Wednesday Weekly Shopping: New Couponer Syndrome

I invite you to link up to your best grocery deals below, to inspire others to save more!

This week, I had a bad case of New Couponer Syndrome.

When people first start couponing, they usually go a bit overboard, trying to get every coupon and do every deal that they possibly can, even though there may be cheaper, non-coupon ways to get the same product.

That's what happened to me this week.  I hadn't done any coupon shopping in January during the Clean Out the Cupboards Challenge, so I went a little crazy this week.  And, in retrospect, I made a few mistakes, and ended up going $18 over my weekly budget.  (Hey, this blog is called Frugal Follies for a reason - I tend to make a lot of mistakes!  But as long as I learn from them, that's okay.)

At Winn-Dixie, there was a good sale on olive oil, so I bought four bottles.  But... the same brand is on sale this week at Publix, for the same price.  I could've just bought two, then waited for another sale.  I also bought Ro-Tel tomatoes at 67¢ after coupons; problem is, a similar product is available at ALDI all the time for 49¢.  I bought Tostitos there for my Super Bowl appetizer dinner, neglecting to check for coupons in Sunday's inserts (there was one) or better deals (Target had a better overall deal on chips).

I also replaced almost everything I had used up over the month at ALDI.  Instead, I should've just bought the things I absolutely needed that week, and waited until next week to get the other items.  I did pretty well at Publix, though.  And I did get some great deals on veggies at a store off my shopping route.

Overall, this week I spent $98.09 for items which retail for $238.86, or a 59% savings.  (But don't compare percentages!)  Of course, if I compared the ALDI prices to supermarket full prices, it would show a lot more savings. 

For the year (5 weeks), I've spent $246.82 for items which retail for $425.00, or a 42% savings.  That's an average of $49.36 spent each week. 

See all my shopping here.

How did your shopping go this week? What bargains did you get? Please leave a link to your blog post about your weekly shopping. The aim is not to brag, but to inspire!  Please link up directly to your post, not to the blog itself. I'd appreciate it if you put a link to Wednesday Weekly Shopping in your post as well. If you don't have a blog, please leave a comment!



For more great shopping deals and trips, please check out the bloggers listed on the left sidebar under Shopping Deals Linkups. There are lots of great ideas on each blog and I'm sure you'll find inspiration for you to save even more!