eating well and looking good for less

Sunday, March 27, 2011

More of that healthy food that you can't buy using coupons

Quick little Acme trip. I don't really want or need anything from the drugstores this week, but I had to get to Acme for the pasta and frozen veggies, and I needed to pick up my newspapers.

I spent $8.98 -- more than I was planning! All the frozen veggies (a dozen boxes) were free after doubled coupon, and the five boxes of Ronzoni pasta were also free after $1/1 coupons. My son was begging for yogurt, which was not on sale and cost $2.99, that 2lb steak was $4, the pair of cantaloupes cost $2.99, and the papers were $1.75 each. I used the three $1.50 OYNO catalina coupons I had left from buying all that tuna last week, to get my cost down to $8.98. My receipt says that I saved over $53.

(Okay, I will grant you that frozen cheesy broccoli probably does not count as "healthy food," but we have purchased -- for free after coupons, of course -- two dozen bags and boxes of frozen veggies in the past week, and I really didn't need MORE peas and corn. So, why not try cheesy broccoli?)

I normally buy my papers at Rite Aid, because I get 10% off, plus I can use my Ups to pay. Oddly, this week at least three quarters of the newspapers I checked either didn't have any coupon inserts in them, or had April 3rd's Smart Source. How weird. I guess maybe they ran out of this week's SS inserts and just filled the papers with whatever they had on hand. Does this mean a shortage next week, too?

Yesterday Mr Husband and I opened up a Kohl's charge card and hit the clearance racks. I've been hearing about Kohl's for quite a while (and since the previous owners of our house were Kohl's shoppers, we've been tossing those percentage off coupons for years!), but this is the first time we've ever shopped there. He was in desperate, desperate need of new clothing for work, and it's a Kohl's Cash earning period, so I figured what the heck.

He got almost an entirely new wardrobe, although he still needs a few more pieces. By using our newly opened Kohl's charge, we saved more than $30 (!!!) off the price we would have paid using cash, plus we earned that KC for future shopping trips. The receipt claims that we saved almost $425 on the clothing we bought. Uh, yeah, but who goes in to Kohl's and pays $80 for a cotton sweater?!?

I wish I had understood how KC was calculated; I asked an associate on the floor and he told me that how much you earn was based on the pre-discount price, but apparently he was mistaken, so we lost out on an extra $10 in KC when the cashier swiped the discount coupon. Oh well. We spent less, which is good, but if I had realized, I would have either made sure we bought those shoes he was looking at, or put back the clothing I picked out for the kid.

Dear Kohl's: Send me 30% off coupons. I promise to put them to good use.

I also bought some FoodSaver bags, which are on sale this weekend. They were still not cheap, but since I bought several multipacks, I paid $5.70 a roll instead of the normal retail of $11.99 a roll. I used up my last FoodSaver bags a little while ago, so I tossed my freezer food in ziptop freezer bags, and now I'm noticing ice crystals -- future freezer burn!!! -- on those items. Freezer burnt food is wasted food, and wasted food is wasted cash! So, I ponied up and paid the money for the big boxes of FoodSaver rolls.

I haven't had a very busy weekend, but I've spent the whole time just wanting to crash. Bedtime is early tonight!

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