Just wondering as we have not been home for the past three days due to Hurricane Lili. We evacuated. They have been without electricity & water in our area since early yesterday morning. The power came back on late this afternoon but still no water. So, we head home tomorrow!
I am wondering how the food in my freezer is holding up. I may have to use some of those specials to re-stock my freezer!
Abear93, Yes they were Reward Card Specials, and the sale is supposed to last I believe until Tuesday? I didn't have one of their cards and signed up right there on the spot. The only things that had a limit on them were the "Buy 1 Get 2 Free". There was no limit set on the B1G1F. I noticed they had some other good prices on other items too, but I was pretty much doing loss leader shopping only.
I hope you get back in your home soon. We lived in Charleston back when Hugo hit, so I know what you are going through! Unfortunately I wasn't so lucky and our power was out for weeks so I lost all my food in the freezer, but my homeowners insurance covered it!
Since I started reading and posting here, I've learned a lot more about grocery shopping. When I remarried about 1.5 years ago, my grocery bill shot up to $200/week. DH and his two boys moved in at that time, and I just didn't know how to plan WELL for all five of us.
In a short time, I got the bill down to $100/week. In December I got laid off from my job, and since then have tried reducing all bills when possible, including groceries. Spent a couple months stocking up, then tried to reduce my $100/week to $85. So far, it's working well. Am stocking up now with the holidays in mind - more baking goods, ingredients for gifts we're baking, holiday dinners, etc. Hope to reduce to $75 after the holidays.
I've been doing some bulk cooking, which helps save time and money. It's been kind of fun actually. Mostly I double cook what's for dinner to freeze the extra, or I make the staples of a meal and freeze it to save time later (like browning ground beef or freezing french toast). I make a monthly menu, and then reevaluate each week based on what changes we made (read: what's left over that I thought we'd eat and didn't). I've also started saving those 'little bits' that are leftover, and freezing them for later use.
I mostly shop two stores. My new price book taught me that WalMart is substantially cheaper then everywhere else, so I'm back to shopping there (despite the long lines and monstrous parking lot). I also shop Tom Thumb, because they have great loss leaders and they triple coupons,and they're right around the corner. I'm still experimenting with store brand items. Have found pretty consistently we like the Tom Thumb/Safeway products that we've tried. We have Kroger and Albertson's nearby too, but they usually run specials very similar to TT.
I have started buying some grocery items at Dollar General, but I don't buy all that many yet. Have found great prices there on cereal, juicy juice, and aluminum foil. WalMart beats their prices on some things (like cornbread mix). Also have found some good grocery sales at Target (like I need an excuse to go there).
Originally posted by craftymom Thank you for letting me know ... it sounds a lot like Liquidation World ( well DH said that ) that we have here. They have some real good bargains in LW and from what you have told me it is the same
Thank you again Renee for clearing that up for me
Sue
Big Lots reminds me of MacFrugals. Don't know if that is up north either, but it seems to be in the Rockies. Ummm, another anology might be that the Dollar Tree is the Wal-Mart end of the spectrum and the Big Lots is the Target end of the spectrum. Not always as cheap as other sources, but sometimes better quality. This is based on a non-food Big Lots since that's all I've seen (they did have furniture though!).
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“To be a mother is the greatest vocation in the world. No being has a position of such great power and influence. She holds in her hands the destiny of nations, for to her is necessarily committed the making of the nation’s citizens." —Hannah Whitall Smith
First things first. Start a price book. I fought it for months and when I did start doing one I was kicking myself for not having done it sooner. And don't kill yourself trying to price everything out at once, do it as you go. My friend-in-frugality and I did make a couple of 'special' trips to the Super Wally because we continually forgot to price several things that were quite essential to us, otherwise we just added things to it off of our receipts and any notes we made in the store. DH has even told former co-workers that their wives need to get up with me for my list (I share it with anybody in the area).
I now have a spreadsheet printed out with the cheapest regular price and the store it is located at, as well as the cheapest loss leader, the date of the sale, and the store, as well as the frequency of the sale (soon to make an appearance on the list) so I can plan my stocking to last until the next sale. I keep this printout in my diaper bag so I can consult it anytime I might need to.
Since doing this I have found that most of the area loss leaders are still more than Super Wally or Costco, and some of the loss leaders are better at one store than at the other.
OH!! Another tid bit I recently was told about is that supposedly Super Wally will match advertised sale prices. I haven't verified that with them yet, and I do not know if it is restricted to national brands, or if they will mark their storebrand down to the price of the other store brand's advertised price.
Well, crummy. DS has woken up (it's nearly midnight), so I'll try to come back and finish another day.
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“To be a mother is the greatest vocation in the world. No being has a position of such great power and influence. She holds in her hands the destiny of nations, for to her is necessarily committed the making of the nation’s citizens." —Hannah Whitall Smith
kimmyo 
