How I Did This Week-pending

Well this week has been a little helter skelter.  With Christmas coming, my spending has been somewhat erratic, working in a few things here and there with my groceries.  Plus this week I tackled Walgreens for the first time, so that was a bit of a learning experience as well, though a great pay-off.  I have yet to go to Publix, but I will try to update on Monday, as it is going to be a great trip this week!


A word about WALGREENS:
All those receipts and RRs and coupons can get a little overwhelming for someone like (as unorganized as) me... So, I do not actually have all of my receipts at the moment.  I'm just going to report on the basics and you'll get the idea.  The reason I spent the last of my RR's instead of rolling them to next week was that I had some items to buy that are not usually on my list (paper plates, aluminum foil, etc) and I hated to add that cost at the grocery and pay out of pocket.


I started out paying $25 for my order because they are running a promotion right now that gives you $5 RRs when you spend more than $25.  I had more than $25 in my cart and I knew I was going to get tons of RRs back, so it was worth it.  


So, I spent $25 and got $29 BACK IN RR's!
I spent $27 in my next transaction (paid with RR's) and got back $6 more RR's.
I went back in after my grocery shopping and picked up those extra items, spending the $8 RR's.


Now... technically that would be $60 worth of items for $25.
BUT.  You have to consider that I also used coupons, actually SAVING nearly $18 in my first purchase alone!


So in reality I probably walked out of there with about $100 worth of items for $25.  I don't think that's too bad.  My goal though is to keep the RR's rolling from one week to the next so that I have virtually no out of pocket (aside from tax).  I'm going to give myself a little time to get the hang of this!
75% savings!


BI-LO:
I just got a few things here... And I got a little mad when the lady ahead of me got the last of the Bounty (which would have been $.19 for me!) and I couldn't find the Wet Ones wipes that would have been FREE.  But I still did alright.


Before coupons or deals: $23.12
Savings: $16.30
My cost: $6.82
70% savings!


FOOD LION:
I really do not like Food Lion.  But I did get some good deals.  You really have to watch them though.  They miss coupons (their reader seems to not be very touchy) and they will not take coupons from competitors.  But I got some deals on things we needed (coffee, peanut butter, cheerios) and even got 2 FREE M5 razors (3 cartridges each) with overage!

E.T.A: I got home and opened one of the razors... and found a $3 off coupon for cartridges... which are also... yep, you guessed it!  On sale for $2.50 at Food Lion!  Going back this afternoon to get 2 free cartridge refill packs!


Before coupons or deals: $94
Savings: $68
My cost: $26
That's 72% savings!


INGLES:
Ok.  I sucked at Ingles apparently... I think it's because I bought wine, some chili and black bean fixings... stuff I had no coupons for and no sales.  I absolutely hate it when I spend $40 in one place now.  


Before coupons or deals: $57.86
Savings: $16.22
My cost: $41.64
28% savings... BLAH


TOTALS
Before coupons or deals: $274.98
Savings: $174.52
My cost: $99.46
63% Savings!-- THIS SHOULD BE EVEN BETTER AFTER I HIT PUBLIX MONDAY (to see how fruitful Publix was, check out my post My New Job.)