My Wal-Mart Trip, 6/4 -- Deals!

I am not a big fan of Wal-Mart for many reasons, including:

• Customer service (more specifically, lack of customer service)


• Pricing (Alyssa has a great post here on how their Rollbacks are really just price manipulations; always pay attention to prices week over week)


• Produce (much fresher elsewhere)


• Effect on small businesses in small towns where they open new stores


• I read this book many years ago; I doubt Wal-Mart has radically changed how they treat their employees since then

I'm also fortunate to have a Kroger Marketplace in my town. Not only do I benefit from the great deals to be found at Kroger, the customer service is the best I've ever experienced in any grocery store (and I've lived in six states). That's true of every Kroger I've ever shopped. And a Kroger Marketplace has everything Wal-Mart does, minus the clothing.

But I decided to take a trip to Wal-Mart after seeing some of the deals posted by Denise at The "Cents"ible Sawyer. I'm trying to stick to my goal of $70 this week for my family of five (and I'll chat about how May just about killed my budget for various reasons in a later post) for groceries, household products, and personal care items. If a quick trip to Wal-Mart can help me do that, then off I'll go.

Here's what I found:

Total Cost with tax before coupons: $22.36

Total Cost with tax after coupons: $7.45

Breaking it down:

(1) 16 oz Strawberries, $1.88

(1) Blue Bunny Ice Cream, $2.98

used $1/1 found here

(1) Kotex liners, 14 ct, $1.00

used $1/1 here

(2) Farmland Original Sausage Roll, $1.23 ea

used (2) $1/1, SS 5/4

(1) Post LiveActive Harvest Crunch, $3.12

used $3/1 here

(1) Post HBO Chocolate Clusters, $1.98

used $2/1 here (Denise has three more locations for this on her post here)

(1) Kashi Granola Bars, $2.67

used $2/1 here

(1) Shick Disposable Razors, $1.97

used $2/1, SS 5/11

(1) Oral-B Floss, $0.97

used $1/1, PG 6/1

(1) Band Aids, $1.97

used $1/1, RP 5/18

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All in all, not a bad trip. I lucked into finding a friendly cashier who was happy to help me with my coupons. And I made sure my three children behaved in line (like they have any other choice!); polite children go a looonnng way in gaining the goodwill of cashiers everywhere!

I'll be linking this up to Jennifer's Super Saving Stories over at Sisterly Savings. Post your Super Saving Story and be entered into her $25 Restuarant.com giveaway this week!

Jennifer is one busy frugal mom and she's a great resource online. If fact, she gave me my first Blogging Award, one I need to finally pass along to more great frugal voices in the blogosphere.

Could you help me with this award? Do you have a frugal blog you frequent, one not on my sidebar/blogroll, that you'd recommend? Comment with their address and I'll go check 'em out! I'd love to find some more great frugal voices in the blogosphere.

Share because you care!

Going Green: Reusable Shopping Bags

Click here to design a reusable Kroger grocery bag (you'll need to register with Kroger.com).

Once you've submitted your design, your Kroger Shopper Card will be loaded with a credit for a FREE reusable shopping bag - just add one to your pile of goodies the next time you're in the check out lane!

And, if you're really handy with graphics, your design might just be the winning bag! Contest winner will receive $500 and will see their bag in stores - not too shabby!

You can see my design here!

Thanks to Denise over at The "Cents"ible Sawyer for posting this freebie; be sure to click over and check out the rest of the fabulous freebies she found today! She's a peach!

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Inspired by the idea of getting reusable shopping bags for FREE, I went a-hunting online.

If have a Wal-Mart nearby, mark your calendar for this upcoming Fabulous Freebie:

1 MILLION REUSABLE BAG GIVEAWAY, APRIL 19, 2008 (begins 8AM local time).

Click here for more info.

I also found many older links to municipalities and to other grocery chains that have held reusable bag giveaways in the past. I urge you to ask your local grocery store if they host giveaways for reusable bags and if they offer any discounts to shoppers who use reusable bags.

You should also contact your local government leaders about potential reusable bag giveaways; in many greener communities (think California), plastic grocery bags are being outlawed. As these laws go on the books, many communities host bag giveaways to jump start change.

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If you know your way around a sewing machine, you might want to try making your own reusable shopping bags.

Visit Morsbag for easy instructions and a how-to animation.

Another example here at About.com.

And one more here at The Creative Thimble.

Make a bunch for yourself, your family, and your friends; if your creativity garners compliments, you could even consider starting up your own home business! You could offer to partner with a locally owned grocery store, or you could go live online with your own store on Etsy.

*Does anyone know of any other retailers hosting reusable grocery bag giveaways or offering discounts to shoppers who use them? Comment and share the knowledge!

Fabulous Freebies: Free Chicken Nuggets at Walmart

Word has it (thanks, Sisterly Savings!) that FastFixins freezer bags of DinoBites and Popcorn Chicken are priced $1.00 at Walmart again this week. Click here to register for the Fast Fixins Fanatics Club and print (5) $1.00/1 coupons (all different codes!). Then refresh the page and print again. It will print (5) $1.00/1 coupons again, all with new codes.

And, if you can score all 10 bags, you can save the UPCs to send in for an additional (1) $1.00/1 coupon! Details here, along with details for another "hidden" coupon you can find on their site.

I stopped by my local Walmart today to snag this deal (it ran a couple of weeks ago and I still had five coupons left I hadn't used) but the freezer case was already cleaned out. A sure sign that a great deal is afoot!

This is a great deal if you can find it; if not, hold those coupons and wait for the next one!

Happy Savings!