Shopping trip, 2/6

Safeway during the Super Bowl is a nice place to be. I spent $1.73 on the pictured items (I am including tax in all my transactions by the way, it's easier for me, plus you gotta pay it, so you might as well count it). The creamer was $1.69, so I figure everything else was free! A couple of tips for Safeway maximization;

• Safeway is (sometimes) generous with free items coupons that dispense from the Catalina machines. They are the machines that print separately from your receipt when you check out, and it's up to you to watch them, because they spit out some good stuff. I always scope out the machines at self checkout, because people tend to ignore them, and both the cleaning spray and the soda were free thanks to coupons that I grabbed from self checkout. I have no idea what prompts them to print for certain people and not for others, but I can tell you that I grabbed another free item coupon from the one I used tonight, which the previous person had overlooked. This is like the cheap person's lottery! I won't get rich playing, but it's fun!


• The taco shells and beans are part of an Old El Paso deal that is going on right now, and My Frugal Adventures hooked me up with some coupons that made this a great deal. The taco shells are .99/box, and the beans are $1/can, and when you buy 5, you get a $3 catalina for your next purchase. I got a slip advertising this cat a few weeks ago, and it said the $3 would be for beef or chicken, but it proved to be good for any purchase, which is more convenient for me. I paid for this transaction with a $3 cat from a few weeks ago, and that's always part of my strategy; if you pay for items that produce a catalina WITH a catalina, you reduce your out of pocket cost. I know catalina's are super confusing, so questions?

I have $22.18 left for the month, and I don't plan to do any shopping until the 14th. If you stop in Safeway in the meantime, look for a fresh supply of the Joy of Football coupon books, the $2 Rancher's Reserve coupon is awesome!

My first purchase of the month, and I didn't even have to leave the house!

My darling husband picked up some milk today for me while it was still on sale at Wags, thanks babe! I have $23.91 left to spend for the month, and I have a catalina for Safeway that expires tomorrow, so I'm going to be planning a way to use that baby up. I'll keep you posted!

Final tally for next month's grocery challenge...

So I have mentioned before that I want to emphasize how important it is to check your receipts for accuracy, and that to prove the point, I will be feeding my family for one month, just on the money that I've been overcharged in the past year. I am super excited to do this, I really think it will be great fun. I'll be honest, the last few months I really haven't been as diligent as I could have been, and I definitely let some amounts go. However, I do have $28.27 collected and ready to go, and I am totally confident that I can do it! February is my chosen month, so I'm gearing up. A few of the "rules" if you will;

• All food that we ingest has to be paid for out of this money, including everything during my husband's working day. He has a habit of picking things up, even though I pack his lunch for him everyday, so we'll be working on that.
• We go on a date once a month, and of course Valentine's Day falls during Feb, so it will be interesting (to me at least) exactly how I handle that...
• I have been shopping strategically, within my budget, to prep for this, and I definitely want to point out that my existing supply of groceries is what allows me to even consider doing this. I'm not into deprivation, and I expect that pretty much everything I spend will be on fresh produce and milk.
• I plan to give you regular updates on how we're doing, what our menus are, and whether I'm dying to get takeout pizza!

$27.36

So I continue to add to my overcharge grocery fund, and for those of you who missed the explanatory post, this is money that I am overcharged at any store, which I get back from customer service. The point of this post is that while it's annoying to have to read your receipt for errors, and then have an interaction with customer service that may or may not go well, it's so important because these amounts add up! The most recent contribution was from a Target trip where my coupons all scanned, but didn't take off the correct amounts (I've not had that happen before, it was quite odd).



I am going to continue saving, in my husband's beer stein, until next February when I will feed my family for a month on the total. Hopefully I won't be forced to go on a diet. And he won't drink a beer before then.

By the way, I had originally planned on doing this whole silly project until March, but they always have really good frozen food sales then, and I'm sorry that is stock up time! February should work just fine.

6-14-10; $23.00

I added the $1 that I won from the FTC millionaire game, because part of this challenge is to be assertive, right? Well I asked for a game piece, the girl gave me a wad of them, and I came out $1 richer. You gotta start somewhere....

I just sent this comment to Safeway, I think I'm grumpy today...

I am consistently overcharged at your store, and I'm starting to wonder why I continue to shop there. As a rule, the checkers are great, very nice and friendly. However, today when I attempted to get reimbursed for an item that I was overcharged on, I found the customer service staff to be not particularly helpful. I expected to pay $1 for 2 items, between the sale price and an e-coupon that I loaded from your site, but was charged 5.98. I was told that unless I could produce a printout of the e-coupon that did not come off, I would not be reimbursed (although I was reimbursed for the remainder of the overcharge). The e-coupon has since expired, so I have no way to prove that I ever had it. Why is it that I only have trouble with Safeway e-coupons, never cellfire or shortcuts? Also, it would be nice for customer service to act a bit apologetic for the overcharge in the first place, the guy I dealt with wasn't rude necessarily, but dismissive of my issues. I'm lugging a 14 month around who doesn't want to sit still, so I don't really have the energy to make a visit to customer service every time I come to your store. I appreciate your attention to my concern, and I enjoy shopping at your store, but am getting really frustrated with being overcharged. What do you suggest I do?

5-20-10; $17.77

Depending on how long my kiddo sleeps, I have a sermon to deliver. Not really, but I do want to talk about something that is super important to the frugal lifestyle. Please, please check your receipts! At least 3 times a month I would say, I get overcharged for something. Usually it's not by much, but the amounts seriously add up! Starting in March, I began saving all the money I got back from being overcharged, and I plan to continue to do so until March of 2011. And then I will either use the cash to go on a Vegas bender, or I will see if I can buy my entire months worth of groceries on that money alone. And I know I can do it (the groceries, probably not the Vegas trip)! So far, I have almost $20 in a beer stein in my computer room, and there's another $5 in receipts in my wallet to contend with.

I think the point of this exercise for me is twofold. It used to be an annoyance when I noticed that I got overcharged, but in all likelihood I wouldn't have waited at Customer Service to deal with it. Really though, I probably just wouldn't have noticed in the first place. So I am demonstrating to myself that those small amounts are important, and also that I should and will stand up the Assistant Manager. I honestly don't think that the vast majority of stores overcharge intentionally, they have thousands of items and they are bound to make some mistakes in coding them. But I still think they should be accountable for the prices that they advertise, so I will continue with my mission! And I'll update you as I go!

Please note that not all my overcharges are at the grocery store, one of the recent ones was on some pants I bought my husband, and that little $2 will go in the jar too. Also, I do report when I am undercharged on an item, just to be fair. This doesn't happen often, and when it does it comes out of my regular grocery budget.

Wish me luck, and feel free to invite us over for dinner next March if you don't see the number climbing...