When there is pricing matching involved we head to Walmart

or Brian does for me.  Meijer had Post cereals - Cocoa Pebbles (and probably the other Pebbles cereals as well) for only $.99 for the 11oz boxes Saturday only this past weekend.  So Brian (being the awesome husband he is) hit up Walmart at 5:43am on Saturday morning (after working Friday night/Saturday morning) and got:

krab salad (?) for $2.98
4 Cocoa Pebbles was $10.00 (at Walmart price) for $3.96

Total spent:  6.94
Total saved (price matching):  $6.04
Percentage:  almost 50%


Second trip was me and three kids (I know...not my brightest moment) to get some more cereal, sadly they were out.  So we picked up dinner and dessert instead - popcorn chicken, General Tso's chicken, chicken strips and some mozzarella sticks from the deli and Edy's (price matched for $1.99 from Mejier) all for $12.36 - not our cheapest meal ever that's for sure but it saved me time and effort in the kitchen.

Usually I hate Walmart but sometimes it just fill the spot.

And just to keep what I track up to date...

Walmart (from a couple weeks ago - Brian had the receipt)


3 California Kitchen pizzas for $6.00
trashbags for $2.47
potatoes for $3.08
And two items that I'm not sure what they are... for $.82 and $.68 - nothing fancy that's for sure!

Total spent was $13.31

Weekly shopping trip - Walmart first

I don't hit up Walmart very often.  I am not a big fan of the store (which I've said more than once!).  I searched through old posts and found I was just there at the end of June, so it's only been about two weeks but I had a few coupons that were going to get me items at half price - so I went!
3 California Kitchen personal pizzas for $6.00 (had $1.00 coupons but they were expired...got the pizzas anyways - they are good and easy for work lunches)
2 30oz light Kraft Mayo for $3.50 ($2.50 each and had a $1.50 off two coupon)
2 3-way light bulbs for $2.84
4 TicTac mints for $2.08 (used two B1G1 FREE coupons)
1 pack heavy duty paper plate for $4.87
2 18ct Tampon Pearl for $3.92 ($3.96 each and used two $2.00 coupons)
2 Head and Shoulder shampoos for $4.72 ($4.72 each and used one B1G1 FREE coupon)
1 Kraft Bleu Cheese dressing for $1.00 ($2.00 each and used a $1.00 coupon)

Total spent:  $30.98
Total saved:  $13.30
Percent saved:  appx 31%

I mentioned below we spent under our grocery budget...

I forgot until I was just looking at receipts that I spent $3.18 at Walmart yesterday for some wasp/hornet spray.  Apparently Brian and his buddy were battling more than the sun and heat yesterday - some unfriendly flying insects had to invade the party as well.  While I'm not one for killing animals (even an ant or spider) I'm glad they were able to use this spray to protect themselves while working yesterday!

Hit up Walmart this weekend...

I was hoping for some FREE (or at least cheap) items with coupons but a $4.00 Oil of Olay Total Effects body wash coupon made the product 1/2 price and the $2.00 Secret whateverkinditwas coupon made the product just over 1/2 price and that wasn't enough for me.  We still purchased a few things and we had two transactions.  Our store had a recent remodel and we had two of those $5 gift cards that our whole town received in the mail (my granny dislikes Walmart more than I do so she just gave me her $5 card).

First transaction:
4 California personal pizzas for $8.00

Total: $8.00
Saved: $5.00 - free gift card (62%)
Spent: $3.00

Second transaction:
2 Gillette body wash was $5.94 for $2.97 (B1G1 free coupon)
2 Kraft ranch dressing was $3.00 for $1.00 (two $1.00 off coupons)
3 Crystal Light PureFit was $5.91 for -$.09 (three $2.00 off coupons - $.03 overage on each)
2 bags softener salt for $10.88
1 scrub pouf for $2.00
1 furnace filter for $4.58
1 18ct Tampax Pearl was $3.96 for $1.96 (one $2.00 off coupon)
1 8ct Poptart for $1.81
2 M&Ms was $1.74 for $1.00 (one B1G1 free coupon)
1 itty-bitty "very cute and soft" stuffed animal for a special girl - $2.50

Total: $44.53
Saved: $5.00 - free gift card plus $13.76 (appx 30%)
Spent: $25.77

And that's it.  I'll be staying out of Walmart again for a while.

So, uh...we did some stockpiling this weekend!

In four different trips to Walmart we came home with:

4 solar salt for the water softener
12 40oz Heinz ketchup was $29.04 for $12.00
6 Kraft mayo was $14.94 for $11.82
1 24pk Sprite was $6.42 ("normal" Walmart price) for $3.96 (priced matched to Meijer)
7 24pk Coke Zero was $44.94 for $27.72
2 24pk Mountain Dew was $12.84 for $7.92

Along with some new plastic cups ($.25 per cup), pancake mix and syrup, paper plates, Malt-O-Meal cereal and Kraft dressing (on sale and had coupons).

