Grocery Shopping and coupon policy.....

Another week of still trying to get as much as possible for as little as possible; and as always some hits and some misses.

My first stop was Zehrs as they had a no tax sale on Friday and Saturday.  Got this little lot:

I paid $38.37 for all that; only because I cashed in $40 worth of PC points, otherwise it would have been $78.37.  If I hadn't used $29.71 in coupon and tax savings it would have been $108.08, which is crazy.  I am not sure you can see, but there is a carton of strawberries on there.  There are four pounds of strawberries and I paid $4.99 for the four pounds.  They had one pound cartons of strawberries on for 3 for $5.  Are you seeing where I am going with this.......the amount of people who had the three cartons for $5 outweighed the people who had the four pound cartons.  Either people weren't thinking or just didn't care about getting the extra pound of strawberries for free!!!

My next stop was Sobeys.

As you see I didn't get much, but this proved to be a troublesome and slightly amusing experience.  The pizzas were on sale for $3.49 each and I wanted them as we were having the kids up for lunch and were having that with Cesar salad; an easy meal.  I had  a $5 off coupon for the Turkey Burgers from Websaver and there were $2 off Internet printable coupons for the bread, which brought the bread down to 50 cents per loaf.

I am always wary about using Internet printable coupons, so decided to print out Sobeys, rules and regulations regarding the use of home printed coupons and bring it with me.  So this is how it all went down.

Cashier: (The websaver coupon the company mailed to me) Did you print this out yourself?
Me: No, look at the back of it you'll see Websaver printed on the back of it.
Cashier: Looks a bit blurry to me.
Me: Well I didn't print it as its on their paper.

After another minute or two thoroughly examining the coupon she decides it's fine.  Hand over the two bread coupons that I had printed at home.

Me: Now these are printed at home, but I do have Sobey's rules and regulations regarding these coupons and they seem fine.  Would you like to look at the list of requirements to make sure the coupons are okay?
Cashier: No, I know all the rules and regulations.
Me: Oh, well I didn't that's why I printed them out; and from what I read everything seems right with the coupons.
Cashier: I have to check everything.

Cashier is still thoroughly inspecting my coupons as though her life depends on it.

Me: Would you like me to leave a copy of the rules and regulations for the staff, as I don't want them.
Cashier: We're not allowed to take that from a customer, and I know all the rules and regulations.
Me: Oh, I only thought maybe some other members of staff might not know them all.
Another Cashier then pipes up: Well I don't know them.
Cashier: Well I do and we can't accept the paper from the customer.

All in all despite the fact the cashier treat me as though I was stealing thousands from Sobeys.  I was able to use my $9 worth of coupons, so that little lot ending up costing me $13.97.  It also took me as long to complete that shopping trip as it did in Zehrs.  Also discovered I now have enough Sobey's points to cash in for $5 worth of free product next time I go in.

My final shop was in the same strip mall in Rexall.  It's not a shop I go into very often but they had a good deal on Deodorant:

It was on sale for $1.99 each and I had $3 off coupons when you buy two.  The cookies were on sale also for $1.77 a package and I wasn't sure if I would have time to bake.  So all in all I spent $6.55 there with savings of $6.

I spent a total of $58.89, with savings of $84.71, putting my monthly totals to: $164.28 spent and $122.38 saved.  Very little fresh fruit and veggies bought this week though, but have stocked up on shampoo and deodorant, plus have enough bread for a couple of week.

The three stores are within a two minute drive of one another, and it takes me a good ten minutes to drive to town.  It took me a good two hours to complete this shopping trip, plus I went to the bank and called in for gas for the car.

How long does it take to do your grocery shopping and do you go to multiple stores?