I Think I'm Hooked...

I blame Jen. She got me hooked on checking www.grocerysmarts.com every week. If you've never seen/used the site, it basically links up the in-store specials with what coupons are available for those same products, and then it gives them a star rating, based on whether it's an okay deal/good deal/great deal. A lot of the coupons are printable off the Internet, so you don't even have to get a newspaper, although there are some great coupons in those, too. Anyway, I mainly started using it as a way to bulk up my food storage. I've just had this nagging feeling lately that I need to be better at doing food storage. (Questions about food storage? Here's my plug for www.providentliving.org) Anyway, this is a great way to get that 3-month supply of the stuff you eat regularly, and at great prices. For example, today there were great deals on cereal, among other things. Case in point: Today I went to Vons (otherwise known as Safeway in other states), and I bought the following: 1 package of Athenos feta cheese 3 lbs. London broil 2 Del Monte Fruit Natural cups 4 bars Dial soap 1 Arm & Hammer laundry detergent (I got hooked on the smell!) 1 jar honey 3 packages of Crystal Light drink mix 3 boxes Pasta Roni 2 boxes Fruit Roll-ups (Nick's favorite) 2 boxes Nature Valley granola bars 1 box Honey Nut Cheerios 1 box Cocoa Puffs 2 boxes Lucky Charms 2 boxes Kashi granola 2 boxes Kashi Go Lean cereal Original total: $94.77 What I spent: $33.66 That means I saved $61.11 by combining the in-store sales with the coupons I got off the Internet. For the 25 items I bought, that works out to $1.35 for each item, and it's all stuff that usually costs at least that, if not more (Kashi cereal is usually around $4 a box). And it only took me about 30 minutes to look at the website, print, and cut the coupons. The website will even print you a shopping list. The biggest problem is having the self-control to resist buying stuff you don't need, even if it's at a ridiculously low price. Sometimes stuff is almost free (the Del Monte fruit cups ended up being 25 cents a piece), so it's hard to pass it up. But, even if it's stuff you don't use, Jen gave me the idea of buying it anyway and then donating it to a food bank, shelter, etc. Since it's almost free, why not? It's good karma.