Winging It

Today was proof that The Grocery Game is an extremely easy way to save money and going without it makes me one very confused shopper. Not completely, I did use The Coupon Mom and that helped but it's not as clear as The Grocery Game.

How does the Grocery Game work?

- I buy two papers

- I save the coupon inserts from each paper and write the date on it

- I file it away until it's needed - no cutting required till later

- Once a week I print off the Grocery Game list I wish to use

- My list tells me what is on sale for the week and what coupon to use by the date and initials of the coupon insert: RP - Red Plum; S - Smartsource; P&G - Proctor and Gamble

- Green items are free; Blue items are the best deal for stockpiling and black items are to be bought only if needed - by dividing them up it is really easy to see what is the best deal and what isn't even when it seems like it could be

- Takes me about an hour to clip my coupons and compile my list and about the same to do my shopping and for that I save quite a bit!

But tomorrow I will be out all day and today I needed food and I was worried about missing out on a few good deals so I went ahead and shopped today. Why is that a big deal? The Grocery Game only updates on Sundays - for Harris Teeter her list is only good for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday thus other days it is not accurate for that week's sales even though HT changes their ads on Wednesdays.



I did get my shopping done and I did manage to save quite a bit: I spent $107 and saved around $93 but I felt like I wasn't on top of things. I was kind of out of sorts and not as sure if I was getting a good deal or not which frustrates me a tad. The Coupon Mom tells you the coupon, the item, the sale price, the final price and the percentage saved. I'm somewhat smart and I can see if my savings is greater then 50% I'm doing pretty well but what The Coupon Mom fails to tell me is if the price I see there is going to be the best price that product will have in a 12 week period because sometimes saving 25% on a product may be the best it's ever going to be. Know what I mean?

I've also found that I may need to adjust my budget a tad. Seems I am spending about $115 a week. This week I am short a few things because HT didn't have them in stock so I will need to return to the store. Last week I spent $25 at Target after my purchases at HT. I used to spend a few hundred at BJ's every month but now we're cutting that out since I can stock up at HT instead but that means my grocery list is longer so I'll have to go with the flow and adjust as the weeks allow.

My dinner list for this week:

Monday - White Bean Chicken Chili

Tuesday - London Broil (it was on sale now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it)

Wednesday - Baked Ziti (times 2) - one of them is going to a new twin mom

Thursday - Maple-Glazed Meatballs over rice

Friday - we have been invited out for dinner - yea, no cooking

Saturday - Cheesy Chicken Fajitas

So, I encourage you again to check the Grocery Game for your area. You can pay just $1 for a 4 week trial. She also gives you info. on stores like CVS and Rite Aid. If the Grocery Game is not available in your area or if you don't have a decent store near you (though even ones that don't double coupons do have good deals - Giant and Wegman's come to mind) do check out The Coupon Mom.