04 April 2009

Super Saver Saturday: Party Time! Excellent!

"Are you having a party?", asked the cashier, the manager in charge, 5 or 6 people we passed on the way to the check out, and the people behind us in line as we pushed an entire cart full of 2 liter bottles of pop to the checkout lanes. It took 2 of us to drag the darn thing up to the front of the store in the first place. 2 liters, it would seem, are quite heavy.

My answer, of course, a simple "Yes?".

I don't like to answer a lot of questions at the grocery store. I often get weird looks for what makes it on the conveyor belt, and other than casually replying that I have a hungry family of 5 to feed, I don't go into details about why we need 17 boxes of spaghetti or 40 cans of tuna fish at one time. It was just easier this weekend to go along with the assumption that no sane person would buy 55 2 liters (which is how many fit in the cart at one time without toppling over) unless they were throwing a huge party. Bring the limes over, apparently there's a social gathering predicted for my basement 2 liter stash in the near future.

My shopping for the week included (and we're up to 7 people this week as we have house guests while my father recovers from open heart surgery) ...

Trip Numero Uno
2 2ltrs Big Red: 88c/ea on sale - B3 Squirt, G BR Free coupon = FREE!
7.77lbs of sweet potatoes: 99c/lb = $7.69
(I cannot WAIT for sweet potato fries this week! Yay!)
4 2ltrs Regular Coke: $1.49/ea = $5.96
3 2ltrs Diet Coke: $1.49/ea = $4.47
6 2ltrs assorted Squirt: 88c/ea on sale = $5.28
7 2ltrs assorted Dr. Pepper: 88c/ea on sale = $6.16
12 Yoplait: 50c/ea on sale - $1/10 instant store deal - 40c/6 coupons = 35c/ea
6 Stouffer's french bread pizzas: $2/ea on sale - B5, G1 Free store deal - $1/3 Meijer coupons = $1.33/ea
4 boxes Orville microwave popcorn: clearanced to $1.60/ea (1/2 price! yay!)
Bottle Deposit: $2.20

Total Spent: $49.68
Total Saved: $27.76

Trip Nombre Deux
2 1lb containers of strawberries: $1.50/ea on sale = $3
18 2ltrs assorted Dr. Pepper: 88c/ea on sale = $15.84
7 2ltrs assorted Faygo: 58c/ea on sale = $4.06
2.94lbs of green grapes, 5.05lbs of red: $1.49/lb on sale = $11.91
Bottle Deposit: $3.10

Total Spent: $41.39
Total Saved: $17.08

Third Time's A Charm
45 2ltrs assorted Dr. Pepper: 88c/ea on sale = $39.60
8 2ltrs assorted Faygo: 58c/ea on sale = $4.64
Bottle Deposit: $5.30
- $9 in catalinas from the Kraft deal last week

Total Spent: $40.54
Total Saved: $34.77


Overall Total Spent: $121.61
Overall Total Saved: $79.61
(adjusted for returnable deposits ...)

That's about a 40% savings ... but on a more realistic note, it's at least an extra $60 in my pocket. This family of mine is full of pop drinkers, and although they deal rather well with my odd meal concoctions, wacky deals, and stockpiling they refuse to deal without a rather regular supply of pop. It's the one thing I pay full price for when we're out rather than just getting by without ... sad when we don't even buy milk until it goes on sale. Ha. So, reality-wise, pop sales are my lifesaver. They're why I spend an entire afternoon doing transactions at Meijer when the limit is 4. They're why I load my trunk to capacity with plastic bottles. They're why I look like a lunatic throwing a party with my cart full of soda. I get to keep that $60+ in my pocket now, even though I had to lay out quite a bit to stock up. 100 fresh 2 liters should hold us for a while ... I hope.

Did you nail any good deals this week? Tell us about them by linking to Super Saver Saturdays at MoneySavingMom!


Simply,

Em.

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