Last night’s grocery shopping trip is a prime example of why you should always plan a grocery list before heading to the store…
Jesse stopped at Dillon’s last night to pick up a few things so we could grill out. He didn’t have a list and I hadn’t gone over the ad much, but I thought the Pace Salsa was supposed to be $0.99 per jar after the Mega Event discount, so I told him to pick up 10 jars. After he got home, I realized that they were $1.49 each after the Mega Event discount.
He misread the signs on the Vitamin Water/Tea and didn’t realize he had to buy in multiples of 10 to get the Mega Event discount, so instead of getting those for $0.50 each, he paid $1 each.
We had grocery money left for March and he’s gotten plenty of great deals through the years {and hey, he was kind enough to stop by the store!} so it really wasn’t a big deal.
{He told me to just tell you all that he screwed up on the shopping trip. But it was partially my fault for not reading the ad more carefully, so I take half the blame for the screwed up shopping trip! Instead of being frustrated, we both just decided to laugh about it–life’s too short to get frustrated over the little things, anyway!}
Here’s what he ended up buying:
2.11 lbs. bananas — $0.93
2.14 lbs. bananas — $0.95
Gold Peak Tea — $1.38 (not shown)
4 bottles of Vitamin water — $1 each (not shown)
10 jars of Pace salsa — $1.49 each
Green leaf lettuce — $1.89/head (not shown)
Hamburger Buns — $3.35
5 ears of corn — $2
Tomatoes — $3.19Total with tax: $34.97
In more positive grocery shopping news, I stopped by the health food store today and picked up some apples and pears that were $0.99 per pound. I love it when I can find beautiful fruit for $0.99/lb. or less!
I had a mega event mis-hap a couple weeks ago when I picked up the wrong size Pops box… I took it back the next day and got $7 and change back just from switching from the 17oz size to the 11oz size, ($5 that didn’t come off and the $2.xx price difference in the cereals) totally worth asking customer service!!!
For those having difficult with the mega event, keep a tally sheet as you put your items in your cart (I just do it at the top of my grocery list). Even if they are not listed in the ad, they should be shown on the price info. on the shelf and that’s when you make a tally for each item you place in the cart. This helps me tremendously because sometimes I have 20-30 items.
I live close to Kroger so when I mess up, I just return all the “messed up” items and rebuy the way I intended to (or not at all if the price is too high). Of course, if you used coupons, it doesn’t work but then I just explain my predicament to customer service and they usually let me fix it by adding an item or 2 and ringing things up again (with the coupons and mega discount). Thankfully, I don’t mess up too often but, hey, nobody’s perfect, right?
You are such a smart wife to not freak out over a few dollars. Thanks for being a great example!
I would return the salsa. 😎
When I do mega events that I am going to buy more than one group of 10 (usually I would have 30 at the very most) and it’s going to get hard to keep track I keep a few extras of something cheap that’s part of the sale (lots of times they will have tuna pouches for 50 cents or so) and if I for some reason I miscounted I’ll add it to the purchase so I get the discount.
I appreciate that you and Jesse are both willing to share the less-than-perfect shopping trips – it’s good to know you’re human 😉 Also, I think it’s very sweet how you both wanted to take the “blame” and that you were able to laugh about it!
Take it or leave it, just trying to help not nit pick. You might use the words, “messed up.” There are connotations to the alternative.
Oh, glad you both can laugh–and yet it’s still no fun!! My husband (who is a wonderful deal-shopper) now insists that I do Mega Deal transactions–he just hates the “pressure” while shopping! 🙂
sounds like what happens to me on almost every trip to Farm Fresh. I hsve gone back on several occasions to return items & purchase the “correct” ones to get the discount. i pretty much don’t shop there anymore because i just can’t seem to get it straight! On the other hand, my husband is a super shopper. I sent him to the store one night with maybe 1 or 2 coupons and $20. It was all we had left until pay day, whcih was still a week away and there was nearly nothing to eat in the house. We made a list of stuff from the ad and gave thanks that we even had $20 to spend on food. He was able to scope out deals and discounts and came home with a lot more food — good, healthy food! — that would have easily cost at least twice what we had, and without ant other coupons. He hates grocery shopping but i love sending him. He’s so much better at calculating/finding deals and staying in budget than i am!
