After doing more research about couponing on the blog CouponGal and then also going on the Blog Southern Savers that my friend Tina told me about, I discovered that Bi-Lo would be my best bet for max savings with coupons. Since there are only 3 grocery stores in my area I was prepared to make a round trip if needed but thankfully I can get what I need done in mostly one store cause Bi-Lo will take coupons, double them up to .60 cents and I don't have to worry about a minimum purchase for them to double. Plus Bi-Lo has the Fuel Perks program that does actually work as long as you can find a gas station! Adam actually has one just right around the corner from his work and with both our cars being V-8's this program is a blessing with how expensive gas is getting!
I probably could have done a little bit better if I had taken some more time and actually did a shopping list of what I needed as well besides just my coupon list, but it was last minute and I still think I did quite awesome. Adam gave me a budget of $100 which is my normal for a two week period of groceries. I'm sure when Phoenix comes the budget will need to be higher due to diapers and other necessities but I'm sure that $100 will still be the budget we can afford so I need to make every dollar count!
My receipt after the check out was about a mile long due to all the coupons I used but I went in with $100 dollars and before savings my total was 129.37. My Bi-lo card was scanned for a savings of 35.94. (If you don't have a loyalty card, get it!!) Coupon savings of 15.70 and extra coupon savings of 4.43. So that brought my total savings to 56.07! So after taxes and all my total was 77.27! I almost cut my bill in half and so with the extra savings I rewarded myself and Adam to a pizza and shopping hehe.
With my budget being a tight one, no I won't be always about to reward myself with savings and to be honest I wouldn't mind being able to stock up on some things like they do on Extreme Coupons cause Adam and I love to cook out with friends and be social all the time. We don't always have the money to do this but if we stockpiled we could just pull from our shelves and no problem! Also I'm not just doing this for our little family of 3. If I did I wouldn't blog about it and tell my family and friends about it. The economy is harsh right now and I want people to have one less stress in life. Hopefully I can do that!
By the Way: My mission today is to go and find some deals at Rite Aid and CVS! I'll let you know what I find.
Does Bi-Lo carry that many Vegan-friendly foods in your area, or were your items mostly non-food products? Phoenix is a good name, by the way!
ReplyDeleteWell it is a small town and if I want more organic or vegan selections than Ingles is better. No I mainly get food items from the Grocery store and then my non-food from drug stores that tend to do some crazy sales! But bi-lo does at least carry a good organic produce section and they do carry Boca brands and Morning Star as well.
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