Adventures in Frugality.
So one of my favorite lj friends your_amygdala is incredible. I was just telling her the other day, that I mentioned to my mother-in-law how well she can save dough! (I hope you don't mind I'm plugging your talent here)
She is always posting about getting like nearly $200 of groceries for under $100. And crazy stuff like that. I'm so impressed with it all that I asked her to teach a young grasshopper.
Yesterday I set out on my first coupon adventure. Technically it's not my first, I used to love cutting coupons as a kid. I'd pull out anything that sounded good to me or anything I thought we'd use and I'd give them to my mom for further saving. But geez! You can really get a good deal on stuff. I really thought, being vegan, it would be harder to save. But really even if I'm just saving on the things I can eat, it's a lot easier to buy the more expensive purchases like the "meat" and "dairy" that cost as much as new home.
OK. I digress. Yesterday, I was determined. I set out... on an empty stomach (wah wah wah) to a place I've never heard of or seen until now, and is apparently new to Utah. Please don't laugh if you know all about this place. One website suggests I go here because I can get 8th continent soymilk for 95 cents. You read that right. It was on sell for $1.95, print of a coupon online for $1.00 off. They also had Silk soymilk for $1.95 if you used another coupon from online. There are several other great deals and I'm thinking, what a great start to my deal diva status.
EH! Wrong. First I have a mac, and the coupon printers (which I'm paranoid are spyware anyway) are only windows based. So I get my MIL to print out the Silk one for me, she couldn't get the 8th continent one to work. But I was still going to get the 8th continent because it was a steal!
Next, I'm starving and grumpy as sin, and we had already stopped at the Chinese market for some of our other basics (tofu, veggie meat). And Izze is being completely maniacal.
We get to this joint and I feel like I'm in a new town in a scary place I've never been before and had I been at Walmart, I would have had SEVERAL opportunities for peopleofwalmart.com photos! Right off the bat I see this cartoon like couple (ginormous clowny wife, and tiny, twiggy goofy husband) and I walk in... it's like a warehouse. But with brands I've never heard of, UGH. Now we have to check ingredients on all this new stuff. And all these cartoon people are pillaging through the crazy food.
The produce section looked promising from a distance, but upon further inspection it was clear, the prices were so low because the food quality was too. We were ok with this, we like to only buy organic and from local farmers as much as we can (although, in Utah this is tricky come winter). So we were cool with heading to our familiar grocery store, with a lovely produce section, later on.
We continue... they have a bulk section. Like barrels of powdered shit. Gravy, muffins, brownies. And granola. And they did have tons of spices by the bulk and other baking needs too, which I thought was pretty cool, I may go back there if not only for this section. They actually had really cheap Boca products too, which we don't get very often, because they do taste over processed, but it's nice to have stuff like that on hand for days when I need a quick lunch or something.
I'm rambling. OK. So aside from those two gems. The store was creepy. We got some soymilk, but it wasn't really as cheap as the website suggested. It was cheap and would have been a good deal with the coupon still, but not that great. They were all out of any brand of vanilla soymilk... we grabbed a chocolate and by then I was like...
This change is too hard for me. I am not giving up on getting good deals, but I am giving up on this store.
I still managed to spend $60 on stuff I'm not exactly sure of, clearly not stuff on my list. But I guess stuff we do need and will use.
I'm going grocery shopping again tonight, at my regular grocery store and I intend to pick up with the good deals after I get a newspaper subscription.
Maybe, I'm just really spoiled and I'm actually more judgy and snobby than I realized, but honestly Winco is the strangest store I've ever been to. YOU BAG YOUR OWN GROCERIES!!!!! Maybe they're not that crazy anywhere else...
It actually reminds me of the store where truckers have to sell their stuff that was rejected for whatever reason, so you get really good deals on it. MPS? Anyone have a store like that near them?
I will try again, just NEVER again at Winco!
She is always posting about getting like nearly $200 of groceries for under $100. And crazy stuff like that. I'm so impressed with it all that I asked her to teach a young grasshopper.
Yesterday I set out on my first coupon adventure. Technically it's not my first, I used to love cutting coupons as a kid. I'd pull out anything that sounded good to me or anything I thought we'd use and I'd give them to my mom for further saving. But geez! You can really get a good deal on stuff. I really thought, being vegan, it would be harder to save. But really even if I'm just saving on the things I can eat, it's a lot easier to buy the more expensive purchases like the "meat" and "dairy" that cost as much as new home.
OK. I digress. Yesterday, I was determined. I set out... on an empty stomach (wah wah wah) to a place I've never heard of or seen until now, and is apparently new to Utah. Please don't laugh if you know all about this place. One website suggests I go here because I can get 8th continent soymilk for 95 cents. You read that right. It was on sell for $1.95, print of a coupon online for $1.00 off. They also had Silk soymilk for $1.95 if you used another coupon from online. There are several other great deals and I'm thinking, what a great start to my deal diva status.
EH! Wrong. First I have a mac, and the coupon printers (which I'm paranoid are spyware anyway) are only windows based. So I get my MIL to print out the Silk one for me, she couldn't get the 8th continent one to work. But I was still going to get the 8th continent because it was a steal!
Next, I'm starving and grumpy as sin, and we had already stopped at the Chinese market for some of our other basics (tofu, veggie meat). And Izze is being completely maniacal.
We get to this joint and I feel like I'm in a new town in a scary place I've never been before and had I been at Walmart, I would have had SEVERAL opportunities for peopleofwalmart.com photos! Right off the bat I see this cartoon like couple (ginormous clowny wife, and tiny, twiggy goofy husband) and I walk in... it's like a warehouse. But with brands I've never heard of, UGH. Now we have to check ingredients on all this new stuff. And all these cartoon people are pillaging through the crazy food.
The produce section looked promising from a distance, but upon further inspection it was clear, the prices were so low because the food quality was too. We were ok with this, we like to only buy organic and from local farmers as much as we can (although, in Utah this is tricky come winter). So we were cool with heading to our familiar grocery store, with a lovely produce section, later on.
We continue... they have a bulk section. Like barrels of powdered shit. Gravy, muffins, brownies. And granola. And they did have tons of spices by the bulk and other baking needs too, which I thought was pretty cool, I may go back there if not only for this section. They actually had really cheap Boca products too, which we don't get very often, because they do taste over processed, but it's nice to have stuff like that on hand for days when I need a quick lunch or something.
I'm rambling. OK. So aside from those two gems. The store was creepy. We got some soymilk, but it wasn't really as cheap as the website suggested. It was cheap and would have been a good deal with the coupon still, but not that great. They were all out of any brand of vanilla soymilk... we grabbed a chocolate and by then I was like...
This change is too hard for me. I am not giving up on getting good deals, but I am giving up on this store.
I still managed to spend $60 on stuff I'm not exactly sure of, clearly not stuff on my list. But I guess stuff we do need and will use.
I'm going grocery shopping again tonight, at my regular grocery store and I intend to pick up with the good deals after I get a newspaper subscription.
Maybe, I'm just really spoiled and I'm actually more judgy and snobby than I realized, but honestly Winco is the strangest store I've ever been to. YOU BAG YOUR OWN GROCERIES!!!!! Maybe they're not that crazy anywhere else...
It actually reminds me of the store where truckers have to sell their stuff that was rejected for whatever reason, so you get really good deals on it. MPS? Anyone have a store like that near them?
I will try again, just NEVER again at Winco!