My Weekly Shopping Trip....with Three Kids in Tow!

So I decided to give grandma a break this week and see if I could do this whole day-long, super-couponing shopping trip with all three kids in tow. I'm not going to sugar-coat it and say it was all rainbows and butterflies, but we managed fairly well. The hardest part about this was that I went to SIX different stores, and it is a challenge trying to get three little kiddos across the parking lots and into the stores safely. You know how this goes, right? I say, "Hold hands." They say, "We don't want to hold hands" or "She's not holding my hand right" or "He's walking too fast"....the list of responses could go on. (Anybody know when this ends?) After four stores, we took a break and met Dad for the Pizza Hut lunch buffet to re-group and re-energize. The kids enjoyed a special lunch out (not something we do often) and we were able to finish up by mid-afternoon...just in time for the boys to catch a snooze on the ride home. Check out the pictures and comments below to see how we did!
Walgreens:
2- Trail Mix Crunch Cereal, $2.50 (sale price)
-used (2) $2.00/1 printable
1- Peter Pan Peanut Butter, $1.79 (clearance price)
-used (1) $1/1 MFC found in May All You! magazine

Total = $1.79 (put on my Walgreens Rebate Gift Card, so $0.00 out of pocket for me today!)


Fareway:
1- white bread, $.99 (I'm going to try and make my own croutons with this?!?!)
3- bananas (Glad that is all I got! Just you wait......), $.64
3-Fastco cottage cheese, $.99 each
2- Fastco frozen peas, $.88

Total = $6.36


Aldi's:
1 - bag of oranges, $1.99
1- bag of apples, $2.49
1-box cheese crackers, $1.29
1- jug cranberry juice, $1.99
2- cheese slices, $.99 each
10- bags of bananas, $.29 each!!!! You may be wondering WHY I would buy so many bananas, but my kids LOVE them! Most of them still look pretty good and we will eat a few before they go bad, but then I will let them get all brown and gross looking and then freeze them to use later. My kids LOVE banana bread, banana muffins and strawberry banana smoothies!

Total = $12.58

Hy-Vee:
4- jars spaghetti sauce, $.68 each
1- 2lb. bag baby carrots, $1.77
1- light sour cream, $.58
-used (1) Hy-Vee coupon found in weekly ad

Total = $5.07

Target: The big-daddy of the day! (Notice my little helper in the pic - she helped carry in and put away ALL of the groceries when we got home!)

Transaction #1:
Purchased 6 Glade Soy Candles, $5.99
-used (6) $4/1 printable (Sorry - these are all gone now!)
Total= $13.41
-Received (3) $5 Target gift cards (weekly special: buy 2 candles, get a $5 gift card)

Transaction #2:
Purchased 2 Cottonelle 24 Double Roll Packs, $12.79 each
-used (2) $1/1 MFC (got one in May All You! magazine and one in the mail)
-you can find a $.50/1 coupon here (should be able to print twice)

Total = $25.02
-Paid with $15 in gift cards and $10.02 cash
-Received $5 Target Gift Card (another special, buy 2, get a $5 gift card)

Transaction #3:
5- Huggies wipes, $1.99 on sale
-used (1) $.75/1 printable (no longer available)
-used (4) $1/1 printable (no longer available)
-you can find a $.50/1 coupon here
1- Pampers wipes, $1.99 on sale
-used (1) $1.50/1 MFC (not sure where I got this one)
4- Johnsons Buddies, $.97
-used (4) $.75/1 Target coupons
2- Nabisco Teddy Grahams, $1.52
-used (2) $1/1 Target coupons
4- Fiber One bars (small, by registers) $1.03
-used (4) $1.35/1 printable ($1.28 money maker!)
6- Market Pantry fruit snacks (small, by registers), $.89
-used (6) $1/1 Target coupons ($.66 money maker!)
2- Dole spinach, $1.99
-used (2) $1/1 Target coupons
3- Dole lettuce, $1.69
-used (3) $1/1 Target coupons
4- A1 steak sauce, $2.09
-used (2) $2/1 printable (no longer available online, but it was in PDF format so I could e-mail it to you - just ask!)
12- Kraft Easy Mac cups, $.77
-used (6) $1/2 printable (no longer available)
-tried to use (6) $1/2 Target coupons, but the cashier wouldn't let me.
4- Yoplait Go-Gurts, $2.00 on sale (This was Macy's choice for treats at school today)
-used (2) $1/2 printable

Total before coupons = $63.41
Total coupons = $43.75
Total after coupons = $19.66
Used $5.00 Gift card from Transaction #2, paid $14.66 cash

As I mentioned before, the cashier wouldn't let me use my $1/2 coupons for the Easy Mac cups. I had a long line behind me and three impatient children, so I went ahead and got them. These are not something that I would normally buy, but because they were supposed to be free after coupons, OF COURSE I would pick them up! I politely went to customer service to ask why I couldn't use the coupons and told them that if I in fact couldn't use the coupons, that I would simply return the Easy Mac and be refunded the $6.00. Well of course she had to call over a manager and who do you think it happened to be? That's right....my best manager friend ever (the one who first yelled at me, then last week told me they changed their coupon policy back). I'm pretty sure she was not excited to see me, but after I was VERY POLITE to her and explained to her why they SHOULD accept these coupons, and if she would not, that was fine, but I would be returning them, she AGREED to let me use them! Cha-ching! Free Easy Mac for the Roberts kiddos!!!! She then POLITELY (but I'm pretty sure she was fuming inside) handed me back over $6.00. So, my New total for transaction #3 - $8.66!!!! - NOT BAD, huh?????

Another note: High dollar coupons, like the $4/1 Glade or the $4/1 Knox that I mentioned in a previous post, go VERY QUICKLY - sometimes in a day or two!!! Also, diaper and wipes coupons go REALLY FAST, so get yours printed right away!

Let me know how you did this week and what deals you were able to come up with!