Thursday 12 March 2015

Indulging your Sweet Tooth Without Breaking the Bank

You should never EVER go to the store when you are hungry.  I know this, I live this, and yet there are times when I find myself listening to my inner sugar monster rather than my common sense.  This happened last night when I popped into the local Walmart to buy eggs on my way home from work.

With the greatest of intentions, I made a beeline for the eggs.  While I was there, I grabbed a carton of Tropicana orange juice that I had an FPC for (Free Product Coupon).  BUT, then I thought I would just take a quick peek at the cleaning supplies because Walmart has been clearing out a bunch of items recently due to discontinue and package change.  In the end I'm glad I did because there were some fantastic deals to be had!  The down side?  I had to walk past a section that just happened to have sour jube jubes in eyesight.  Sigh......I really really like sour jube jubes.  Before I could think about my expanding waistline, into my buggy they went (In hindsight, I should never have grabbed a buggy to pick up eggs...it gave me far too much carrying space!)

I almost made it to the till when I saw the Veggie Sticks.  My salty monster is almost as bad as my sweet one and I compensate by telling myself I'm eating vegetables rather than just potato chips. This was also the moment I realized I needed to get out of the store and go home for dinner!  Here is what I ended up with:

Sweet & Sensible Shopping (Tropicana orange juice not pictured)
The Breakdown:
Garden Veggie Straws - $2.97 - $0.50 Zweet (online coupon app) = $2.47
Sour Jube Jubes - $1.67
Large Eggs - $2.78
Finish Quantum Dishwasher Tabs 38 - $3.50 (Regular price $9.97)
Pledge Floor Cleaner - $2.00 (Regular Price $7.97)
Windex Touch ups - $1.00 (Regular Price $4.97) PLUS I had a $2.00 coupon making this item a money maker of $1.00!
Tropicana Orange Juice 2L - $3.47 - $3.47 FPC (Pepsi.ca held a promotion during Superbowl that if you spent $20.00 on their products at one time, they would mail you a coupon booklet worth $30.00. This is one of the coupons from that booklet)
Total Price with Taxes - $18.67
Minus Coupons & FPC - $12.70

Hold on.....it gets better!
MINUS - $7.00 Snap Saves (online couponing app) with the purchase of ANY Pledge Floor Cleaner (the one I paid $2.00 for which means they PAID me $5.00 to buy it!)

Grand Total:  $5.70

Granted, if I hadn't bought the treats then my total would have been even better (and healthier) at $1.01 but I'm happy with the numbers I achieved.  My kids were happy as well when I arrived home with treats for everyone!

Just another example of how being in the right place at the right time can pay off (or make you NOT pay!).  It can be very beneficial to take a few extra minutes to see what in-store sales and promotions may be on.  With five minutes out of my day, I was able to satisfy the sweet & salty monsters, the teenagers (creatures in themselves), and the dust bunnies hiding in the corners of my house.

I almost forgot to mention the icing on the cake.  The kids were so happy with the treats that my amazing daughter offered to give me a gel nail polish manicure!  Pampering in the comfort of my home by my favorite girl at the end of a long day.........priceless.

Until next time!



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