I am such a dork, Kevin suggested we do price-matching to get some deals at Wal-mart, and I did it for the second time today and the price differences are really ridiculous - 88 cents for a loaf of bread instead of $1.97 or $2.24 at HEB, grapes for a full $1 less per pound, and the list goes on. We are able to use the ads for some smaller, less known grocery stores that have great advertised deals - FoodARama, FoodTown, and Fiesta. As Kevin says, woohoo for ghetto grocery stores nearby :)
I'm a dork because I decided to take it a step further and do some other comparison shopping, and even made a spreadsheet. At Sam's last weekend, I wrote down prices of some things we commonly buy and wanted to find out what is truly a better deal at Sam's and what is the same (or less) at the grocery store. I also want to find out what is cheaper at Wal-Mart and what is cheaper at HEB. So, while doing my shopping today at both I wrote down prices, and find that its a mix and some things I bought for the cheaper prices but other things I ended up paying the higher price because I had to make a decision at WM whether or not to buy it or leave it for HEB, and then we needed it so I bought it anyway even though it was a little more at HEB.
HEB is crazy with their coupons! I get coupons each week at the register, and last week I got four:one for a free case of water, and one each for $3 off $30 purchase, $4 off $40 purchase, and $5 off $50 purchase. My groceries were about $60 so I figured I could only use the $5 coupon, and would need to spend $80 to use two ($50+$30) - nope. The girl ringing me up said I could use all 3! So I saved $12 plus I got the free case of water, for a total of $16 of savings and I got another $3 coupon at the check out, and on the way out they gave me two free car wash coupons ($8 each). What must the margin be on some of this stuff to give out so many coupons and still make money? I probably don't want to know.. I make myself laugh with phrases like the Mastercard commercials: Time spent finding coupons - 5 minutes, time spent explaining them - 10 minutes, feeling of accomplishment at saving some money - priceless.
It really becomes a game and a personal challenge to try to save money and get the most for my money at the grocery store.
A girl after my own heart! You know I love a good spreadsheet.
ReplyDeleteClinton calls Wal-Mart the evil empire and refuses to set foot in there unless absolutely necessary.
We do most of our shopping at HEB - especially if we have a lot of produce on the list, because it's so much better there. And also they're definitely cheaper than Kroger even with the Kroger card. Except for laundry detergent because they don't carry the right one.
I loved coupons when I used them, but now that we are eating more produce than anything else, there just aren't many in there for us.
One time I left Food King in LJ with a 3 foot long register tape, and it was less than $5! My all time best record!
Ok, so I need to introduce you to one of my friends sometime. She's a total coupon queen as well! She and her mom even clip coupons for each other and mail them back and forth. =)
ReplyDeleteI think I'm too lazy to do a coupon swap, but have seen people doing that, and makes sense -- if you know they buy it grab it and they'll do the same for you.
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