I didn’t do a lot of grocery shopping or couponing the first three weeks in March because I somehow ended up with three trips scheduled those first three and a half weeks. {I enjoy traveling, on occasion, and I love the opportunity to get to speak and meet some of you, but I’ve decided that three trips in three weeks is definitely not something I want to make a habit of! I much prefer quiet days at home with my family! :)}
However, I think I made up for my lack of grocery shopping and couponing this week. Here are the groceries we purchased:
My husband’s shopping trip at Dillon’s that ended up being pretty “screwed up” thanks to both of us miscalculating and misreading ads — Spent $34.97 — Read the full details and price breakdowns here.
Health food store shopping trip — 7 pounds of fruit for $0.99/lb.
Target shopping trip — Spent $38.01 (most of that wasn’t grocery money, though, since the games came out of our household envelope and the girls paid for the Hello Kitty house) — See the full details and price breakdowns here.
Dillon’s shopping trip #2 — Spent $1.26 — Read the full details and price breakdowns here.
Walmart shopping trip — Spent $1.17 — Read the full details and price breakdowns here.
Dillon’s shopping trip #2 — Spent $5.16 — Read the full details and price breakdowns here.
Aldi shopping trip — Spent $15.19 — Read the full details and price breakdowns here.
Didn’t You Waste a Lot of Time and Gas Making All Of Those Trips?
I’m sure that some of you are wondering why I made all these little shopping trips and thinking that I could have saved myself a lot of trouble, time, and gas money if I would have just gone to one store.
Well, yes, I definitely did do more shopping trips than I usually do this week. However, all of the stores were either on my way to somewhere else I was headed or they are really close to my house. I also had extra time this week since we didn’t have that much planned outside of the usual homeschooling and household life.
And finally, it was so nice to be able to just have fun shopping and getting bargains again, after taking a few weeks “off” from it. Yes, I know, I’m crazy that I consider grocery shopping a leisurely activity! 🙂
Would you like to know what the best deals and coupon match-ups are for your local stores? Be sure to check out the Store Deals section of our site where we post the best deals and coupon match-ups each week for over 100 different stores across the country. You can sign up to receive the top deals in your email inbox each week as soon as they are posted!
Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
I actually shopped with kids this week. I usually use it as “me” time. However, the Target trip, I had one kid and the Dillon’s I had three.
Congrats on the good deals! 🙂
Maybe I’m in the minority on this, based on the other comments, but I hate shopping (for anything) and don’t find it leisurely at all, even when I don’t have my three children with me. It wears me out to go to more than one or two stores in one day. I shop primarily at Aldi and Walgreens and occasionally Wal-Mart if I can’t get what I need at the other two stores. Any more than that is very stressful for me, and I don’t regularly drive by other stores.
I went to 6 stores today! That is the most I have ever done in one day. They were not out of my way so I didn’t waste gas and I had a friend with me so it was lots of fun! It was nice to get all the great deals before some of my coupons expired!
Thanks!
I confess, I enjoy shopping too. This week was my monthly stock up trip and I looked forward to it for days.
I meant to comment on the post regarding the Target shopping trip. We’re struggling with whether or not we should be setting limits on what our 5 y/o does with his allowance money. The problem is he doesn’t thing about it for months (except putting the dollars in his bank). Then he sees something he wants to buy, counts his money, and most of the time has enough to get it. Yes, he is buying it himself but we don’t feel like he’s understanding the process of saving up over time. It feels more like instant gratification. Anyone else experiencing this?
Really good deals!
I’ve been following this blog for some time now. I really enjoy reading about the shopping trips. Still don’t understand how you pull it off. 🙂
I was really impressed with your latest Target trip.
Where do you find the majority of your coupons? How much time do you devote to researching the deals and finding coupons? I do believe that the time that you invest is well worth it – just wondering.
I am still a little surprised at how much I absolutely love grocery shopping (thankfully my preschooler has come to love it too, which helps!). I live smack in the middle of a great Seattle neighborhood and live within walking distance of Fred Meyer, QFC, Cash and Carry (A huge money saver), Trader Joes, Safeway, a Town and Country market (a higher end grocery store) and a great fruit and vegetable stand. We are about a mile from Grocery Outlet, two miles from a huge Asian supermarket and a little Indian grocery and 8 miles to Costco. I don’t even bother shopping at the natural foods co-op and Whole Foods because I don’t have time or want to spend the money. 🙂 It is like heaven for someone who loves to cook a lot but I this month I finally have set a budget for groceries, installed an “envelope system” app on my phone and started making two week meal calendars to force myself to shop from the pantry. 🙂 I can already tell it is working!
