Shopping, Shopping and more shopping

Okay, I hit the ground running this month after being over budget at the end of the month.  I started on December 1st at Harris Teeter.

Total OOP $3.39-less refund for Evic issues $1.03=$2.36
Total Savings $8.87

I called my mom to brag and she asked me to go back into the store and get the same thing for her (except she only wanted Honey Nut Cheerios).  Ugh, I guess I shouldn't have bragged.

Total OOP $3.39
Total Savings $8.28

I ran out of turkey lunchmeat for my husband's sandwiches and my Giant rewards were supposed to be posted today so I headed to Giant with my little man in tow.  First, we started by getting the worst cart EVER!  I went through produce section and had to go back and get another cart and switch little man and all our junk to another shopping cart.  Back out to get some groceries!!  I grabbed the yogurt that said it was free on my Uscanner and it rang up free.  Cool deal!  Then, we got the chicken that was on sale for $1.99 per pound.  Straight to the turkey lunchmeat.... my scanner beeped and there was a coupon for $1.25 off Hillshire Farm Natural Choice and it was on sale for $3.33... bonus that I had a printable coupon to save another $1!!  There was a free soda on the scanner so I went to the aisle and grabbed the Pepsi Next to get for free.  I needed to add a little more to be positive so I grabbed a Campbell's soup which had a scanner coupon so it was $0.50.  I still needed more so we drove our cart to the Gerber "purple bananas."  Super great over the $10 total after coupons and bag credits. 

I got to the register and the $10 credit didn't show up!!!  Really!!  The cashier gave me the bag credits, scanned my coupon, and the $10 Giant credit didn't show up.  I explained to her that the credit was supposed to appear and that I needed her to take the chicken, soup, and  Gerber food off.  She kindly scanned it while I attracted the attention of another cashier and the manager.  I can't tell you the last time that I have had that many people interested in helping me.  I explained that I knew that there was nothing that they could do in the store so I just needed the items voided and I would be back to try again.  The person behind me in line even got in on the conversation. 

Okay, out the door with my limited groceries and my son.... What, we are now missing my son's lizard.  We put the groceries in the car and then walked through the whole store hoping to find a lizard on the ground.  Nothing anywhere!!  My son didn't meltdown but I wonder if that is going to last and I didn't have a lot of distractions... We dropped off stuff at Salvation Army and he fell asleep on the way home.  Currently, no questions about the lizard so I am going to cross my fingers because I searched my bag and didn't find it.

Total OOP $0.72 (used gift card so it doesn't count towards my monthly total)
Total Savings $6.48

Back to Harris Teeter to try to get the last day of the sale.  I grabbed a loaf of bread.  I got two Fried Rice packets which were free after printable coupons.  I wanted to get Cheese-its but they weren't as good a deal I thought they were.  They were out of the Jimmy Dean Cooked Sausage and Morton's Sea Salt which I was trying to get so I went up and down the aisles and found the Campbell's 100% Natural Soup which was on sale for B1G1 (original price $2.45).  Well, soup makes a great lunch so I should get some and I had a coupon for $0.75 off 2 which would double to $1.50.  That would make the soup $0.48 per can so it seemed like a good fit.  When I checked out, I got two evic coupons off for $1.75 so all 4 cans were $0.15 or $0.04 per can of soup.  Better deal than I thought that I was getting!!!

Total OOP $1.25
Total Savings $12.15

Total Out of the December Budget So Far $7.00!!  Can you believe that we are still that low with all those pictures??  I can't but I am super excited. 

I am going to cross my fingers and hope to get the Giant credit while the chicken is still on sale so that I can pick up some chicken to fill the freezer.  I am working on the plan on what to get at Walmart with my giftcard but I think that I might need a trip to the store to figure it out.  I am going to put the iphone on the charger and see if they have wi-fi too :)  Hope that you are having a good start to your month and I look forward to hearing all about the deals that you are getting!!!