A near perfect shopping experience

This morning I had a near perfect shopping experience. Let me bask in the glow of my satisfaction just a bit and share it with you.

9:59 — I dropped John off at his play group. One minute early, I’m sorry, but I had a lot to cram into my two hours of freedom, and I didn’t want to waste a second of my free babysitting.

10:14 — arrive at Costco and dash in to pick up the enlargements we ordered yesterday. This wasn’t really a fun part of the shopping experience, but necessary, as the science fair project is due tomorrow.

10:17 — leaving Costco and driving toward Albertsons.

10:21 –arrive at Albertsons. I lugged in a pencil box full of coins that I have been meaning to cash in at a coinstar for quite some time. After reading through the instructions, I dumped all the coins in, enjoying that little chink chink chink sound (it’s like a slot machine in reserve) and watching it add up my money for me. I had $53 in coins, that I decided to turn into an Amazon.com gift card. If you cash it into a gift card, they don’t take the 8% cut they would take if I just got cash out.

10:27 (approximately–I really didn’t look at my watch to see what time it actually was, but it probably took me 5 minutes or so to turn in all those coins). Grab a shopping cart and the latest ad and head to the Quaker sale. I’ve mastered the art of these dumb “10 for $10 sales”. I just get 10 of each item I’m going to get. 10 boxes of three different flavors of Captain Crunch, 10 granola bars, 10 instant oatmeals, etc. Then I’m not trying to remember if I GOT ten of something and don’t have to keep recounting what’s in my cart. Oh, and don’t waste your time on other things that aren’t on the big sale. I did add some chicken tenders (buy one get one free), baby carrots (also BOGO), cheese (BOGO) and a few cans of Pringles at $1 each. With my $12 off $120 coupon, my total came to $119.48 for 116 items. “Today’s total savings= $304.51”. And I was out of there in just over 1/2 an hour!

11:05–We’ve got the goods loaded in the car, and I realize I DO have time for a quick stop at Kohl’s, since it’s one of their customer appreciation days and you get 15% off if you use your Kohl’s charge. I figure I’ve got a good 30 minutes to shop (I would really have liked longer, but you take what you can get!) Perusing the clearance racks, I found 2 shirts, a jacket and a cardigan for me, a pair of flannel lined pants for Cole (the Klondike derby’s coming up and I’ve got to keep my boy warm), 5 pairs of pants for the girls, and four birthday present items for future kid’s birthdays. With my 15% discount, my total came to (ching) $80.54.

11:54–Run back to the car, throw the bags in the front seat and drive like crazy through American Fork to get back home to pick up John from his playgroup.

12:06–Pick up John. I was 6 minutes late (oops!), but couldn’t get him to come out of there for another 10 minutes, anyway. His friends all have WAY more fun houses than ours, with finished basements and lots of space for the little people to play. But I’m not focusing on that right now.

I am –Woo-Hoo– celebrating the fact that I got
a- Such great bargains, and
b- All that done in my two short hours of child-free time.

You may now congratulate me on my efficiency.