An Aside: My Shopping Exercise

My family members never fail to taunt my aversion to exercise. Of course, our natures are quite a contrast.   Even in the rain, my husband had no problem taking a three mile run this morning.  Two of my black belt children are accustomed to hours of warm-ups, stretches, calisthenics, running, sparring, and practicing techniques.  And of course, my little one is constantly on the move when he is not napping.

Which brings me to my typical retort:  Grocery Shopping (in addition to household chores, raking leaves, vaccuming, running after my toddler, etc) is my exercise.  Most days of the week I go early in the morning after dropping off my kids to school and then go again in the evening (two or three times a week) while waiting for karate classes to finish.  My youngest knows the routine.  We park far away from the entrance, so that he can have a nice little walk in the parking lot.  We recyle cans and bottles, clean up a car buggy for him to sit in after pushing it half-way through the store (that's when my walking pace picks up), and we "Go, Go, Go, Go, on an adventure," like the Cat in the Hat, passing every aisle, saying hello to the friendly people, deliberately sqatting down to put groceries in the bottom basket rack, checking out the deals, and then checking out. 

Granted, my endorphins come not from the rigor of intense movement, but more from saving money using coupons, but all in all, I am burning calories and making the most of my muscle use while walking around.  Where shopping use to be a task for me, I now feel so much more invigorated having a revised outlook on the activity.  So if you don't already, consider having a work out at your local grocery store.

Free Foil

At first I completely disregarded this rebate, since my family doesn't even have a grill.  But now I highly recommend my readers to be on the look out for "Try Me Free" mail in rebate slips at the grocery store.  The only catch is that in addition to purchasing the new "Grill" product, you must also buy any other Reynolds Wrap foil product, excluding 20, 25, 30, sq ft and wrappers sheets.  I went ahead with this, despite the fact that the deal wasn't exactly free.  In addition to the free with rebate Grill foil, I bought a 75 sq ft non-stick foil box, normally priced at Stop and Shop at $6.99, but on sale this week for $4.99.  Plus, I used two one dollar coupons from the Sunday paper, therefore shelling out only $2.99, which is something I would have done anyway for three flimsy separate 25 sq ft foil boxes at the dollar store... so, essentially it did come out to a good deal (with a free "Grill" product as an extra bonus).  Now I just have to figure out what exactly I will use this extra sturdy foil for.

Coupon Alert

Quick reminder to keep your eyes out for coupons.  There are $1 coupons nearby potato chips and nachos racks at the Stop and Shops and Price Choppers I visited recently.  I took a couple of each to keep for a really good sale.  I like to wait for ones which include a free jar of salsa with a purchase of two bags of nachos, for example. 

Pound Cake at Stop and Shop

Wonderful special at Stop and Shop this week -- The pound cake is buy one get one free.  Near the the sign you might be able to find a coupon for Free Cool Whip if you purchase the pound cake and a container of strawberries.  These happen to be on sale for only $1.50 a pound.  So for $7.49, I was able to buy two boxes of Entemann's pound cake, two pounds of strawberries, and two 8 ounce containers of Cool Whip; not all free, but delicious!

Check out the Clearances

I used to be so embarrased looking at the reduced price racks at the grocery stores.  I would prod quickly around the items if there was no one else around the area.  My mentality back then was, buying clothes on clearance was acceptable and even exciting, but food?

Now, I make a point of checking out those racks, generally located in the back of the stores, each time I shop.  I even sometimes buy vegetables that are reduced in price -- eggplant, red and green peppers, tomatoes, as long as there is no sign of mold growth.  I have bought gallons of organic milk for only $2 in the past.  With four kids in the house, consuming it within a two or three day expiration date is no problem.  I have even once purchased an armful of clearanced store brand baby wipes which came out to sixty cents a pack.

The clearance I stumbled upon today was in the dairy department -- Dannon Greek Yogurt, usually too pricey for me to buy.  But with the expiration date of May 19th approaching, they reduced the price to $1 each and added onto each container a fifty cents coupon.  I would have been happy with 50 cents Greek yogurt, but then remembered I had $1 coupon off 2 in my purse (I had cut it out just in case of an event like this).  As I strolled down the dairy aisle I saw a little coupon machine for the exact same product -- Danon Greek yogurt, 75 cents off the purchase of 3.  Applying both of these coupons and the orange discount ones on the containers themselves, my six honey and strawberry Greek containers only cost 21 cents each.  Opa!

Run Like a Champion

For my older three children, I used to buy all their shoes from Walmart, thinking that I was saving money that way.  It was always such a hectic mess in their shoe departments, and a task I disliked so much that I was happy whenever my younger ones could reuse my older one's old shoes. 

My youngest has been wearing a nice pair of shoes/boots that I found at an "upscale thrift store" (that's how they advertise themselves as).  It was a great deal for $4 and looked practically new.  But, soon he will be growing out of them and needing summer shoes.

Today I indulged in Payless' BOGO sale.  It was not the best type of BOGO (buy one get one FREE), but the other kind -- buy one get one half off.  The sneakers which he desperately needed were on sale for $10 (originally priced at $19.99).  So, I purchased two, one size seven and one size eight, for whenever he grows out of them.  It came out to $7.50 a pair -- brand new, name brand sneakers.  Best of all, the service was wonderful.  I went to the store off Route 20 in Charlton where the salesperson dedicated so much time to us, measuring my son's feet, finding some extra pairs from the back storage room that we could select from, chatting with him, and even giving him a sticker.... Making Payless my now favorite place to shop for frugal shoe deals (good-bye Walmart).

Tomorrow's the last Hallmark special day

Stop and Shop's special coupon for $5 off a purchase of 3 Hallmark cards will be ending May 12th.  If you haven't had a chance to buy some nice cards, you still have until then.  I purchased three more today and 2 Gerber Pre-K snack containers (apple wagon wheels).  The snacks cost $2.19 each, but if you purchased 2, a thank-you coupon for $1.50 would print out.  The register total was for $7.35, I applied a $5 coupon from a previous card purchase and ended up paying $2.35, with a $1.50 coupon back for my next purchase, my real total was 85 cents for otherwise expensive finger food, which is great for teething toddlers.  (There is also a deal that if you purchase 5 of these Gerber snacks, you get one for free, but I didn't have any coupons to match it, so only bought 2).

Concerning the register coupons, I always check and confirm that I received the coupon among the receipt and other items printed out.  Today it happened that I did not receive the $1.50, so I needed to go up to customer service and ask them for it.  Generally when this happens, I receive cash.  My husband would be utterly embarrassed to see me have to do this, but it was something I was counting on and I otherwise would not have bought the baby snacks at that price.