Today was my day to go to the city and do some shopping. At some point, I’d like to start only shopping bi-weekly. In general (at least for me), the more I stay out of stores, the less I tend to spend. Shopping and sticking to a list helps too.
My main reason for going to the city today was to pick up the boots Hubs had ordered. The boots were at the store, but they had ordered the wrong width. I’m glad I kept the label from the box from his current pair stapled to his boot voucher. It showed that it was their mistake and not ours; otherwise, we might have incurred a restocking fee as they were a special order. Fortunately, Hubs isn’t in desperate need of the boots as he only recently started wearing the ones he has now. These vouchers only come around once a year (and do expire), which is why we ordered the boots. I did save a little money by not parking in a metered spot in front of the store. My frugal self walked five minutes to the free parking lot. Ah, the little things in life!
Last night, as I made my list, I did some price comparing. I went on Meijer and Walmart’s websites and wrote down the prices of the items I intended to buy. The stores are located across the road from each other, so not at all out of my way to go to both. I had a $5.46 savings at Walmart and a $3.81 savings at Meijer by comparing my prices, totaling $9.27. Two items were not available at Walmart, such as the granola I wanted, and they were also out of thermometers.
I realize that some people might feel this is/was a waste of time and effort. However, I no longer work outside the home, so I have the time. As for effort, it took very little! Between both stores, I spent a total of $66.45 on groceries and $10.06 on a box of cat litter.
I did buy a mix of store brands and national brands. This week we are trying out Walmart’s Rice Krispies, which were half Kelloggs’ price. This isn’t a cereal I usually purchase, but I have a bag of marshmallows I want to use before they expire. Marshmallows must have a long shelf life because I no longer remember when (or for what purpose) I bought them! My best guess is that I was going to make Rice Krispie treats for my grandkids when they came to visit last February.
I haven’t had rice krispies in a long time. I don’t know why I haven’t thought to buy them, I always like that cereal. Let me know how the Walmart brand tastes in comparison.
I’ll let you know! When we eat cereal, it is usually Raisin Bran or multi-grain cheerios.