Grocery Adventures

First of all, this trip to Kroger was supposed to be for two items. Yes, two! Then I remembered there were 10/$10 sales going on and I picked up a flyer. Maybe I shouldn't have done this. I'm not sure it would have mattered because the major derail came when I opened up my coupon caddy and noticed that I had a coupon from Nabisco for free cookies or crackers which took me down an aisle I hadn't intended to be on. But I found gold when I got there.

Part of the 10/$10 sale that wasn't included in the flyer is the Barnum Circus reclosable animal crackers! Seriously, what kid - and hence, what parent - doesn't love these!!! Normally priced at $2.58 bags are now $1. So, I stocked up.

I had already stocked up on $1 toilet paper and then remembered that I was going to go to the dollar store to get little paint brushes. Instead I went to the office supply section of the store and it turns out that art brushes are 10/$10 this week at Kroger!! Got the brushes and saved myself gas for the trip across town.

So even though I didn't have a list when I went into the store and I let the serendipity of my coupon caddy lead me astray it really was the need to buy food [pie shells for quiche and biscuits for chipped beef] and diapers that were the greatest expense.

And to say that I didn't have coupons isn't quite right. I got a box of Triscuits for FREE from Nabisco. I got $2 off Huggies that were already down to $8.99. I got $1.50 off the biscuits and I had several electronic coupons loaded to my loyalty card that I didn't even remember were on there. That's the beauty of the electronic coupon - load them on and they'll be ready whenever you get there, whether you planned the trip or not.

I didn't hit my goal of 45% savings but I got to 37% without really trying and that's not bad for a chilly morning in April. How about you? Have you had serendipity shopping adventures lately?