Trust The List

I did my weekly grocery shopping on Sunday evening. I had a cart full of groceries and I'm looking at it thinking "I have gone way over budget!" I had hoped to spend just $50 yet my car was overflowing with groceries - a few of them were, gasp, full price.

So, needless to say I was a little nervous when I got to the check out line - my cart was full, both in the basket and underneath so I knew I had spent to much. My original total was over $133! Yikes, way beyond my budget.



Then I handed over my VIC card and my total came down $57! After handing over my coupons my total was just $51.87! And that was exactly what I planned to spend :) I saved $85.61.

And that's when I realized just how well the list really works. There have been many times I have seen a coupon and considered using it but when I take it to the store I realize how little the coupon saves me.

For example: I have had a coupon for $1.00 off 2 packs of Ball Park hot dogs. The kids like hot dogs and they are really easy to serve for lunch or dinner but until this week the Grocery Game never suggested I use the coupon. The full price for the hot dogs is $2.99 so if I used my coupon on any other day I would have paid $4.98 for 2 packs but this week hot dogs were on sale buy 1 get 2 free! Wow, big savings. But I received an even bigger savings because I had my $1.00 off 2 coupon. Wait there's more - I actually had 3 $1.00 off 2 coupons so now I only paid $2.98 for 6 packs of hot dogs or just $0.50 a pack! If I had used my coupon at another time I would've missed out in this really great deal.

That's what the list does - Teri's program (founder of the Grocery Game) lets me know when the best time to buy an item is. Because sometimes a sale is just a sale and a triple coupon doesn't save you as much as double coupon plus a sale.

If you're on the fence about the Grocery Game I hope this is another reason and example to try it out :) And if you don't have a decent store to use it with be sure to really check the sales and coupons to be sure you're getting the best deal and save yourself some money! Every day my triplets are eating more and more and I'm realizing how much more food they can consume! Without help I would be spending twice what I do on my food bill.

Have a question? Feel free to comment but if you're having trouble commenting then please e-mail me: dorindanelson@comcast.net