Cheapskate Grocery Shopping

I'm not a fabulous couponer.  I don't have a price book & in general I'm relatively sure I'm not the most frugal shopper around.  I do 90% of my grocery shopping once a month at Aldi.  I've found the more I go to stores, the more I spend, so I try to do one major haul at the beginning of the month & then only get necessities (milk & produce) as the month progresses.  I shop at Aldi because they seem to always have the best bottom line prices, & they have an amazing money back guarantee, so if something spoils or the like, I just take my item back & get a replacement & my money back.  If you haven't tried them you'll save a ton, I promise.

Because I find Aldi so cheap, I use their prices as my bottom price, so if I can get something with coupons cheaper than what I'd pay at Aldi, I buy it.   I really find our local chain of grocery stores infuriating (in lack of options, price, & coupon acceptance) but they do double coupons.  Today I decided to experiment & see what I could get at said obnoxiously infuriating local store..

I bought $30 worth of groceries for....$9.95.  Here's how I did it:

• Sweet Potato Fries $2.98--Free after Ore-Ida facebook coupon (no longer avaliable)

• Brownies (Yum!) $2.22--Minus $0.50 coupon doubled--Final Price $1.22-->Oh the hubs is happy!  :)

• Provolone $2.99--Minus $1 newspaper coupon--Final Price $1.99 -->Not a fabulous deal on cheese, but I needed it

• Sunchips  $3.79--Free after Frito Lay facebook coupon (no longer available)-->I'm WAYYYYY too cheap to buy these, so this coupon is aMAYzing!

• 2 Boxes of Mini Wheats 2 @ $3.28--Minus BOGO Free coupon & 2 $1.00 coupons from Vocalpoint making these only $0.64 a box. -->This is a huge deal because we've just run out of my free Kashi, so I'm glad to have another deal. Plus, they currently have a promotion for you can try the cereal for free after rebate, so I think I'm going to get another box.

• Coffee Creamer $4.70 for 2--Minus 2 Vocalpoint $0.55 coupons doubled--Final Price $1.25 each  --> I don't think this is a great deal, so I'll find out more tomorrow when I finish shopping.  The store would only take 2 coupons for the same item per each transaction, so I'm going to have to finish shopping at Wal-Mart tomorrow.  Grrr...

• V8 $2.29--Minus $0.50 newspaper coupon doubled--Final Price $1.29 which is cheaper than Aldi tomato juice & I'd rather have veg juice for my chili anyway.

• Pasta $1.19-- Minus $0.40 newspaper coupon doubled--Final Price $0.39

• Jello Temptations $2.50-- Free after coupon from Kraft First Taste

Not too shabby, but I'm really hoping to finish using all of my coupons tomorrow to get more great deals for the month.   Stay tuned...

*For those of you interested in free samples & high value coupons sign up for Vocalpoint.  It takes a little while to start receiving samples, but once you do they are always accompanied with amazing coupons so you can get really great deals. 

**Also, if you want to try new products & get coupons for FREE food sign up for Kraft First Taste.  Kraft will send you a coupon for you to try their new product & then let them know what you think about it.  I tend to get a coupon once a month & occasionally it's for things I wouldn't buy, but it's a nice treat & it can definitely help my budget.  In the past two months I've gotten coupons for a free package of cheese & free lunch meat for JC.  And you know FREE is my favorite word!!