Awesome!
I have a love/hate relationship with the Buy 10 sales at Kroger. It’s always stuff that’s a good deal, but it can be hard to get exactly 10. I ended up with 13 things yesterday because at the beginning of the trip, I got extras of some things just because I thought it would be hard for me to get to 10. It turned out that there were things included in the sale that I had missed in the ad or they’d left out of the ad, and when it was all said and done, I had 13 items. I should have taken 3 of them back to the aisles where we started, but I had taken my 4 boys with me, and I’m 7 months pregnant, so I decided to just pay the extra money.
I am notorious for screwing up the mega event. As I shop I will keep a list in my notebook but somehow I always manage to get 1 item off or I grab an item that has a mega tag right below but find out that someone mis-tagged it.
I have been to the service desk many times to fix my mega event mishaps. 🙂
Yesterday I had somewhat of a similar story. I read about the super deals Target was running on toys and having 7 grandkids and 3 nieces & nephews that are all still very small I saw a WONDERFUL way to knock out some shopping. Normally I will take my husband or “coupon buddy” with me, but unfortunely he had somewhere to be. So I made my list, checked it several times and rushed to Target. (Just in time too as I got the last 2 of several of the items). I was so happy when I got to the checkout to see the cashier just waiting to help =D She was extremely friendly as I have found most of them to be, and I began my transactions seperately since I was on my own for this trip. Then the line got long behind me and so my last 4 items I threw up there together. I thought it was a lil high when she said 17.56 and I noticed I did get 4 $3.00 coupons ( and had 4 items) so I paid and told everyone thank u for waiting. But it bugged me all the way to the car. So I sat down took a look at my receipt and noticed on the 2 board games I just got credit for the Target copuons. Went in got my $6.00 back and was pleased. Then when I got home I realized I hadnt asked about the other $6.00 for my play dough. So 17.56 should have been 5.56! This was my fault of course for getting in a hurry and I was still happy I had a trunk full of toys for 30.00 OOP for 10 kids!
That is a very good price for the salsa. It would be much more expensive here. The Vitamin water of $1 each is a regular sale price too. I’m grateful also when my husband runs to the store for me. Unfortunately there have been times I would point out shopping mistakes made. I’m learning to lighten up, let things go, and just appreciate the fact that my dh went to the store to begin with. That’s great that Jesse helps with grocery shopping! You can tell he always puts forth a very good effort with the deals he brings home. 🙂
Love your post! I think that’s still a great price for salsa!
I’m surprised to see you paid so much for hamburger buns. Were they special buns?
By the way, I think it’s great your husband stuck to the list even if it didn’t work out this time. We always seem to “mysteriously” end up with cookies or candy in the cart when my husband goes shopping 🙂
They were the ones he picked out. 😉
Ha ha ha! I was wondering the same thing! I thought that maybe they were gluten-free!
Pepperidge Farms buns are fantastic, “much better than the store brand, etc.”. This is one item we alway’s pay full price for.
LOL, when my husband does the shopping or shops with me, we spend way more than we would because of all the snack items he slips into the cart.
Love your posts!
My husband ran to the store for me the other day to get town trash bags and I told him to pick up some soda for himself as well.
When he got home he realized that he paid $5.50 for a 12 pack. To get the sale price you had to buy three and he only bought one. I laughed and said oh well- not worth the time to go back and fix the mistake. Life is too short to worry about a few dollars here and there! (plus that $2 was worth it since by him going I didn’t have to go and drag the kids to the store during the week- my sanity is worth much more than a couple of bucks!)
Which health food store do you find your produce deals at?
It’s a local store, not a national chain, unfortunately. 🙁
just think of it as supporting your local economy. that helps cushion the *loss* for me 🙂
Can you just return those items? Or go back and buy more for price adjustments? We don’t have that store here but our grocery stores will do that kind of thing.
Been there, done that!
But your attitude is so positive — it is so much easier to laugh than cry!
Those Mega sales often drive me crazy … but I always ask to get mine “fixed” and they are always happy to help me!
I wish I could get salsa for that cheap around here! The Pace Salsa is usually over $3.00 not on sale.
I have a SUPER easy recipe for homemade salsa. It beats any store-bought we’ve ever tried, and being that we LOVE chips and salsa in my house, we’ve tried a lot of salsa’s!!
