Shoprite Victory!
So, tonight I went to Shoprite...on my own! I was actually nervous! But there were just a few deals I wasn't willing to pass up. I had some holes in my stock of groceries. Not much protein, no breakfast foods, and I really wanted to cash in on 29 cent yogurt! (Is that a good price for yogurt?)

I knew Shoprite had a 10 for $3.90 sale on Yogurt - and I had 2 coupons for $1 coupon off 10! That sounded like a good deal to me. I think Acme was selling them for 10 for $5 this week. I also needed some cereal. No more "2 Boston Creme Donuts" at Dunkin' Donuts for me any more. However, Mike was surprised to learn I was only spending $1.91 per day on breakfast. Shoprite had a 4 for $6 General Mills Cereal day and I had printed some $1 off 4 coupons on the Acme website. They were manufacturers coupons, so I could use them! I also saw that Perdue Shortcuts were on sale for about half price. We love using them...and that was a good deal.

I actually took my coupon box to work with me today. The girls got a kick out of me! And, I got all kinds of questions about my loaf of bread! So, let me back up a bit...

I don't think I mentioned that I've started attending Weight Watchers meetings again. Notice I didn't say that I "joined" Weight Watchers. Nope. I did that a year ago and have been faithfully paying my $39 per month membership fee every month...since last February. I've succesfully GAINED 15-20 pounds in the past year. I decided that I should either cancel my membership or start attending meetings. I chose to attend meetings. They're 5 minutes from my house and I had 3 accountability partners going with me! How could I fail?

So, yes, in 2011 I'm not only giving up about 90% of my income forcing myself to be frugal, I'm giving up the structure of a corporate job, but I'm also trying to lose weight! SO MUCH CHANGE!!! No, I'm not giving up Diet Coke. A girl's gotta have one guilty pleasure.

I wasn't really prepared to be on Weight Watchers today, but I made it work. I packed a lunch. The girls at work thought I bought a new handbag - I was sporting my KoKo lunch bag that I got for FREE from Stampin' Up! last September (well, free except that I'm being taxed on it). Anyway, I'm getting wordy here and I still have to clean, design a card, and cut supplies tonight.

For lunch, I found an expired Quaker Oatmeal bar. They still tasted fine. I had some almost spoiled cucumber in the fridge that I sliced up for a snack. And, for lunch, I boiled up some eggs for egg salad. Yes, it can be Weight Watchers friendly. However, I had nothing to eat it on. I forgot to buy the $1 loaf of bread at Acme yesterday. Ooops.

At lunch I ran out to WaWa to buy a roll. But, I found a loaf of bread for $2.09. Not the best deal in town, but I had $12 in cash in my wallet and spending that cash doesn't count against my budget. So, I brought my loaf of bread into the office and EVERYONE who stopped by wondered why on earth I had a loaf of bread at work today.

Before I left work, I printed a few more coupons for cereal before heading to Shoprite. Then I created my shopping list on my Shoprite App for my iPhone. It's SO awesome. You can go through the circular and click on the items you want to buy. Then you check them off as you go through the store! I bought 8 boxes of cereal, 20 tubs of yogurt, 5 pounds of Tilapia, 4 pounds of chicken (to freeze for another day), and 6 boxes of pasta. The pasta was on sale for 40 cents per box! I didn't buy a ton because I wasn't positive that was a good deal...even though the sign said it was more than 50% off. As I approached checkout, I was nervous. Did I count correctly? Did I get the right size boxes of cereal? Did I get the right brands? The gal in front of my had a STACK of coupons - many of which appeared to be printed from a website. The cashier congratulated her on her savings. She said she had spent a long time preparing for her trip. So, I chimed in about my grocery shopping lessons with mom and Extreme Couponing. So, the cashier joked that she was going to grade me on my efforts. She gave me an A+ for having a Price Plus Card (I signed up for one this evening at the store right before I purchased my MegaMillions lottery numbers). Then came the checkout. It came down to $32. It said I saved $55!!!!! WOO HOO!!! And, it's all food I know we will use. And, with the $46 I spent yesterday at Acme, we're right at our weekly food budget.

I admint, I really don't know how much money it takes for 2 people to survive. But, I figured $75 per week sounded good. I'm pathetic, I know. But I had to start somewhere, right? And, I anticipate these first few weeks we might be a little higher than we will end up being as we stock up on things like pasta and bulk meats and 8 boxes of cereal that Mike wonders if he'll eat before it expires. However, I explained that my 4 boxes of Cheerios won't last long as that's what I had every single day a few years back when I lost 70 pounds on Weight Watchers.

Okay, I've procrastinated enough. I have to prepare for my stamping class tomorrow night. The first one of 2011! Hopefully it'll be the start of a great (and profitable) stamping year!

Happy couponing!