THAT'S pretty much what's up.

Sunday Savings!

Today was my first day as a strategic shopper. Sal Gal and I originally planned to hit Publix, Winn-Dixie, and Wal-Greens, but after eating a big Sunday dinner consisting of chicken and rice, macaroni and cheese, peas, rolls, brownies AND ice cream, we decided to just keep it local and make Winn-Dixie our only stop for today. And since today was my first time playing The Grocery Game, I didn't know what to expect as far as savings, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting much. I only had 3 or 4 weeks worth of coupons saved and I wasn't sure how far that would take me. But, being the good sport that I am, and the fact that I'm a WONDERFUL sister, I went for it. I have to say, I was surprised at how much money I saved on this one little trip!

Here I am with the two necessities required to make this trip a success: coupons (of course) and a Diet Coke fountain drink (Styrofoam cups were not available at this store....hmmph!)

Drum roll please......

Here's the receipt with my savings:

I saved $48.39! I only spent $32.87, which means I got $81.26 worth of groceries for only $32.87. I've never SAVED more than I've SPENT, before now. It was awesome.

So, my overall feelings about this new way of shopping?

I think I could get crazy with this!