So, over the holidays, due to stress and family and stress from family, I was not as zealous as usual on my bargain-hunting. I did use coupons at dinner, and for the holiday ham, and for my groceries, but I wasn't watching ads or running to walgreens or anything like that. When I did, I took Elizabeth's coupon to the store as my list, so I woudn't forget it, and then forgot to use it until it was too late. Fortunately, the manager knows me (I had no idea I was so popular!) and said I could use it another time. Whew.
It's January, and I'm struggling to get back at it. I'm running around like a chicken without a head trying to find items for the JBF tagging kits, shopping for nanny's groceries, and trying to get inside before the snow. Today I followed pre-bargainbabe protocol of shopping at the closest place for the 3-4 things I need before the storm hits. Destination: Target.
Since my brain has been taken over by a bargain-hunting crazy, I can't go through the aisles without casually glancing at this price or that. You know what I found? Unless it's one of their top 10 sellers, or a "targeted" item, the price is about 30% what I am typically paying watching sales and cutting coupons. 30% more is not too bad every now and then, but when you have a $300 grocery budget, that's nearly $100 dollars of markup for the SAME items.
Okay, you may think I'm sounding like a crazy too, but the shopping trip really helped to convince me to continue the good fight of paying as little as I can for the things I need. So, I'm back with renewed vigor and venom for hunting for the best bargains in 2010. Join me?
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I'm in. I thought you were going to tell us of a great deal on batteries. :)
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, Jaime! Whenever I get lazy or just have to have run out of items that I don't have coupons for or sales on, I'm appalled at how much I'm spending. Definitely worth the time to keep it up. We should make our goal for 2010 to cut our budgets even more!!
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