Market Monday

Okay, from now on I'm planning to do my main shopping on Mondays. So here is what is intended to be the first of many Market Mondays. I'm still not convinced we're saving money, but as I total things up, compare prices to what I would have paid at Wal-Mart, and see at the end of the month how our spending match up to previous months, I'm hoping I will be more convinced! Along with my normal grocery shopping, I'm also stocking up for a week-long vacation in August when we will be staying at an extended-stay hotel with my husband's family and we will be feeding ten people each meal. So along with saving money for our household, I've enjoyed the challenge of getting food for vacation for as cheap as possible. My husband's family loves there snack food, soda, and desserts. How nice that those are typically the items you can get the best deals on! (As a side note--this is a matter of great frustration to me. Why is it that junk food, sugar-loaded cereal, and soda frequently have great sales and coupons, while healthy stuff sees fewer sales and even fewer coupons?!) We never buy soda for our home, and we rarely buy junk-food snacks, so any of those that you may see here are most likely for vacation.

So, my first store today was CVS. They had General Mills cereal 3/$10 with $4 ECB. So it made it like 2/$6 --comparable to Publix sale price.
General Mills Cereal - 3/$10
Coupons - $2.05
Spent - $7.95
Got - $4.00 ECB

Then I went to Winn-Dixie to get the meal deal, but changed my mind. I did want to get a $10/$50 print out so I bought two packets of taco season for $1 total--but sadly I didn't get a print out. So that trip was a waste of time and money. :(

Next I went to Publix. Here I struck gold! And may I just say I LOVE Publix customer service! One item I was getting didn't have a BOGO sign on it, so the guy went to check the sale for me and told me to continue my shopping and he'd find me to let me know if it was indeed on sale. When he found me he brought with him 4 bottles of the juice and asked if I wanted any more. I did, but I told him I was fine--I should have let him get me more, because when I went back to get it I had to climb up the shelves to do so! :) Later, as I was ready to check out, my toddler bumped her mouth on the cart and her lip started bleeding. So an employee grabbed a paper towel for her mouth and a sanitary wipe for the finger that my daughter would keep out of her mouth since it now had blood all over it. The employee then asked if I was ready to check out, pulled my cart up to the line, and unloaded all of my groceries for me! And of course when I was done, someone took my things out to the car and put them in the car for me while I got the girls settled in. Where else do you get such great service and still save money?! I still didn't walk away with free groceries, or getting paid to shop, but I still did pretty well I think. Especially since I'm still learning.
This may take me a while to type out as I have a six-month-old assistant in my lap!

6 Mott's Medley Juice - $3.07 BOGO - used $1/1 coupons from Publix Summer Savings
4 Mott's Tott's - $3.07 BOGO
1 Tombstone Pizza (not pictured) - $5.95 - had Q - purchase pizza and dorito's get free Mt. Dew
2 Dorito's - $3.99 BOGO
3 Mt. Dew - $1.57 B2G1 - one free with coupon, paid for one more, got the third free!
2 Almond Breeze - $2.99 - $1/1 Q from Publix flyer, $1/1 MQ
6 Yoplait - $0.50 - $.0.50/6 coupon
4 Nabisco crackers - $4.49 BOGO
6 General Mills Cereal - $4.09 BOGO - coupons
4 Ronzoni pastas - $1.39 BOGO
2 Craisins - $2.25 BOGO
1 Rubbing Alcohol - $1.49 - FREE - Baby Club coupon
.75 lb cherries - $2.36
.60 lb tomatoes - $0.59
1 cantaloupe - $1.99

Merchandise Total = $119.00
MQs = $7.55
Sale Savings = $48.88
Store Qs = $9.49
ECB's = $4.00
RR= $10.00
Total Spent = 39.08
SAVED = 79.92

Not too shabby, I think!