Whew!

I've never walked out of the grocery store giddy before until today!

A few years ago, I was involved in a scrapbooking site (which happens to be going out of business so get on over there and scoop up some deals!). On the message boards one day the gals were talking about a site called The Grocery Game. (I know I've blogged about it before but it's been a while.)

Basically The Grocery Game involves using a list given to you on the site, combined with in store savings and coupons in the paper to receive maximum amounts of savings on groceries.

In MN, the only store on the list in my area was Walgreens. Yay. However, when we moved to CO, I checked into it again and lo and behold, City Market right here in town was on the list! Sweetness!!

I got all inspired and started getting the Sunday paper, saving coupons and following the list. I noticed a savings of about 30% but I didn't have a stash of coupons built up yet. Not great but not too shabby either. Then Baby was born and Hubby started doing the grocery shopping. He was not at all thrilled with the List, but then again, he's not thrilled with grocery shopping either. (I don't blame the guy one bit!!) The Grocery Game fell by the wayside.

I took a look a few weeks ago at our grocery bills and just about hurled. Ouch! Time to fire the Grocery Game back up!

I spent about 30 minutes this afternoon reorganizing my coupons and going thru the list, checking it twice.

Here's a quick sample of what I bought:

• Marie's Salad Dressing~ $1.50 (reg $4.29, savings of 65%)
• Betty Crocker Brownie Mix~ $.88 (reg $2.99, savings of 71%)
• Philadelphia Cream Cheese~ $.79 (reg $1.80, savings of 56%)
• Sunny D Smoothie Drink~ $0.00 (reg $1.99, savings of 100%) We don't normally buy this but, it was free. How could a Tight Finn like me pass it up?
• Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt~ $.43 each (reg $.89 each, savings of 52%)
• L'Oreal Kids Shampoo~ $.59 (reg $3.19, savings of 82%)
• Colgate Toothpaste~ $.25 a tube (reg $2.75, savings of 91%)
• Brawny 8 pk Paper Towel~ $4.49 (reg $10.99, savings of 59%)

and on and on.

Basically whatever you can buy at City Market is on the list at one point or another. I try to stick only to items we normally buy, unless they're dirt cheap or free (as in the Smoothie Drink).

When the cashier handed me my extra long receipt, she said in a slightly bored voice, "You saved a total of....HOLY CRAP (her words, not mine!)....$146 (or 49%)!! Whoa, man, that's like, so cool!" I felt like I was grinning like a Cheshire Cat! Ain't bad, ain't bad!

I know a person could make the argument that the savings isn't totally accurate when you factor in the Shopper's Card discounts because those are a "hoax". My feeling on that is if I need a card to feed my family for cheaper, hand it over. It doesn't bother me in the least that "they" know what I'm buying. It's a pretty smart marketing gimmick on their part. If you don't have a card, you don't get the savings and they get more of your money.

Oh! The Grocery Game costs $5 a month to get the list. My newspaper subscription runs about $32 a year for just Sundays. The savings is well worth the cost.