Safeway Trip

I was excited about this morning's Safeway trip, because I had several great deals on my list. As much as possible, I try to share my entire purchase with y'all, just to be as real as possible. I want everyone to know that sometimes I do pay full price for things. By posting both my successes and my failures, I can stay accountable with my budget and learn to shop smarter. Here is today's trip:

-Baby Mum-Mum rice biscuits: $1.99
-organic apples: $2.77
-wheat bread: $.99 (I usually buy whole grain or 12 grain bread, but it was $2.39 today. My bottom line is at least $1.50. Sometimes it's $1.19 and I try to stock up. Obviously I didn't do a good job of that last time, so I decided to buy a different kind rather than spend so much. I'm hoping that bread will be on sale when the sales cycle starts over on Wednesday.)
-Ronzoni pasta: $.99. I used $.50/1 coupon, making it $.49.
-Dannon Greek yogurt: $1.29. On clearance for $.50.
-2 Wheat Thins: $1.88. I used $1/2 coupon, making them $1.38 each.
-4 Bulls-Eye barbecue sauce: $.99. I used four $.50/1 coupons, plus my Safeway doubler, making them free.
-3 Kool-Aid packets: $.10 each. I used a buy two get one free coupon, so they should have been $.07, but according to my receipt I only paid $.05 total for all three. ( We don't drink Kool-Aid around here, but I use it to make play dough. I'll post about that soon.)
I paid: $9.55


Shopping notes:
-They were out of Sure deodorant that was on sale for $.99. I have two $1/1 coupons, so it would have been free. I got a rain check, though, so I'll hopefully be able to grab them next week. Not familiar with rain checks? It's just a slip of paper that a store will give you if they're out of a certain product. The rain check extends the sale price of the item.


Example: When Safeway's sale cycle starts over on Wednesday, Sure deodorant will probably not be $.99 anymore. But my rain check says I can still buy two sticks of Sure for $.99. Most stores do rain checks for as many items as you request. If I had ten coupoons, I could have requested a rain check for ten sticks of Sure. All you have to do is ask the first associate you see. If they can't do it for you, they can point you to someone who can.. Today I got mine from the cashier, but if there is a line behind you, you can always go to customer service.


-Today my receipt said that I saved 67%. While it's always nice to see that number, keep in mind that that percentage is based on the full price of the item. If I purchase a brick of cream cheese that is usually $3.00 but I pay $1.50, my receipt will tell me that I've saved 50%. But is it really savings if I would never pay that full price of $3.00? Just remember that seeing those big numbers can be thrilling, but it might not always mean that you're saving as much as you appear to be.