On the Hunt

If you’re like me and on a strict budget, going on the hunt and bagging some terrific bargains will take your blah day and turn it into something terrific. Well, I’ve sure had one hellluva bargain hunting week so far.

First, I stalked online for a George Foreman grill and found a 4-serving grill and panini maker for $30! And yes, Virginia, it has removable plates.

Then, in my quest to find chicken breasts on sale to cook on the afore-mentioned grill, I turned my finely honed bargain-hunting attentions to the weekly circulars. And there it was.

I had uncovered an amazing bargain at Food 4 Less—they had boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.47/lb. And today was the last day. I rushed right over.

Since I have rarely shopped at this store, and a friend of mine had often told me how inexpensive Food 4 Less was, I decided to price check some of my favorite buys, such as mozzarella cheese, yogurt, Kashi cereals, and coffee.

Boy, was he wrong! The prices are about the same as Stater Bros, but they can’t even come close to the low prices at my Walmart Neighborhood Market. So Food 4 Less is out unless I spot a fantastic sale like the one I found today.

You see, I have my own little system. I get the bulk of my items at Aldi and the 99 cent store. I save a bundle there.

There are certain items I buy only at Walmart Neighborhood Market. And no, it’s not one of those huge box stores where you can buy a shotgun, ammo, steaks, and a cell phone all in one place. It’s JUST a grocery store. No crowds or bizarre people… it’s nice and clean, and this one is fairly new.

I don’t buy anything they have to weigh, and I time my shopping trips to coincide with picking up my prescriptions. That way there are no long lines to wait in. Hee, hee! 😆

I go to Stater Bros when they advertise good sales on items I buy everyday. I’ll sometimes splurge and buy my beloved drink, Bai5 (the Panama Peach flavor that my Walmart N.M. doesn’t seem to carry), perhaps some chicken, and the occasional steak (they really do have the best tasting beef).

We got the new circulars today. I’ll be checking out what’s on sale for the coming week. Can’t wait to bag my next quarry.

OMG. I just had an epiphany. I’ve turned into my mother. 😳

Mom used to buy many things on sale. In fact, my parents thought nothing of driving all over town to various grocery stores to buy sale items. But here’s where I’ve turned into my mother…

Mom would call me up, all excited, and tell me which stores she had dragged my dad to that day and how much they had spent… cherries were on sale at Y for $XX, toilet paper was on sale at Z for $XX, and so on.

I’d nod, murmur “Uh, uh” at appropriate intervals and pretend to be interested. I was working 50-hour weeks back then, so the last thing I wanted to do was run around to different stores to buy my groceries.

Sometimes if it sounded like a really good deal, I’d ask them to pick up something for me the next time they went back to that store. She’d get so happy at that—! Moms love it when you take their advice. So my parents would rush out the next day to get it for me. It was really very sweet.

Now I may not drive all over town, wasting gas and time just to buy groceries, and I certainly don’t call up my nieces and tell them where to buy chicken breasts on sale for $1.47/lb. The heck with that!

Nope. I text them. 😜

And of course, I post about it on Facebook for all my hundreds of friends to read and then I blog about it.