In those four trips we spent $103.39 and used money from savings to do so...  I'm guessing we saved around $50.00 or so - so about 33% we saved.  It was nothing spectacular but we thought the deal on Coke/Pepsi products was pretty darn good so we decided to stock up on it now.  Brian's thinking that should last us six months or so. 

Two quick trips over the weekend

resulted in some okay deals for me. 

Marsh on Saturday
1 Aunt Millie's buns was $2.69 for 1.39

Total spent was $1.39, saved $1.30 or 48%.

Walmart on Sunday
1 Pepsi 2lt (per my dad's request) was $1.38
3 24pk Coke Zero was $20.94 for $15.00

Total spent was $17.53 and we saved $6.94 which is about 28% savings.

I also shopped at Walmart yesterday... Shocked?

Yeah, me too. 

Actually, as much as I hate Walmart there are some times when I go there to get things that I just really need on a regular basis (you'll see what we got) that I have a really good coupon for and don't want to wait for a deal to roll around to use them.

So...we bought:
5 frozen banquet meals was $5.00 for $4.40
2 Corner Bistro subs was $5.48 for $3.48
4 Old Spice deodorants was $15.08 for $6.54
2 Always pads was $9.22 for $3.35
2 Tampax tampons was $10.84 for $1.87 (mis-rang by cashier, didn't notice until I got home...should be $4.88)
2 Vaseline Sheer Fusion was $13.94 for $6.44
1 24pk Coke Zero was $5.96 (?) for $5.00

I spent $34.30 and saved $38.88 in coupons...so just over 50%. I know that my spending should be a bit higher still, it was a pretty good trip!

Walmart trip today...had to do some price matching!

Meijer had 24packs of Coke (and Pepsi) products on sale for $4.96 and since Brian was out of Coke Zero we decided to stock up.

4 Coke Zero was $23.84 (Walmart's price) for $19.84
3 Wheat Thin crackers was $8.94 for $-.06 (yes, Walmart paid me to buy the Wheat Thins)
1 Ritz Munchables (the new half pretzel/half crisp cracker) was $2.98 for $.98
1 30ct trash bag $3.42
2 bananas $.36

I spent $26.17 and saved $15.00, saving about 36% - not too shabby.  What really helped was having four $2.00 off when you buy Coke/Nabisco products AND the Wheat Thins having peelies on the front of them for $1.00 off each.  Those coupons alone saved me $11.00, the price match was pretty small.  It was better than nothing though!

And lastly for the weekend (I swear - the next one is for Monday!)

Brian ran into Walmart really fast last night for lightbulbs.  Both fluorscent tubes and bulbs for our new fixtures in the remodeled bathroom (see what I mean about finding more stuff we need to buy for this remodel!?).  He spent $10.67 and saved...who knows, whatever Walmart might have raised or lowered the price from in the last few weeks. 

(I'm not a Walmart fan...can you tell!?  And I'm sure I've never mentioned that here before either.)

Day-after-Christmas 50% off sale...

This is the one and only time you will EVER hear me say this...but I love Walmart.  I know other stores probably do this as well but I always head to Walmart the day after Christmas and they never disappoint me.  There is no other time of the year that I even like Walmart so consider this miraculous.

Anyways, here's what I got today:

4 100ct Christmas lights (multi color) - $1.19 each
22 small tin buckets w/ lids (used for my ball treats) - $.50 each
1 18ct Princess gift tags (for a certain little girl) - $1.00
2 70sq ft wrapping paper (also Princess) - $1.50 each
2 boxes Christmas cards - $2.50 each
4 Christmas throws (I don't know how to explain them but they are delicious...even though Brian says you can't apply to word delicious to things you can't eat...) - $2.50 each
4 HUGE bags of red and green M&Ms - $4.00 each (priced $4.50 but had coupons)
1 Princess stocking (also for a certain girl who thinks she needs a pink stocking) - $6.25 (my most expensive purchase!)

All said and done - before the discounts my price (pre-tax) should have been $119.02 and I paid $61.68 (including tax).  Because everything was half off and I had two $1 coupons (for the M&Ms) I saved just over 50%.  Not too bad on items that I might have paid full price for just the day before yesterday. 

It pays to plan ahead and buy for next year...  Do you know that you need more lights for the tree (or a new tree!?) next year?  Go buy it now...it'll save until next year!

Don't forget to check out the plates, towels, cups, tableclothes, etc that are Christmas-y too - those were all on sale as well.  My aunt bought a 4pc plate set for only $6.  And there were some Rubbermaid 4ct bowls (kinda sparkly with red or green lids) that were "Christmas" and only $1. 

And if you really want to save (but this leads to very slim pickin's) - Walmart will soon (a couple weeks maybe?) have their Christmas items marked down 75%. I can't wait that long though - I might not get what I want!