The Grocery Game

We are trying to get back on a budget at our house. Ryan’s got me reading Dave Ramsey and all that, and we are going to focus on getting out of debt.

I don’t always do coupons and pay attention to the sales, but TODAY I DID.

I went to our local grocery store because they had a GREAT sale on General Mills items, with a “buy 8, get $6 back” deal. I don’t LOVE these little games they make you play to make sure you have all the right items and in the right quantity, and then to match those items with coupons makes it extra complicated, but I took the coupons I knew I would use, and not ALL the coupons I had so that I could pay attention and JUST get the things that were on sale.

I actually loved watching the guy ring in my purchases, adding my coupons, the sales, and then the $6 back from buying the featured items. Want to know how much I paid for all this food?

I don’t know if you can read that amount, so I’ll make that picture bigger…

but I paid $88.84. And that includes 6 bags of candy there in the middle. I used $12 something in coupons, and my receipt says I saved $88.11. Boo-Ya. Granted, I bought a lot of packed food and no meat, but since we just bought a fourth of a cow and our freezer is FULL, I didn’t need to buy any meat. Plus, we are still enjoying produce from our tomatoes and apples right now.

I am not claiming to be the best bargain shopper there is, but it gives me a little thrill to bring home that much food, especially the snacky things like gogurt and granola bars and fruit snacks, and to save money on it.

Yes, I feel kind of smart. Now I need to see if I can rustle up any more coupons so I can get more of this stuff while it’s still on sale. And to reach around and pat myself on the back just a little bit, thank you very much.