Super Shopping Trip = 1 Amazing Mom

by Cindy on February 28, 2010

This weeks shopping consisted of many different quick trips to different stores. I have gotten my pantry & freezer so well stocked that I am back to the point where I am only getting super cheap or free items. Love it when I can do that.

I started during the week at Target. If you remember my trip where I spent $3.43 for $41.74 worth of products.

Then I hurried over to Shoprite before the snow storm to do my first round of purchases.  I used a $10 catalina from the Quaker Chewy Bars and paid $2.59 for $77.59 worth of groceries.  Plus received a $5.00 catalina for the Sun Crystals.  Okay, every single time I see how much I saved on my receipt, I am amazed that there was a time I paid that much for things like this.  What was I thinking!!

Then I went back to Pathmark for more Ellios Pizza before the sale ended.  I paid $6.29 using a $5.00 catalina from the previous purchase and got back a $5.00.  That was for $31.65 worth of groceries.

Then I did 2 more trips to ShopRite where I rolled more catalinas.  My combined out of pocket for all this was $8.34 for $104.64 worth of groceries. Plus I got another $5.00 catalina.  Then, finally, I went back to Pathmark to take advantage of the Free PureVia.  The best part of this is my son was with me and watched me gather everything up.  We went to the self checkout and he stood there while I started scanning.  At the self checkout it says the shelf price of the items so he heard $4.19 each time I scanned it.  He then went to the end to bag everything for me.  When I was done he heard the register say, “and your total is $.84″.  My son immediately said, “how much?”  I said $.84 and he continued bagging and looked around like we were stealing something.  He had this panic look on his face and quickly finished bagging.  As we walked out he said, “Mom, how did you get all that for $.84, they were like $4.00 each”.  I said, “Patrick, your mom is good, you should know that by now”.  And that is how I left it.

Does he need to know I had 5 $2.00 coupons and the PureVia were on sale for $1.99 each.  I think not.  He just needs to think I’m amazing :)

And, this “amazing mom” spent $21.49 out of pocket for $278.56 and I have a $5.00 catalina at ShopRite and a $5.00 catalina at Pathmark.  That is a 92% savings….AMAZING!!

How did you do this week?  Send me your best deals and I’ll post them up!

{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

Susan Z. February 28, 2010 at 9:47 pm

This is just amazing….seriously. I haven’t done catalinas yet, I need to learn more about it. I love the story about your son not believing the total amount, lol! My goal this month is to spend only $100 total on grocery items. I had a wine tasting party last night and whew, did that put me way over budget. This is a long month, so I hope I can do it. Meats get expensive…will look for mgr specials. Great post, I’m amazed!

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nicole February 28, 2010 at 9:58 pm

wow awesome job!

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Melissa Brenner February 28, 2010 at 10:10 pm

awesome! My husband and inlaws were amazed with my shoprite shopping trip this week! :)

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Cindy February 28, 2010 at 10:19 pm

@Melissa Brenner, Isn’t it fun!!

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Elizabeth February 28, 2010 at 10:18 pm

AWESOME job!!

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Terri February 28, 2010 at 10:53 pm

Hi Cindy,
This is truly amazing! You are such an inspiration. I am new to this, but am wondering…do you really use all these products that you pick up free or cheap? 6 bottles of laundry detergent? 5 boxes of Pure Via? I have very limited storage space in my small home, and cannot store a large pantry, and many deals require bulk purchasing. And sometimes I am tempted to buy a product just because it’s so cheap or free, but I know I will never use it – so that’s really just a waste of money and space. What is your opinion on this? I’d appreciate hearing your take – do you buy anything & everything that’s cheap? do you use all that stuff? Most respectfully yours… :)

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Cindy February 28, 2010 at 11:24 pm

@Terri, Hey Terri, I absolutely use all this stuff. Plus I have college age kids that take things and bring them back to college. So 6 Purex quickly becomes only 4.

If you don’t have the space it’s harder but you can get creative. I don’t have a basement in my house so we store our stockpile in a closet under the stairs. Who says you can’t store laundry detergent under your bed or in the garage.

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Terri March 1, 2010 at 10:52 am

You’re right, I just need to get creative with storage solutions! Then we will just use what is on sale. Thanks :)

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cindy February 28, 2010 at 11:23 pm

Wow!! I wish I had all those stores to shop at-that’s incredible!!

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Joan February 28, 2010 at 11:28 pm

Great job! I had a blast at ShopRite this week. I had 5 – $4/4 boxes of Post cereal coupons that came from a ShopRite holiday savings book. I waited until the Post catalina started on Friday to start using them. So, 20 boxes of Post cereal, $0.00 out of pocket and 5 – $3.00 ($15.00 total) catalina OYNO back! ShopRite paid me $15 to take $20 boxes of cereal! Gotta love it!

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Kelly March 1, 2010 at 12:14 am

WOW! That is so cool!

I am a newbie and I don’t have a big stash of coupons yet but I am working on it. I printed a bunch though and was able to get $266.29 worth of groceries for $88.75.
I did 2 transactions and earned 6 Catalinas on my first order and then I used 4 of them (plus Qs and specials) to pay for my 2nd order. The cashier was so amazed, she didn’t know what to do when the register said she owed me $.07 and 4 FREE canvas shopping bags! Her manager was shocked too and said that was the best of the day! :) I can’t wait to see there faces when I get really good at this!

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Anonymous March 1, 2010 at 6:10 am

The sales these last two weeks are incredible…I can’t sleep at night…too many deal scenarios floating through my head. I also made a killing at ShopRite last week, and can’t wait to roll all my catalinas for this week :)

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Jennyhahn1 March 1, 2010 at 6:16 am

What are catalinas and how do they work. I have an entire box of coupons but I am not this good!

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Cindy March 1, 2010 at 7:17 am

@Jennyhahn1, They are coupons that come out of the small printer that sits next to the register. Usually you have gotten coupons from them that are called Catalina coupons. When there are catalina deals like at Shoprite right now, you get money back coupons. You can use them to reduce the cost of your next shopping trip.

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Charlene @ MFA March 1, 2010 at 2:39 pm

Cindy awesome job! I am afraid my girls are going to be embarrassed of their crazy mama and her shopping when they get older. Good to know I have a chance of being amazing too :)

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