You know, for a while I refrained from talking about the depths I’ll sink to in my quest to be frugal, because I was afraid you’d all think I was *SUCH* a dork. But those of you who know me are fully aware how lacking in coolness I am, so what the heck??? My biggest thrill in life is getting a bargain!! Its all about the hunt, the kill…. Being a Christian, stay-at-home, (former)Sunday-School teaching mom of two little girls, leaving a store with bags upon bags of groceries that I bought for pennies is about as exciting as it gets for me. So here’s my latest frugal story for you:

I know I’ve talked about The Grocery Game before…….and somehow didn’t quite convince some of you, my friends, to join up!! So I just wanted to take a moment to reiterate my *LOVE* for this fabulous program and try one more time to convince my fellow bargain shoppers to TRY IT!!

The Grocery Game is a website that matches up the best store specials in your area with all the current coupons that are out there…coupons from your Sunday paper, coupons printable from the internet from a myriad of different websites, coupons you can get in the mail, coupons from sources you never even thought about.

Yes ~ you do pay a little, depending on the number of stores you choose. I pay $25 every 8 weeks for info on the specials at CVS, Walgreens, Albertsons, and WalMart (and NOOOOO I do not shop at WalMart***, but the WalMart list shows the Brookshire’s specials since you can take the Brookshire’s ad into WalMart to match the prices since stupid WalMart can’t offer any ‘real’ specials of their own. But don’t get me started on stupid WalMart. For some reason Brookshire’s doesn’t have their own list). But anyway, this $$ I pay is FULLY worth it, as you’ll see in a second.

Yes ~ it does a little take time to clip the coupons, scour for the deals, shop at 4 or 5 different stores, etc., but in reality I’ve never spent more than 8 minutes clipping coupons while I watch tv, and really, my time at the store isn’t TOO much more than I would spend without the bargain-shopping, except that I do go to more stores rather than blindly throwing whatever into the buggy at ONE store, BUT again, fully worth it, as you’ll see. Stay tuned.

So for the run-down of my grocery savings this week. I signed on to The Grocery Game, printed out my lists for the groceries that we need or WILL need in the future (if they’re cheap enough, I stock up!), then dug out my coupons for those specials. The Grocery Game tells me which coupons to use, where to get them, how to combine them for the best deals. You CANNOT beat that. And trust me when I say, you COULD do this on your own, technically, but to me, its worth $1.25 per week per store for THEM to tell me what to do, and who wants to spend the DAYS it would take scouring the internet for random coupons, when The Grocery Game lists them all RIGHT THERE FOR YOU??

I made my rounds, filled the back end of my SUV , AND the front seat and floor board, and spent … $96.04. I so wish I had taken a picture of all the groceries, cleaing supplies, SCHOOL supplies, and more, on the floor of my kitchen…..they literally filled 1/2 my kitchen.

But here’s the kicker…..I SAVED … using coupons and shopping the specials….. $154.49. And I do not care WHO you are…… that is a significant amount of money.

And all the while, buying ONLY the things that we need and will use. Here’s exactly what I spent where:

CVS…..Spent $25.13……Saved $54.98.
Albertsons….Spent $25.19…..Saved $50.10.
Brookshire’s…..Spent $33.54……Saved $31.84.
Walgreens…..Spent $12.18……Saved $17.57.

Oh yeah, and I didn’t even count a few measly dollars I’ll get back in Walgreens rebates. But every little dollar adds up, just ask your favorite Financial Advisor (and I just SO HAPPEN to know a good one if you’re in need of one…)! LOL.

So my friends, using The Grocery Game to keep more of my money in MY pocket rather than letting the Brookshire’s have it is what WORKS FOR ME!! If I have convinced you to try it, LEAVE A COMMENT with your email address and I’ll email you an invitation to join!!! (Because, yes, I do get free weeks for every person I refer. And ‘free’ is my favorite word.)

***The fine print. OK, OK,…..I will shop at WalMart, when they have deals like .05 school supplies and once, I went in with a coupon for free dental floss and left with only that one item. Just because it was WALMART and I hate them. But I will never like WalMart nor willingly give them any of my $$$. But that is a story for another post.