Safeway Shopping Trip 7/23

There was a deal on Honey Nut Cheerios and since they are a favorite of my husband and son, I decided to brave the wilds of Safeway (against my better judgement).  They were on sale for 4/$10 and there was a coupon that could be loaded using the Just For U account or there was a coupon to cut out of the paper to make them $1.88 each (limit 4).  I loaded it and cut it just in case- better to be prepared with Safeway.  I printed my coupons from coupons.com that were $0.50 this morning so that I was ready to go.

My son and I arrived at the store in the afternoon around 3:00pm.  I knew that I was pushing this errand at the end of the busy day with a tired kid but I figured that I would zip in and grab them and run to self check out and it would be done.  It never works out that way with me and Safeway. 

First, they don't have fun carts so it is hard to keep a tired three year old in a boring regular cart, especially with out the Harris Teeter samples and cookies to distract him.  I got to the aisle and there were only a few boxes left and they were on the very top shelf at the back.... little me being only 5 foot 3 inches had to climb on the lower shelves and grab the boxes.  In the process, two other boxes that were crowding the Honey Nut Cheerios came down with them.  I picked the other boxes up and put them back on the shelf.  I was disappointed to find that there were only three boxes left and I was hoping to get the limit which was 4.  Then I saw that there was one other box left on another shelf so I grabbed it. 

I handed all four boxes to my son who was trying to climb out hoping that all four boxes would keep him in his seat.  He did his ohhs and ahhs and then put them in the back of the cart and asked what else we were going to get.... umm, nothing- just cereal. 

We headed quickly to the empty self check out lines and rang everything up only to realize that the coupons have the new coupon code and Safeway hasn't updated the self check out to read them.  UGH!  The lady came over to ask me if I had changed my card over (aka signed up for Just for U) to which I replied "Do you mean the Just for U program? YES. I have these coupons and they won't scan because of the barcode, can you help me or do I have to go to a normal check out?"  Mostly nodding and pointing but she might have grunted and said cashier.  I told her to cancel my transaction and we went to wait in one of two lines that was open with cashier.  Some other guy came up and asked what happened but I had already thrown my stuff in the cart and was heading to the other check out.

As soon as we were third in line at the check out, my son decided that he had to break free from the cart.  He asked to get down and proceeded to shop at the end aisle.  He picked out Captain Crunch cereal which I most certainly would have bought him if I had a coupon but without it, he would have to be sadly depressed which he was for about ten second and then he started cleaning up the Safeway shelf.  Yup, this is what my three year old does for entertainment and fun while at the grocery store- his favorite place to go. 

First person was finally gone, after she sent her daughter to get some water that she had a coupon for and forgot to get and had a long conversation with the cashier about her native language.  She used coupons and I was interested in seeing her total before and after but I was too far back so I missed the fun part of the trip.  She left all the coupon inserts that she didn't use in the bottom of the cart... assuming they didn't have any coupons, I left them when I saw them in the cart return. 

Second person put her stuff on the belt and stood waiting for her turn.  She took her money out of her wallet and dropped it on the floor, picking it back up as I saw that it was $100 bill.  She didn't speak English so the cashier tried to speak a little Spanish but the lady was not interested in her efforts and did not speak at all, only nodded yes and no.  She handed over her Safeway card and the total dropped to around $14 and she handed the cashier that $100 bill.  I am amazed that anyone is carrying that much money in their wallet so I try not to stare.

Finally our turn to go, did I mention that as soon as the aisle started to close off, I had to hold my 30 pound toddler while the other people checked out because he refused to get back in the cart?  The cashier rang up my stuff and put it in the reusable bag.  Rang through the coupons and the e-coupon was added back on at the end.  UGH!!  Why bother having them?? 

OOP was $3.66

Total savings $12.45

I left the store and checked my receipt on the way home, even though that is against my rules.  Since I was just worried about getting home with a tired toddler and because Safeway receipts are so hard to understand that you need a calculator :)  It turned out that they range up as expected at $0.88  (or $0.92 each including tax).