Today I went grocery shopping. My shopping habits vary quite a bit, sometimes I have a good bit of money and can go in with a list and stock the fridge, freezer, and pantry, and sometimes my mission is more about trying to get just a few basic items for as little money as possible to last us for as many days as possible. For some reason, my trip to the store today made me feel all reflective about the topic of grocery shopping.
I wonder what grocery shopping is like for other people, are the same kinds of thoughts that I have as I shop going through their heads too? What are the stores like that they shop in, and what kinds of store discount cards and coupons do they offer? That last question was raised by a coupon that I found laying on the self checkout counter a few days ago, for seven dollars off of a purchase of seventy dollars or more within a week of the issuance of the coupon. I have had similar coupons print out after I have checked out my groceries. The hundred dollars of groceries that you just bought triggers the machine to print a coupon for ten dollars off of a purchase of a hundred dollars or more if you use it within a week. Those coupons make me so mad. If I have just bought a bunch of food for my family of three, then a coupon for savings off of a similarly sized order of groceries within the next seven days is pretty much worthless. This time I lucked out though, because the coupon that I found the other day as I was picking up just a few things had been printed out for someone else and had been left there. I took it, not knowing whether I would use it. As luck would have it, I went in today with seventy dollars and came away with seventy seven dollars worth of food. Finally, I got that promotion to work for me.
Now, I have got to see what I can do about the store’s free milk promotion. If you buy six gallons of milk within the month that the promotion is in effect, you get a free gallon of milk. Pretty cool, right? I am pretty sure that we are not going to be able to take advantage of this promotion either, unless we start having milk chugging contests around the dinner table. The thought makes me sick, as much as I love milk. I witnessed a milk drinking contest in college, when a friend had one live on the air for a radio show. I was in the studio and saw the whole thing. There are two weeks left in the promotion and we have used only two gallons of milk. Another promotion that seems to be designed for other people, not for my family and the way that we shop.
Does anyone else feel the same way about grocery shopping? I always thought that my shopping habits were fairly normal, but perhaps the promotions are designed for larger families who buy more food than we do. At any rate, today’s shopping trip was a good one because many of the things on my list were on sale so I was able to get most of what I wanted to get without blowing the budget. Coupon or no coupon, that’s a win in my book.
Photo by calgrin on morguefile.com.