If you know me, you know I am a huge Publix fan. We always base our menu for the week off what's on sale in their weekly ad, and do our best to match coupons to that. My favorite spot for bargain hunting, both at Publix, and in general is here. She's really good at letting you know the latest freebies/deals, and also matches coupons to sale items at most major grocery stores. I know there are a bunch of other blogs out there dedicated to super saving at Publix, but for some reason, her format is my favorite.
Anyway, this past Sunday, we did the unthinkable. We went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart instead of Publix. We hate the big bad WW as much as the next guy, but here's the honest truth: our grocery bill was fifteen dollars less than what it normally is at Publix. If you take $15/week, that's a $780 savings over the course of a year.
We didn't switch to WW (can you tell I have a hard time even saying the words?!) just because of the money. A while back we were on our weekly shopping trip to Publix on Sunday afternoon. We were checking out, when BT asked where the mystery item was (he hadn't been able to find it). The cashier then told us that they were moving it from Sunday to Wednesday, and probably were going to phase it out altogether. BT then jokingly (or somewhat) said, "well, maybe we might need to look for a new place to shop." Bottom line: not only did the mystery item make you feel like you were getting a steal of a deal, but it also made your shopping trip a little more fun. Without it, it sort of makes shopping there not as much fun, so why not save a little more money at WW? But then what took the cake was how the cashier responded.
She looked at us, smirked, and said, "Good luck with that."
Yup, that's what prompted our switch over to the big bad WW chain.
So now, we are shopping down the street at the ginormous conglomerate with the limited brand access, but super cheap prices. And guess what? My spaghetti last night tasted just the same.
On another note, I thought I would still go to Publix to really try to stick it to the man on Wednesdays. I figured I could go on Wednesdays, print off copious coupons matched with current BOGOs, spend between ten and twenty bucks, still get the mystery item, and really take them for a ride. Because let's be honest, I'm probably the type of person they hate. I'm not spending my money for a full week's worth of groceries there, only enough to give me a good deal. So today, for seventeen bucks, I got forty dollars worth of groceries:
I know it doesn't look like a ton, but if you'll notice, they're all normally very expensive items.
I'm still learning about this coupon deal. Like for instance, the checkout woman gave me a little attitude and also told me they no longer accept Target coupons as competitor coupons. And I got flustered and had her just ring up the peanuts and cheese anyway. I should have toughened up a bit and told her to take them back, but oh well. Not like those won't get eaten.
All that said, I do love me some Publix, but right now, for our budget, we'll be a WW family, and stick it to Publix once a week on Wednesdays....
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