Market Monday - Exciting Savings and a Bit of Toddler Drama

Well, I hadn't planned on having this post this week, because I hadn't planned to do any shopping this week. Ironically, the week that everyone was getting their best-ever deals and savings at Publix is the week that I looked at the ad and said, "Oh, that won't benefit us. I won't do any shopping this week." Then my sister (a college student) commented that she'd like some past fixings for her room. Well, at least she told me while they were still on sale!
So I pulled up I Heart Publix and hunted down the coupons for the deals. I almost felt deceitful doing it, but I drove out to the one (out of the four) Publix's in our area that is super lenient on their coupon rules, because I had some coupons that would triple stack. I'm not sure how (and I'm not complaining) but I came out paying a little bit less than I anticipated. The cashier didn't really pay attention to my coupons, and since I'm pretty positive they were all correct, I'm assuming I just worked my numbers wrong. The only "bummer" was that the store wouldn't let me have overage. I really don't get that since it seems all my couponing buddies seem to get overage from time to time. She went to scan my last coupon, and it wouldn't let her because it would have brought it to a negative. I asked if they could just change the value of the coupon, and she said "no". So, instead I paid $.70 for most of this...
...plus two candies that didn't make it home. :) I had the BOGO Snickers coupon, and was going to get that as a filler item at Publix, but they didn't have the right bar for the coupon. Poor Emma--I had told her I'd get her a special treat because she had been really good and very helpful while in the store. When they were out of the candy she was disappointed, but kept a good attitude (something we've been working on, so I was proud of her!). She was, of course, offered a balloon. At our usual Publix the bring the balloon with either a clip or some weight tied to it so the child is less likely to lose the balloon, or they at least tie it on my kids wrist for me. Well, here the manager came and handed them to me while I was in the midst of paying, so while forking over my $0.70 and waiting for my receipt, I loosely tied the balloon to Emma's wrist (so we could easily get it off to put her in her car seat) and the other to Edith's ankle. As we were walking out of the store, a gust of wind blew, and there went Emma's balloon. She was devastated, but was still working out not fussing about it. The kind gentleman helping us to the car offered to get her another balloon. I felt bad, but he offered, and because I really wanted Emma to be rewarded for how well behaved she was being, I accepted his offer. I continued on to the car with our things while he went back inside for another balloon. I had everything in the car, including the girls, when he returned with a very large balloon. Emma thanked him, and I got her buckled in. As we were pulling out of the parking lot I hear POP! Poor Emma was shocked, and then she could contain her disappointment no longer. She began to just wail. Part of her cry I could tell was because she'd been frightened. The balloon hurt her when it snapped, I think she was more scared that it had hurt her than of the actual noise. So, I promised her we would go get a special treat. I pulled out my Wendy's "free fries" coupon that I'd been holding out on, and treated her to some fries and nuggets--the we tracked down that candy bar at Wal-Mart.

So, back to the shopping trip. We price matched some produce at Wal-Mart and got 20lbs of potatoes for $3 and a few pounds of grapes at $.99/lb. I literally walked to every single check out line looking for the Peanut Butter Snickers that was covered by the coupon, and found ONE left at the last check out line! Honestly, I wasn't impressed, but it was free. :)

My husband ran out the other night because I was desperate for some real milk, and our local Facebook coupon support group had a notice on it of a local supermarket that had a coupon out for a free gallon of milk with the purchase of 4 Kellogg's cereals. Well, since Kellogg's cereals were BOGO at Publix this week, we decided to take advantage of another great deal, since we seriously can never have enough cereal in this house! (I love Oreos and ice cream more than my husband, and he loves cereal more than me---just kidding!) He found peelies on the boxes for $1 off produce wyb 2 boxes of cereal. Sadly, I failed to get a picture of his amazing deal that he pulled off at Publix, but I'll list it out for you instead:

4 Kellogg's Frosted Flakes $4.09/ea - BOGO = 8.18
- 2 - $1/2 Kellogg's Frosted Flakes 6.18
1 Milk 3.35 - Competitor Coupon = 0.00
Grapes 1.26lb @ 1.69/lb - $1 coupon 1.13
3 Bananas 1.03lb @ .69/lb -$1 couopn -.29
Total = $7.02

Another shopping adventure that took place this weekend, but was not photographed (and did not include food) was a trip to JoAnn's Fabrics. They had Simplicity patterns for $1/each. Some of the patterns I got were regularly priced at almost $17! We also found some storage bins on clearance for $.97, and got a cutting mat for our rotary cutter for clipping coupons. In all I paid around $18 for 3 storage bins, a cutting mat, and 7 patterns, and my receipt said I saved $97+. (I don't have the receipt in front of me at the moment.

So, I didn't stick to my goal of not shopping, but I'm pleased with what I got. My sister has enough soup, rice, and pasta to last her probably through the summer, and I paid $.70 for all of it!