Everything is getting smaller!

My big source of confusion, as I mentioned somewhere above, is cereal. We eat a lot of it --sometimes 3 or 4 boxes a week, depending -- so when each flavor comes in a different size from the other, as well as each kind coming in at multiple sizes, it makes it confusing.  Frosted flakes are usually more oz than say cocoa puffs, but the frosted flakes at the large size are on sale, but it's really not worth it since the coupon will be worth more if I wait for the small size to go on sale, but it's a different sale for each size -- blech. I don't even like the 5/$10 sales anymore on cereal since it's about 2 bowls' worth, I'd rather pay $2.50/box for 4 bowls' worth or something.  And is frosted flakes really a better deal at more oz than captain crunch?  Drives me nuts.  But even without kids we go through a lot of cereal.

Which brings me to another thing.  The dollar store really isn't a good deal on most things.  It's good if you want a little amount, cheap, but for most things it's more than the grocery store!  But people think since it's *only* $1 it's "cheap"

I admit to feeling defeated to pay full-price for brownie mix the other day, but I needed it for something.  That saddened me to not have any at home and be at the mercy of the grocery store charging twice what I needed to pay.

I actually tend to buy generic on a number of things -- for which there are no sales or coupons -- when I *have* to get something.  Sometimes even with coupons it's cheaper to get generics.  I only go to the grocery store that I do, because they sell national brands, store brands and a cheaper "valu time" brand that for "most" things is just fine.  If I go the other store that barely has generics, then I usually end up paying more in the end, overall, unless there are sales and coupons on every single thing I buy,

Sigh.  I wish I could move more towards reusable things than disposable -- like paper towels -- but sometimes it's nice to just be able to clean something and toss it.  My favroite thing in the universe are the lysol wipes for cleaning and I'm sure I overspend on them compared to using something else to clean, but by golly, I need to enjoy myself sometime :)

NicoleS

I actually tend to buy generic on a number of things

I LOVE Aldi - all they have is no-name stuff, but it's pretty decent! They have 'Special K' bars that are just as good as the name brand. Cereal is just as good, too. They have no-name kitchen cleansing wipes, too! ;)

sl2crmeg

I LOVE Aldi - all they have is no-name stuff, but it's pretty decent!

We haven't lived by an Aldi's in years -- and a 45 minute drive doesn't save me anything -- but we had time to kill while we had our car serviced a few weeks ago so we walked to one.  Maybe it depends on what you buy, but I didn't think their prices were all that great.  They were definitely cheaper than national brands at a grocery store, but the prices were on-par with generics, I thought.  There were a few things like olive oil that were pretty cheap, but for dry goods I just didn't see amazingly good prices.  I'm pretty sure their inventory changes every so often, right?  So maybe I just wasn't looking at the right stuff.  We weren't looking to buy since I didn't have any bags and the car was in the shop, so maybe I'll give it another shot since we just moved closer to one.  I totally swear by generics for most things since I hate paying for advertising and the like unless there's a sale and coupon.

One place I love to food shop is Target -- their brand of stuff is really good and although the selection is somewhat limited, their prices are quite reasonable.  We buy a lot of Clif bars, juice, bread, snacks and such there -- full price is definitely less than grocery store and their sales are often good, too.  They don't double coupons so it's a toss-up there, but since there's a target right next door to the grocery store I'm often going in there as well.  I'm surprised that they have such a wide selection of store brands, actually. 

I've noticed the shrinkage.  You can't buy a pound of coffee - it's all 12 oz. or 13 oz.  I buy the big 3 lb. can of Kirkland coffee at Costco.  Same with bleach - it's about 3 quarts now. I think milk is still a gallon.  I admit to buying stuff I don't really need at the time when it's on sale, but it's non perishable stuff like TP, paper towels, canned goods.  I usually get the store brand of bread, but DS noticed that Kings Hawaiian (he's addicted to their rolls) now has sliced bread so last time I got that.

Joyce

I think I do better at Aldi because they have a limited selection of pretty basic items, so I'm not drawn into buying pretty, shiny, yummy things. I can drive the same distance to a Super Wally but they have so much stuff that I spend a ton of money.

sl2crmeg

I think I do better at Aldi because they have a limited selection of pretty basic items, so I'm not drawn into buying pretty, shiny, yummy things. I can drive the same distance to a Super Wally but they have so much stuff that I spend a ton of money.

