Shopper's Summary

OK, I'm 99% sure I'm done with my Shopper's run. As mentioned a few posts ago, I had to take back some IcyHot back patches that I thought I was getting free. Fortunately for me, the cashier was so gracious and my refund took me less than 3 minutes, tops. Yeah, customer service! But while you're there - already hauled the toddler into the carseat, everyone's clean and fed and there's a clean diaper - might as well use any of the surplus (over the 4 limit) coupons that you couldn't use last time, right?

So I hauled out all my $1 soon-to-expire yoghurt coupons, along with some other freebies (Whipps) and did one more run.

Here's the sum:

~$94.56 spent for ~$397.84 worth of groceries, household products, and toiletries - a savings of 76%. Since I'll be MIA a few states away on a family trip in a few days, I'll be able to spread a lot of these groceries across our week-long trip. Somebody fetch the cooler! I've got a lifetime supply of free yoghurt here...

In all seriousness, yoghurt has a long shelf life. This time at Shopper's, I was careful to pick out 4-packs that had expiration dates toward the end of March, so none would go to waste.

I learned something new today: apparently the bar codes on coupons don't necessarily communicate the expiration date, at least not with some systems. I had one valid coupon refused because in my zeal of clipping several copies of that one, I had that one out of alignment and had inadvertently chopped off the expiration date. The lady said that they are required to eyeball every coupon to check the expiration dates! She also said that some people try to clip off the expiration dates to get expired manufacturer coupons through - talk about bold - and unethical (unless the store has an expressed policy of accepting expired coupons). So don't get all scissor-happy like me and accidentally shave off those expiration dates. :)

I don't know if I have any motivation to hit either Bloom or Shopper's at this point; I guess I'll monitor our other money-saving blogs to see if anybody else has scoops on freebies at Bloom.