I am so loving grocery shopping these days…coupons, sales…it’s just plain fun. I love to come home and tell my husband how much money I have saved. I want him to know that I am being a good steward of our resources. And, along the way, I am learning a few things…

1. Walgreens (in my neck of the woods) does not allow the use of B1G1 coupons on a product that is already on sale as B1G1.  Now, many people had told me that this could be done.  That if you used the B1G1 coupon on a B1G1 sale – both items would be free.  Everyone was doing it.  I thought it was fabulous!  So, I go to Walgreens where they have this fabulous (though pricey) shampoo on sale for B1G1 and I happen to have a B1G1 coupon for the same product.  Yay Me!  So, I go to the counter and give the nice young lady my items and my coupons.  She scans the coupon and it beeps…never a good thing.  She reads the coupon and giggles.  Yes.  Giggles.  She says “Oh, you can’t use this coupon.  The shampoo is already buy one get one.  To use this would make them both free.  That would be crazy.”  Yes, that would indeed be too crazy.  What was I thinking?  Oh well.
2. Publix does not accept competitor coupons.  Again, I had heard many times that Publix accepts all competitor coupons.  So, they had an item on sale, plus I had a coupon from another store for the same item.  I was going to get a great deal!  The cashier looks at the coupon and giggles.  Yes.  Giggles.  “Oh, this coupon is for Target.  I don’t think we can use this.”  Then, she hollars to a manager several registers away…”Hey, this lady has a coupon from Target.  Can we use this?”  Oh, the humiliation.  She gives me back the coupon which I stuff into my bag without making eye contact and attempt to leave the store quickly.  Right about that time Emily informs me that she has lost her cow tail somewhere in the store and we must go back and find it.  So, I have to ask if I can leave my groceries in the front so that I can go find a cow tail.  The bag boy looks at me as he (not kidding) drinks water directly from a gallon jug and says “uh.  sure.” 
3. Free does not make bad things taste good.  Now, I am all about a bargain…and free?…well, you can’t get much better than that.  So, when I read about the Kashi cereal being on sale for $2.00 at Wal-Mart and I had a $2.00 off coupon, I was very happy.  I went and bought two boxes and put them in my pantry.  Last night, I opened the first box and made me a nice bowl of cereal for a night time snack.   Seriously.  I agree…it’s a GREAT deal…but has anyone actually tried the stuff.  Ugh.  It would need some serious doctoring up to be edible. 

So, there you go.  A few lessons on the road to frugality.  But…I continue on.

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A short Emily story for your reading pleasure:

I love lotion.  What woman doesn’t want to be soft and smell nice?  So, driving to work the other day, I mentioned to Emily that I was upset with myself because I had forgotten to put my lotion on before we left.  Emily, very casually as she looks out of the window, tells me “Oh, it’s okay Mommy.  You smell good just the way God made you.”