(2) 14.5oz cans diced tomatoes
1/2 fist full cilantro
3 whole pickled jalepenos (can add another if you want it spicier, but taste first)
1/2 white onion
1/2 lime, squeezed for juice
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Put all ingredients in a blender and enjoy!!
An easy way to keep from “miscounting” the mega items is to place a shopping basket inside your cart. I only put the mega food items in the basket and the rest around it. It helps me keep things separate and makes it easier to do a quick recount before heading to the register.
That is an awesome idea! Thanks for sharing.
I’m just excited to see that corn on the cob is popping up in grocery stores! I’ve been waiting months, lol.
And…the Pace salsa was still a good deal!
I feel your pain. My 8 y/o and I carefully counted our mega event items last night. We were certain we had two groups of ten. When we got home I realized I had only received one. I finally figured out one of my items didn’t scan! it would have been 3.99 after the discount so I guess just a $1 error, but I was still annoyed.
What a cute story! My husband will finally take a coupon with him to the store if I ask him to go buy something, but he always rolls his eyes at me 🙂 He’s starting to see the light!
There is one local store (Alco) who always gives us grief with our coupons. (They will not manually enter them if they don’t scan, and they rarely scan!) My husband got denied 2 times before when trying to get me deals and was embarresed because there was a line behind him, so he won’t do it anymore. He did give me props the other day for getting our budget rolling in the right direction with coupons and price matching And he & my son will pick up coupons for me, so that’s nice! They are starting to see the bigger picture 🙂
About two months ago my husband was doing the same thing, rolling his eyes. Yet, the other day he was going to Sports Clips to get his hair cut and stopping by Target. He asked if I had a coupons for him. I was so proud!
With most stores around here (Phoenix-metro) if you miscount during a mega event, you can fix the matter at customer service. When you find the mistake, take the receipt to customer services and explain you were trying to do the mega and miscounted (or thought one was that wasn’t, or whatever the case may be) and ask, can you please fix the matter by buying the appropriate number of items? As long as the mega-event is still live, they are usually more than accomodating. Usually, you don’t even have to to have all of the items, just the receipt.
I didn’t ever think of that! I am so bad about miscounting during mega events! It makes sense that they would be accomidating to you buying MORE! Thanks!
Alexis, that is awesome to know. My Husband and I are moving to Phoenix, AZ from San Antonio, TX at the end of may/beginning of june. I am entirely nervouse for such a big move but I have been scoping out grocery stores/ coupon policies etc because don’t have any of the same stores here. What are some of the best coupon friendly stores to shop at up there?
Heather…I live in the West Valley, which when you move here…you’ll understand what that means. I’ve found the best store to shop at by far is Fry’s. They make all coupons worth $1. And their prices seem to be the lowest that I’ve seen. I do shop Walmart too for somethings because there are a few things here and there that Walmart does have cheaper. Another thing that’s nice about Fry’s too is that you can get discounts on gas depending on how much you spend. $100 = .10 discount. And when you have to buy food anyway, why not save on gas too!
Another decent place to shop is Safeway. They also double coupons (you’ll have to check their coupon policy if they double or make everything worth $1). I shop there for some of their ad items. But I’ve found everything else to be overpriced.
Hope that helps! Ps. be ready for the heat!! 🙂
I live in the East Valley and second the Fry’s recommendation. I also love Sprouts. They usually have organic apples, pears, etc. for only $.99/lb on sale, and their conventional produce is almost always cheaper than Fry’s. I also use my RecycleBank points to get their $5 off a $40 purchase coupons. Since starting to eat Paleo a few months ago, I have found Sprouts to be my main grocery store and Fry’s to be the store I use most for toiletries and other odds and ends.
They do that here in columbus ohio as well. I miscount mega ten deals often and go to the service desk to fix it and one time they paid me 3.00 to add 1 item to me mega ten. So i got 3.00 just to go add 1 thing pretty awesome
My Kroger here in SW OH will do that too.
I bought 2 items that were on sale, but not part of the mega deal, though I thought they were. It was during a get $ off now AND get a coupon for $ off later.
I went to customer service and she said I could just buy 2 items that were and she gave me the $ off right then