My Grocery Shopping for the Week–I saved 78.5%

We were out of town last so I had to hit the store Monday to get us some fresh produce.  (I still had milk and eggs that I bought before we left.  I love buying Organic Milk because of the long shelf life.)

Monday Afternoon’s Trip to MARTIN’S:

My Monday Night Trip to MARTIN’S:

My Wednesday Night Trip to MARTIN’S:

 

I had to make two trips to MARTIN’S on Monday because two of the three bags of lettuce that I bought smelled and tasted really bad when we opened them to go with our dinner that evening.  I haven’t had to return an item in about a year to the store, but because of the Double Your Money Back Guarantee on perishable items I actually made money on my produce.

The service center associate ended up giving me the non-sale price back on my produce in addition to doubling that amount.  I told her several times that the bags had a $1 off sticker and were only $1.50 each (after sale and discount) and that I should only get that much back on each bag.  In addition to having two bad bags of lettuce, I also got charged for bag that I didn’t buy.  She also gave me back the non-sale price of that.  I again mentioned that I was only charged $2.50 and that I shouldn’t be getting extra money back, but she insisted that it was the non-sale price.  I was expecting to get $8.50 back, I ended up with a refund of $19.10!  I tried explaining to another associate that I thought it was too much, but he also said it was correct.  I still don’t think it is correct, but I tried my best to make sure I was honest with them and to make it very clear that I was not trying to take advantage of the policy. 

I don’t want to list everything that I got, but I do want to highlight the things that I got for free or really inexpensive thanks to sales and coupons:

• Beech-Nut Jar Baby Food & Cereal – Free thanks to coupons the company mailed me
• (2) Nature’s Promise London Broil and Nature’s Promise 92% Lean Ground Beef – marked down 50% off (I paid $9.40 for 1lb of ground beef and 2.82lb of London Broil.)
• (10) Nestle Nesquick Milks – Free after coupon (I did separate transactions at the self check-out to get them each for free.)
• Ortega Taco seasoning – $0.17 each thanks to sale & coupon
• (4) Kraft Dressing – $0.50 each thanks to combining it with the Dole Salad deal and $1/2 coupon
• Band-Aids – Free + $0.13 money maker (the $0.50 coupon doubles to $1 and they were only $0.87)
• Zone Bar – $0.25
• Odwalla Bar – $0.30
• Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta– Free after coupon
• Jell-O Temptations – $0.99 each after tear-pad coupons I found for $0.75/1.  (I also earned $0.20 in fuelperks! from these and 2 Kraft Dressings.)
• (3) GIANT Brand Sandwich Thins – $0.57 each (marked down 75% off with a sell-by date 3 days out!)
• 3lbs ground chuck – marked down 50% off
• GIANT Oatmeal – marked down 50% off (the box was slightly crushed)
• Keebler Granola Fudge Bars – Free after Mail-in Rebate (Tearpad was with the display)
• I also used $10 in Walgreens Register Rewards

Totals: (I am missing my receipt from Monday evening so I am guesstimating the shelf price of the Powerade as $1 each and the Pasta as $1.45)

Shelf Total (before markdowns, sales, coupons, or tax): $155.71

Final Total (after markdowns, sales, coupons, mail in rebate, before tax): $52.55

Double Your Money Back Guarantee: (-$19.10)

Total Savings: $122.26 (78.5%)

Final Out Of Pocket: $33.45

 

How did you do this week?  Did you find any great deals or markdown items?  Please feel free to share!

 

~Ann