May I ask what the envelope system app is? We’re trying to switch our budgeting system over to cash, but are still thinking it through a bit, and I’d be interested to know what kind of app you use!
It is the EEBA (Easy Envelope Budget Aid) sync app https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dayspringtech.envelopes (Also at the itunes store)
I really like it and it has tons of good reviews. Using a debit card really helps me manage my overall finances on Mint but I finally concluded that an envelope app would be great for specific things I can squeeze my budget on. I use it for groceries, coffee shops, clothing, meals out, kids activities and toiletries. I save all my receipts in an envelope and enter them into the app after shopping. It isn’t as hard core as cash in an envelope but for people who can be trusted not to cheat it works well. 🙂 An account can also be shared over multiple phones!
I always hit 3 to 4 stores a week, but I don’t use more gas than going to just one. In the town I live all the grocery stores are off of one main road, I just head to the furthest one out first and work my way back. If we ever move where this isn’t the case, I don’t know what I would do. Probably something similar to what you did, and hit them on the way home from other errands and appointments.
i need to go to publix tomorrow and stock up here’s hopping I can save some with coupons i’m still learning this game
I don’t think I consider shopping a “leisurely” activity, but I do love a good deal! 😉 March was very busy for me with some volunteer work, so I was doing bare-bones couponing and shopping. It was a bit of a thrill to have a big stack of coupons at the grocery store this week and to stock up on birthday party gifts with the awesome deals at Target!
They make Hello Kitty Legos? This is something I did not know, and should have! 🙂 What you do si impressive, I am working on a budget, and embarrassed to say, I am not very good at it.
You’re not the only one that finds grocery shopping enjoyable! For the past two months I have been filling in for the secretary of our business. My shopping trips have had to be quick in order to get back to the office or to rush home and tend to our neglected house. Earlier this week, I was able to leisurely walk through Kroger and thought to myself, “I have truly missed this and am probably CRAZY for missing it!” It’s so good to find out I’m not alone 😉
I’m with you on grocery shopping being something I enjoy. I am blessed (or cursed depending on the week…) to have all my grocery stores, Target, Walmart and drug stores within a mile of our house and all on the same intersection. Makes grocery/bargain shopping so much more cost effective not to run around wasting gas : )
Some weeks the deals are better than others!
I remember you saying before that you are close to a lot of stores; we are, too. If they’re all within a mile or less, it’s not hard to hit them quickly!
I find shopping to be a fun hobby some times, too. I like breaks because it gives me more time at home but once in awhile a good shopping trip can be satisfying (plus necessary since we all need to eat!). I had to show my husband my grocery store receipt last night because I was really pleased with how much we got for the money. Plus strawberries and pineapples are starting to go on sale and I am loving all the fresh fruit.
I had to do a morning of errands (5 stops) this week and with 3 kids all in car seats that about did me in! I stayed home the rest of the week. 🙂
I have 3 kids in car seats too and I don’t think I could do what you did – I would totally take a week off too!
It isn’t my favorite either, but we are a one car family so I have to do it when I have the car. 🙂
You have my sympathies 🙂
When my 1 child was small, 3 stops was our max so I cannot imagine 3 little ones in car seats plus 5 stops. Yow!
I currently have 2 in carseats and another due in June, which adds it’s own level of exhaustion. I cannot imagine considering it worthwhile to load everyone in the car (having first fed, changed a diaper/ enforced a bathroom visit, rounded up shoes, jackets, etc.), unload everyone at the store, and monitor 2 littles in the store for 4-5 items, even if I could get the items for free or close to it. Even if we were passing by a store on the way to somewhere else, it takes a good 10 minutes just to deal with carseats to make an extra stop. I have one who doesn’t want to buckle up (4 1/2), and one that wants to do it all herself (2).
Crystal, I wonder what percentage of your grocery trips do you take by yourself, and how many you take with 3 children in tow?
It gets easier when they are older and more independent! I only have one I have to buckle and unbuckle and then another I have to help with buckling only. I definitely remember the days of three car seats and it’s much more of a chore–especially when they all need lots of help and oversight. I’m at a much easier season now!
However, I usually take just 1-2 children with me when I go grocery shopping and we often turn it into a little date with mom. It’s rare that I go shopping more than twice in a week with all three as that adds extra work and time.
Thanks Crystal! You give me hope that I’ll still be able to get food to our house, even with my 3 little “helpers.” I just don’t see other moms in the stores with 3 small children. If I found one of these moms, I’d be tempted to trail her to figure out all her shopping trip tricks. 🙂