I usually shop in the afternoons, post-nap, but I went out this morning in hopes of being unfrugal, and buying a hardback book released today (Dreamfever, by Karen Marie Moning.)  I was sadly thwarted, as they didn’t have it, or at least they didn’t have it out yet.  Boo!  I meant to ask someone about it but part of the reason that I don’t shop in the mornings is that Evie is kind of a grouch when I try, and she was sure being a grouch this morning, so I gave it up.

100_0299My total before coupons was $61.10 ($58.99 before tax) and my total afterwards was $7.10 ($4.99 before tax.)  If I am doing my math right, that works out to be an approximate savings of 88%.  Not too shabby!  I should note that there should be one more yogurt but apparently it didn’t make it into the buggy.  The coupons were for $1/2.  Sorry, Walmart.  The coupons beeped anyway because they were for any Breyer product, but apparently they weren’t really coded to allow for individual yogurts, so she pushed all three coupons through and neither of us noticed.  So, I am not condoning improper coupon usage but… well, you know.  Mistakes happen.

Also, I passed a Walmart milestone for the first time.  I had so many coupons that the register required a manager override.  No one seemed to know what to do and the customer service rep that came over to fix it was a pain in my backside, but it all worked out, and then I was able to take my cranky kid home and feed her, and it was good.

This weekend, my cousin looked at a receipt from Rite Aid that I had in my purse, and commented that seeing the receipts for these purchases would be interesting.  That makes sense to me–it’s a pretty good visual, and proof, if anyone needs it, that I am actually spending just what I say I am.  I won’t be able to do them all (or even most) of the time, for several reasons such as (a) I hate scanning things b) time constraints c) my receipts are often too long and complicated to make much sense, especially when you factor in ECBs and RR and SCRs, but I will try to do them occasionally.

So, this is for my cousin Moe (which, don’t worry, that’s not her real name!)wmreceipt-81809

Our Walmart is in the process of redesigning their store and making it prettier but with much less variety of merchandise.  One of the changes is that the receipts are printing two-sided.  The environmentalist in me applauds, but mainly it’s just a pain.

So…. how did I do that?  Overage!  This is why I keep harping on overage!  See those six Secret trial-sized deodorants?  They were $.97, and my coupons* were for $2.  That’s $6.18 right there.  Then there were three Adams pet collars for $.97 each. The coupon was for $3.  That’s $6.09 of overage.  Then there are the coupons that made things free–the first aid kits and the dental floss sticks.  The five plates had five $2 coupons, making them just $.54 each, the fish sticks was $1.56 after coupon and the yogurt should have been $.04 each… I guess that worked out to $.30 of accidental overage instead (again–oops!) Therefore, the rest of the overage went towards the groceries that I buy every week anyway–bread, milk, ham, cheese, grapes and bananas.

*They’re from the K-Mart coupon booklet, so if you have a K-Mart, you can do this one, too! Note that some cashiers will balk at the overage, so it’s always kind of a gamble–win some, lose some.