harvest sunset

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Supermarket Sweep


Ok, so most of you have seen the Extreme Coupon show or at least heard of it. These (let's be honest...crazy) people get grocery carts full of things for under a dollar with their coupons. It's usually 230 mustards, 115 laundry detergents, and 300 packages of bacon....always ridiculous amounts. Some give the excess items away---great idea, some hoard it in their basements--

this is not the cold war....

I have been cutting coupons to save money on groceries this year and try to only use them on items that I would normally buy anyways. Also, I try to use them when they count for more savings. Example-- Harris Teeter's super double coupon week or triple coupons. If you are lost in the language, don't worry. You can go to Southern Savers and get all things "coupon" figured out. I digress....so I have saved a lot of money on groceries by using coupons I've found in the newspaper and online. It takes time- even to use coupons minimally, but the savings are worth it to me in the end.

Yesterday started one of those weeks at Harris Teeter that doubles coupons up to $1.98. I don't even bother with coupons under $1 on these weeks. The coupons that are $1.50 are the best because you save $3.00 at check out. I'm realizing how big of a dork I sound right now.... So yesterday I went when the store opened, 7am. I have never done this before. I usually go later in the week but a lot of the items are sold out. Also, I couldn't sleep because I thought I saw a ghost-- I'm saving that for a later post, don't worry :)

So here I am, rollin in with my shopping cart at 7am, half expecting to be participating in a Supermarket Sweep moment with other crazy coupon participants. I enter the doors, in sweats, pony-tail, and no make-up and I realize... "I look like the crazy mom on Extreme Coupons" I literally look like her. Who does this? Gets to the grocery as it opens? Instead of being in the company of other weird shoppers, I find myself in the company of the produce man and inventory stocker. In fact, most of the sale signs for items haven't been put up and the lights are only half-way on (I'm thankful for this b/c I hoped I might not be spotted in the darkness). So, like a hunter, getting up early to stalk and kill its prey....I go in for the kill. I suck up my pride and I roll down the lonely aisles while pinching my pennies and sorting through my coupon book.


As I check out, the clerk says "Wow! Do you know how much money you saved? Where do you find these coupons?" And beaming I say innocently, "the newspaper." I have succeeded. I managed to buy over $80 worth of groceries for under $30. Some items I even got for free!

I went home and laid out my loot on the kitchen table. This has become what my husband expects on these trips. I like to stack it all up and display it like a trophy...and then go down my receipt and list of all my savings, and end with my grand total. I realize, again, this is silly...but in that moment I am proud. Proud of saving money and seeing his face look shocked as I tell him my grand total savings (it's the little things haha). Then I put my items away with a smile on my face.

This isn't something you are born with skill in. As any athlete does, you must train. My mother was grooming me at a young age. I recall many car rides to Kroger when I carefully sorted my mother's coupons into her filing folder. "Mom, does this one go in baked goods or paper products?" My brother and I watched Supermarket Sweep and dreamed that one day we could run around the grocery store stuffing huge cheese wheels in our cart and winning money. Seriously...we did. We would go on that show in a heart beat. Sad, but true. Shout out to my sweet money-saving Mom, who made all of this possible-- Thanks Mom! :)



1 comment:

  1. That's what I'm talking about sis! Emily and I went in to the HT at 7:30 AM yesterday. First time we've ever gotten up early too. We didn't have as much success, as we bought about $30 of groceries for around $7 I think.

    And Super Market Sweep would be the #1 show in America if it was still on. That show was action packed, and if you had time to ground the coffee while stuffing your cart with wheels of cheese, you were in great shape.

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