That made me laugh.  I don't care for the super wally's too much -- their produce is hit or miss, and as you say, there is just too much in one place.  The lines to get out the store are giant and I always just end up frustrated when I leave there, for a variety of reasons. Sure it's convenient to a point, but ours isn't organized how I think would be logical, and things on the wally side should be with food and some on the food side belong in the regular wally, and they have two different selections of things that would normally be found in both sections.  Gah!

I've decided that I can't go shopping hungry, since then I buy everything and anything, but neither can I eat a giant meal and go shopping since then I buy nothing.  There has to be a decent middle-ground here!

We have Giant Eagle, Shop n Save, Kuhn's, and a bunch of smaller stores like shur-save (WHY can't they spell it right?!) and community shopper.  Giant Eagle is the only one with a reasonable variety of both national and store brands, and the smaller stores just can'tsell the volume so the prices are higher.  Shop n Save is OK for somethings, but they do this "any 4 packages of meat for $19.99" so if you only want one, it's ridiculously expensive.  So, can't win, and it's like we only have one grocery who sets whatever price they want.  I want Wegmans back :(

I live on one side of town and work on the other. I pass them all Aldi, Sav-a-lot, Kroger, Target, Meijer, and the IGA. I mainly shop Kroger, with Meijer and IGA doing back up duty. I make sure my stop at any of them is tied with another stop (both work and personal).

I hoard coupons for the stuff we will eat, keep a few for things we would like to try, and actually watch dates on products. My recent nice saves.....11 4pk rolls of TP for..FREE, 4 btls of Kraft Italian dressing for $.32...yes, $.08 a bottle.

And name brand is a waste of money for most things, there are a few things I will still buy, but it's rare more than common.

As for cereal, I understand your pain there, have you tried buying the store brand large bags?  Most are comparable on taste and you get more for your dollar.

Truley

As for cereal, I understand your pain there, have you tried buying the store brand large bags?  Most are comparable on taste and you get more for your dollar.

You would think so, but they don't go on sale and obviously don't have coupons, so I haven't found it to be as good as I thought it would be.  I can usually get a medium box of name brand cereal, say 15oz-ish size, for around $1-$1.50 after sale and coupons.  The store bags are usually 2x the size of a box and are $3.49. 

I did good with salad dressing as well... it was on sale and they had some nice coupons. I don't think I got close to 8 cents, but I think it was 17 cents a bottle.  We get better coupons but my mom gets better sales where they live so we trade coupons a lot.  They have more stores that are competitve so they double coupons up to $2 frequently, for example.  We would never see that here.  Their sales tend to be better to.  They might have something 10/$10 whereas we only get it for 8/$10.  But our coupons are a bit better since our prices are a bit higher, but theirs might double better here or something.  It all depends.

I rarely get stuff for free, though, so I obviously am not as well trained as some of you :)

NicoleS

I rarely get stuff for free, though, so I obviously am not as well trained as some of you :)

Ha....took many many moons to get to the free part....it requires stocking things, keeping track of sales and watching dates on coupons. You can do it!

I actually don't really watch dates on coupons since the scan your own machines don't really catch expired ones.  I accidently used one from 2007 a short while ago

Also DH hates when I stock pile stuff.... I haven't had to buy him bar soap in years since I got a really good clearance sale and coupons once when I worked at a grocery store   But, we've moved that same soap 3 times so it probably wasn't worth it!

The smaller weight packages that we are being charged more for really tick me off.  It's not terribly well-hidden if the consumer reads the packaging (I actually do).  Don't even get me started. 

 20 oz. bottles of coke are now 16 oz. ... thought i was getting a deal on a coke at the quickie mart.

I think they used to be 16oz once upon a time and then everyone wanted things BIGGER so they made bigger.  Maybe I'm making it up. 

 well don't confuse me by switching back!

NicoleS

I actually don't really watch dates on coupons since the scan your own machines don't really catch expired ones.  I accidently used one from 2007 a short while ago

I use coupons fairly often and not only does the scanner at my store catch expiration dates, it knows if you only bought 1 when you were supposed to buy 2. I can remember many, many years ago, you could just hand over the coupon and they take the amounts off regardless of whether you'd bought the item or not. Those were good times