my name is katie and i am a recovering coupon addict. i still clip those little pieces of paper every now and then but not like i used to. no, sir.
a year and a half ago you would have found me carrying around a 5" 3-ring binder filled with baseball card pages that were stuffed with 400 pounds of coupons - all organized with decorative dividers by shopping category. *barf*
why don't i do this anymore? well for starters, who has the time?! and secondly, because i realized that while you can get food for cheap and even free.....it's usually crap processed food that'll give you diarrhea.
so now, i shop smarter. i clip coupons for things like deodorant, laundry detergent, dish soap, etc. my kids are addicted to cereal and that shhhh is expensive so i definitely try to save there if i can.
recently, i had a light bulb moment. you know all those commercials where walmart compares someone's grocery bill to their prices and shows them how much they would have saved (without coupons) shopping with them? yeah, i did too, except i didn't think anything of it. until one day when i was in walmart and saw a lady with a publix ad in her hands telling her kids, "these are buy one get one free so pick out the ones you'd like". scue me? what?
LIGHTBULB! walmart doesn't just match lower prices, they match sales and deals, too!
DOY! (for the record, i'm bringing that word back.)
in the example of the lady that i saw shopping with her publix ad, she was looking at lay's potato chips. well, publix sells those for $4.29/bag so BOGO is a big deal - that's only $2.14/bag.
but get this - walmart sells them for $2.68 a bag - so BOGO is a WAY better deal there! that's only $1.34/bag! see how this works? on one item alone that's an $0.80 savings without any coupons!
needless to say, this lady inspired me.
since the publix ad comes out on thursdays, i've gotten into the habit of making my walmart run after carpool on thursday mornings. i open up my publix app on my phone and go raid the walmart shelves. today i scored! my favorite was the 100oz bottles of purex laundry soap. at walmart they are regularly $5.50. but since publix had them on BOGO, i got TWO for that price! what what?!
i got home, put the groceries away and got online to write a blog post about how much i saved. but first, a quick facebook read. and guess what i saw! THIS!!
um, first of all publix - most of the prices you are claiming under the 'publix' column are your buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) prices. see, at publix when something is BOGO, you don't have to buy two of them. you can buy one of them for half-off.
for example: the first item in their list of prices is:
Kraft Velveeta Shells & Cheese Dinner
- Wal mart : $1.93
- Publix: $1.25
- Savings: $0.68
all of this looks good on paper, but there's a catch. since walmart matches publix ad prices, walmart IS the lower price in this comparison because the $1.93 is for TWO items where the publix price is only for one. bam!
what this comparison ad should say is:
Kraft Velveeta Shells & Cheese Dinner
- Walmart: $1.93 (regular price) - $0.96/each with BOGO price match
- Publix: $2.50 (regular price) - $1.25/each with BOGO
- Savings: $0.29/each *ahem*
i can see why publix is intimidated by walmart - they should be. i have a publix literally right behind my neighborhood. seriously, i could walk to it. (i could.....but i'm lazy, *ahem*) but i will drive 5 miles up a busy ass 4-lane highway to get to the closest wal mart because i can save some moolah. wouldn't you?
moral of the story - do your own research before shopping. this flyer is filled with lies. LIES I SAY!
(you can read all the details of the walmart their price match guarantee here.)
looking for more walmart fun, check out my friend amanda's song about the people of walmart over at werdyab blog. you should follow her while you're there - she's hilar!
how do you get the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to feeding your family? are you a crazy couponer? or do you have a coupon-less method? share your stories in the comments below!
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