Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Receipt Revenge

A big thing that's been weighing on my mind recently is managing our finances. There is always room for improvement, and especially given recent price increases in, oh, everything, managing finances is even more important.

So I was really ticked off yesterday when I looked at my total bill during my trip to the Walmart grocery store. $37, and that's with coupons, and I bought 14 items. Fourteen!! Just 14! And I didn't buy anything exotic or expensive, just basic items like peanut butter, sugar, soy sauce, salsa, etc. The most expensive item was a bag of grapes for about $4. How is that possible? And I used coupons like frugal moms do!!

So what's a girl to do? I am going to continue looking for ways to trim the grocery budget, but c'mon, help a girl out here. I will fight back - I am not going to take this lightly. The grocery store will not hijack my money.

1 comment:

  1. Ok, you know how anti-online I am, so I make no promises to be a regular contributer here, but will at least join you in grumbling about how quickly money disappears at the grocery store. On a late-night safeway run Friday night (one steak at dinner just wasn't enough. This kid likes protein so now so do I!) we bought: 1 steak, 1 can of soup, 1 avocado, 1 box of fortune cookies (yes, another craving) and 1 bag of tortilla chips. Total bill: $37.00. 37!!!? How the */#! does that add up to $37.00? It was not that good of a steak! And to add insult to injury, the store claims we SAVED $4.00 on that trip. Compared to what, I'd like to know.

    Actually, in a subversive moment a few months ago, I asked that question at a different store. This one used to be Albertson's, which had those obnoxious "savings card" things, which are really just a way to extort marketing info out of you. When Albertson's got bought out by Lucky's, they made a big deal of getting rid of the savings cards, advertising that you save everyday no matter what with their "low prices." But they still insist on having their clerks stop at the end of every transaction, pull out a pen, and circle some number on the receipt claiming to be how much I saved. Now this is ridiculous, since I didn't use a card or coupon or anything and as far as I could tell, none of the stuff I bought was on sale. So I asked: "Compared to what?" I got a blank stare and had to repeat my question. Once the clerk actually understood what I was asking, she looked even more confused. Clearly no one had ever questioned this before. Somehow it felt like a little victory to see her stammering there looking like an idiot. Granted, an empty victory considering how much I had just paid for how little. But a small victory nonetheless.

    ReplyDelete