I Heart Walgreens

Today the boy’s and I were up extra early, so we headed over to Walgreens. I needed to pick up a few baby necessities for the week. I stocked up on Diapers and Tissues (fun allergy season).

Today I picked up:

• 2 Mennen Speed Stick for $.99 each (with store coupon)
• 1 Lady Speed Stick for $.99 (with store coupon)
• Walgreens Mega Pack Diapers (60 ct for size 3) 2 for $16.48
• Walgreens Reusable Shopping Bag for $.99

The diaper deal was too good to pass up, and I love their reusable shopping bag, it is going to be very handy!

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Nico in the Pursuit of Savings, All Shopped Out

Thanks again to everyone for reading along with me on my savings adventure. It has been an interesting journey, that has taught me a lot about shopping and saving locally. I was really surprised to see how much prices can vary from store to store, even if I didn’t have to drive that far.

Just for fun, I made a chart of my fifteen items and all of the places that I shopped. You can really see the price difference when you view them side by side.

Items	Wal-Mart	Walgreens	Dollar General	IGA	Woods
Cat Food	$3.84	$4.49	$2.25	$1.79	$1.99
Kitty Litter	$1.68	$2.29	$1.00	$2.99	$1.79
Kleenexes	$1.24	$1.00	$1.00	$1.25	$1.00
Toilet Paper	$1.32	$1.00	$1.10	$1.65	$1.00
Diapers	$10.67	$9.00	$8.00	$10.89	$9.97
Baby Food 2pk	$0.98	$1.39	$0.00	$1.19	$0.99
Baby Food Jar	$0.72	$0.89	$0.00	$0.85	$0.75
Gerber Puffs	$1.92	$2.49	$0.00	$2.29	$2.09
Saltines	$0.96	$2.00	$0.85	$1.35	$0.99
Coca-Cola	$3.98	$3.00	$1.99 (6ct)	$3.50	$3.33
Bread	$0.96	$2.19	$2.40	$1.09	$1.00
Eggs	$1.70	$1.50	$2.25	$1.50	$1.50
Milk 1 Gallon	$3.40	$3.49	$3.90	$3.19	$3.69
Flour 5lbs	$1.58	$2.99	$1.25	$1.79	$1.99
Sugar 4 lbs	$1.98	$2.79	$1.65	$1.69	$1.69
TOTAL	$36.93	$40.51	$27.64	$37.01	$33.77

I was surprised to see Walgreens on the high side of the prices and Wood’s on the low end, although the week that I shopped at Wood’s, many of the Baby Items were on sale.

Wal-Mart still seems to be the best bet for One Stop shopping, and with my two busy boys in the cart that is usually what I have to do. Walgreens is still one of my favorite places to shop, their pharmacy is great, and overall they had the best Customer Service. Dollar General is the best place to shop locally for Baking Supplies, and Cat Litter, they also had great Customer Service too. Wood’s and IGA both run fantastic sales, and incentive buys to save on fuel costs. Those might come in handy as the price of gas continues to rise.

Shopping all around town has also taught me a lot about our community, and sadly a few places that we really need. I think that our little town would greatly benefit from an Aldi, and a Bakery Outlet store. Both stores would really help out with the rising cost of groceries, and maybe get the existing shops to lower their prices, just a bit.

For the most part I’ll stay shopping local, unless gas prices magically drop and I can shop at Dillons and Aldi along with the local shops;) I’ll also be checking those sale ads weekly to see where I can save even more.

I’ll still keep my fingers crossed that maybe one day we’ll get an Aldi or a Dolly Madison Outlet ;) A girl can dream, and this girl is dreaming about lower grocery prices…

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Nico in the Pursuit of Savings, part 6

I have shopped my final store, and today’s savings adventure brings us to Wood’s Supermarket. Where to start… Wood’s and I were not close friends for a very long time; I was completely fed up with their expensive prices. The last time that I shopped there was almost a year ago, and I was hoping to see some better prices. Wood’s Supermarket is still home to the $8.00 Rotisserie Chicken, but they have made many aesthetic improvements to the store. Wood’s has added a Gas Station, Coin Star, and a Quick Care Clinic (limited hours); they also offer Prescription Delivery Service (locally only) through their Pharmacy. Nice new services, but how are those prices?

For the not so good … The customer service at Wood’s is not very good at all, and many of the sale items that I would have loved to pick up were no where to be found. Wood’s is also home to an extremely dangerous parking lot, it is a mess. I was surprised to see that many of the items on my list were actually on sale the day that I was shopping, but the regular price of these sale items was still too high. Walking around the store I also spotted one Dozen Eggs for $2.05, one bag of Tostitos Chips for $4.19, and one Pound of Organic Pasta for $3.99! I was tempted to purchase some Jelly Belly Jelly Beans when I saw the gigantic display (right by the veggies). They had Bubble Gum, one of my favorites. When I noticed the price at $6.99 a pound, there was no way I was going to make that purchase. Just what are those Jelly Beans made of for that price!

Now for the positives… Wood’s Supermarket is home to an awesome, albeit a bit pricey, Organic Section. It is well stocked with tasty Soy Ice Cream, and Gluten Free Baking Mixes, pretty cool for our little town. Wood’s also has a great bakery, and if you are nice and say please and thank you, your toddler can score a free Chocolate Chip Cookie ;) Wood’s also offers Kid Friendly Shopping Carts! They have several on site in the shape of a Fire Truck, and a Pick-Up Truck, and the most awesome Kid Friendly shopping cart I have ever shopped with… It is a bright blue, gigantic big-rig of a shopping cart, you can easily fit three kids and a full load of groceries in this bad boy, it is truly awesome. I’ve shopped with it once, and it rocked :)

So just how were those prices?

• Cat Food-Cat Cafe 3 lbs: $1.99
• Kitty Litter- Always Save 10 lbs: $1.79
• Kleenexes- Best Choice (sale item): $1.00 (sold out at out store)
• Toilet Paper-Best Choice (sale item): $1.00 (sold out at our store)
• Diapers- Huggies Jumbo Pack (sale item): $9.97
• Baby Food 2 pack: Gerber 2nd Foods (sale item): $.99
• Baby Food Jar: Gerber 3rd Foods (sale item): $.75
• Gerber Puffs (sale item): $2.09
• Saltines-Best Choice (sale item): $.99
• Coca-Cola 12 pack (sale item): $3.33
• Bread-Best Choice (sale item): $1.00
• Eggs- Best Choice (sale item) $1.50
• Milk One Gallon 2%- Hiland: $3.69
• White Flour5 lbs-Eagle Mills (sale item): $1.99
• Sugar 4 lbs-Best Choice (sale item): $1.69
• Grand Total of all items $33.77

The sale items were great buys, but Wood’s is still not the best place to save for me. The regular priced items are just a little too steep for this frugal gal, but man I love their awesome shopping carts ;)

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