Bu-Bye Grocery Budget (a.k.a. Lessons in Grocery Hording)

I am a psycho.  I almost think I need an intervention. Shopping for groceries with coupons and getting good deals is like a serious high to me...I can no longer control myself...so I cannot bear any responsibility for my actions.  Lucky for me, Patrick is not here to witness my insanity, and with any luck I will have all the evidence hidden away before he gets back.  Here's my story...

Albertson's is having an insanely good sale on Quaker products.  This sale only happens once a year (and now that Albertsons is officially closing their doors on Feb. 22 this will be the last)  So...after shopping at Smith's this week I was bound and determined to NOT step foot in another store until next week....no matter how good the sale.  Unfortunately, that plan all fell apart because we needed milk and strawberry syrup for Braden last night.  So off I went to Walmart...I took my ads so I could price match a gallon of chocolate milk, and that was my first mistake...Here's what I left the store with:

• 6 boxes of oatmeal packets (.40)
• 4 packs of hot dogs (.50)
• 2 canisters of oatmeal (.80)
• 2 boxes of pancake mix (.40)
• 6 boxes of Pasta Roni (.46)
• 5 boxes of Rice a Roni (.79)
• 3 gallons of milk (1.66) not pictured
• 1 gallon of chocolate milk (2.00) not pictured
• Strawberry Syrup (1.47)

Altogether, I spent $21.94 when I FULLY INTENDED to just get some milk.  But I was also presented with another dilemma... I actually saw a bunch of people price matching that Quaker stuff, the shelves were VERY bare (believe me, if they hadn't been, I would have bought more than I did), and someone was even waiting for them to check their truck to see if they had more granola bars.  This actually made me feel like I was missing out on something and suddenly the hunt had begun. I figured I better go back and see if they restocked. So...this morning...off I went to Walmart again.  I told myself it was just to "run in and see if they restocked..." Yeah, right.  Here's what I bought the second time around:

• 5 boxes Life cereal (1.00)
• 12 boxes Quaker granola bars--the very awesome Dipps kind (.50)
• 5 boxes (more) pancake mix (1.00)
• 5 bottles of syrup (1.00)

I spent another $25.00.

So....as if two trips to Walmart isn't enough...after the trip to Walmart this morning I somehow ended up back at Smiths (I think something is wrong with my car?)  Actually, I had stumbled on this really AWESOME coupon for salsa...there was NO WAY I could let this deal pass me by.  So, by the time I was done, I had an entire Suburban full of food.  Here are my Smith's deals:

• 2 Arrowhead water 24 packs (I've been watching Haiti and I'm going a little bonkers on the water because of it--can't have too much...plus I found a good coupon) (2.49)
• 1 Arrowhead water 6 pack (FREE)
• 2 packs Solo plastic bowls (.74)
• 2 packs Dixie paper plates, sm. (1.49)
• 2 packs Mission tortillas (.25)
• 2 packs Dixie napkins (.94)
• 12 bags of Goldfish (.88)
• 4 Sobe Lifewater  (I made .61 cents with my coupon)
• 2 Krusteaz Key Lime Bars (1.49)
• 12 bottles La Victoria salsa (a MONEYMAKER--I made .50 cents on each bottle)
• 4 Hormel Chilimasters (.29--for the big jars)
• 4 cans Hormel Chilimasters (.52)
• 2 packages Keebler Cookies--the new yummy looking Cheesecake middles kind (.19)
• 6 Hershey's bars (.25)

I spent $24.14 at Smith's.

What a RUSH!  Who knew I could have so much fun buying groceries!  Altogether for these three trips I SAVED $195.41.  It was a good day.  And now, I promise on everything I hold dear that I will NOT go back to the store again...this week.