Hy-vee is a local grocery store and when I first moved here I thought they were super expensive to shop at. I have another friend who saw it and the sign reminded her of an off-brand and therefore refused to shop there. Another friend, actually cousin-in-law, who worked there and it still keeps her loyalty. In the two years of living here, I have found a special place in my shopping week for Hy-vee, especially on the day they double coupons up to $.99.
For a few years we've been talking about buying an extra freezer to have out in the garage, just for more space or in the rare occasion Spencer goes hunting and we have meat to store. Now, it seems with 3 kids and trying to stock up on good deals I was really running out of space and hoping somehow we could squeeze buying a freezer in our budget. Just as I was getting desperate, Hy-vee had their yearly deal, buy a freezer for $200 and get $200 in coupons. Hmmm, was this a deal too good to be true? After some research it seemed perfect, but could I use our grocery money to buy it so I really got the freezer for free?
When we got the freezer Payge was so excited she had to be next to it every moment Spencer took it out of the box and set it up. She desperately wanted to put it in her bedroom; she begged, pleaded and gave puppy dog eyes, but we didn't think that would be a good idea. I promise we haven't let her watch "King of Queens". She has settled on putting all her latest works of art on it, once she figured out it was magnetized our inside frig was suddenly bare.
Now for the real test, stay on budget this month with half spent on the freezer? Well, last Saturday I went with some of the coupons on hand. It was too overwhelming to think of taking all the coupons in at once, plus even with all that extra room, I didn't think there could possibly enough room. I should add we bought the freezer on a Saturday when they give $5 in gift cards for every $50 you spend. We spent $200 on the freezer and therefore got another $20 in gift cards which, covered tax plus $3 extra. So, I picked up items that were free with coupons and did some additional shopping that were good deals with coupons, I walked out there paying $22 out of pocket for $96 in groceries and got a $5 gift card (kicked myself for not picking up $4 more in good deals) for next time. I tried it again this last Saturday, with better calculating and payed $41out of pocket for $124 in groceries and got a $10 gift card for next time. So, this is looking pretty good. I still have over $80 left in free coupons which I will probably use most next Saturday with other "coupon match-ups" and my $10 gift card. Hopefully, I can make out the same. Obviously, it is not even half way through the month, but I have enough in our stockpile that if I only bought fresh fruits and veggies, we would be fine. Hope you don't mind me sharing, I was just so excited to see my good deal really be a good deal. Call it bragging, but I prefer show-and-tell.
2 comments:
Love it!! I was so excited about my deal of the century with the carpet I shared on my blog too! hehehe! :) We've fallen lax on coupons lately as offices become nurseries, but I really want to be more prepared with my lists and paperwork sure does help. we were saving at least $100 a month on groceries if not more. sometimes close to 60%. it sure helps with budget. its been harder as I have to watch everything I eat to specific portions and lots of meat with the diabetes, but a the same time its been good on levels of being more healthy. just expensive if you don't shop with coupons.
That is awesome!! What a great job you did with your coupons, too. I am so impressed and so glad that you will have all that freezer space to stock up.
It is so cute how Payge is excited about it and decorating it!
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