Mission Possible Walmart, 6/03/09

• She is like merchant's ships, she bringeth her food from afar
• She looketh well to the ways of her household

$17.13 OOP

Another Walmart run to use up coupons and snag some sale items--and lest you think my family will be suffering from carb overload, this is for my stockpile, not my weekly groceries! I did make one mistake (or the store did, I'm not sure) that cost me almost $3 more than I expected, but I still think I came out pretty well on this one!

2 boxes Saltine crackers, $2.38 each, less 2 $1 Q, or $1.38 each

2 boxes Ritz crackers, $2.88 each, less 2 $1 Qs, or $1.88 each (this is where either Walmart or I made a mistake--the larger boxes are on roll back right now, 2/$5, or $2.50 each--I thought these smaller boxes were marked 2/$3, or $1.50 each, which would have made them $.50 each after the coupons--my register tape shows what I think is these crackers at $2.88 each. I may or may not check on this later to see who made the mistake, but I'll probably just "eat" this one.)

2 boxes Ritz bits w cheese, $2 each, less 2 $1 Qs, or $1 each

2 boxes Triscuits, $2 each, less 2 $1 Qs, or $1 each

2 boxes Kraft Deluxe Mac & cheese, 2/$3, less 2 $1 Qs, or $.50 each

4 cups Velveeta mac & cheese, $.98 each, less 2 $1/2 Qs, or $.48 each

4 cups Kraft Easy Mac, $.88 each, less 3 $1/2 Qs, or $.38 each

6 boxes Kraft Mac & cheese regular, on sale $.50 each

Total OOP after tax $17.13 (would have been about $14 without the mistake). Not too shabby, and I'm set for mac & cheese and crackers for a while!

If you're a regular reader, you may know that I don't particularly care for Walmart for my regular shopping when I have good alternatives, but while I'm at home in smalltown Louisiana, there really aren't a lot of frugal options. Since I've been home the last couple of weeks, though, I've made a couple of what I call "long, slow" trips through the local store--I browse the aisles with my coupon binder, looking at prices and seeing what good deals I can find. One of the things I've noticed about their non-food items--toilet tissue, paper towels, laundry detergents, dishwashing detergents, etc--is that they mostly stock large packaging. I had some manufacturer's coupons for cents off paper towels for a 2 roll pack or larger. They stock singles and huge multi-packs, nothing in between. A $.60 coupon has a much bigger savings impact off of 2-pack than an 8 pack. I looked at dryer sheets, as well--I had a $1 Q off any of a certain brand--all they had were the huge boxes, priced at over $4--no 20 or 40 sheet packs. Same in the dishwashing liquid--only large bottles. When you shop with coupons, you nearly always get a better savings impact buying smaller packaging rather than larger. You may run out sooner, but by then you'll have another coupon and find another deal. Even without coupons, don't always assume that the larger packaging is less per ounce or per use--one of the great things about most store shelf-tags these days is that they do break the prices down by the cost per ounce, if you look at the fine print on the tags. Sometimes the larger packaging is a better deal, with or without coupons, sometimes not. It always pays to compare.

Needless to say, after my browsing, there are some coupons that I'll save for Dollar General or the drugstores, but Walmart will still (reluctantly) be part of my future Mission Possible trips--wherever I can get my "frugal" on!

For missions completed by other "agents", see the Mission Possible post below.

Until next time...