Spring Cleaning Updates

Well, I've been out of town for a bit and busy as a beaver as usual, but the spring cleaning is still in progress. So by now we have cleaned all of the glass ware in our houses and cleaned out the closets and drawers everywhere. So how much did you come up with? Honestly, I came up with quite a bit. I mean really.....how many potato peelers does one person need? Just one good one!

Remember how I told you about the three bags...one for trash, one to take to your local Good Will or whatever and the third for the thrift store. Well, I found something else for you. Not far from where I live is an Auction House called Gators. Yes....it's true. Anyway, once a month or so they have what they call "Everything including the kitchen sink" auction. What you do is call them up and take your items there that are still in great condition and they auction them off for you. They do box auctions. For example....say you have a toaster, potato peeler and a set of matching glasses that you have to offer. They will put them all together in a box and auction the box as one item. Great way to make a little bit of money on items that maybe your local consignment shop won't take.

So pull out the trusty dusty phone book (does anyone still have one) and look up auction houses in your area. A few phone calls may definitely be worth it.

Now on to my rant!!!! Yes I have one. It had been about 1.5 to 2 months since I had done a serious grocery shopping trip and while I was out of state the spouseoid decided to clean out the pantry and the fridge. Needless to say it was looking pretty bare in there, or so I thought. Anyway, I love Krogers and always felt like they had decent prices. After Saturday, I beg to differ! I was stunned to say the least. I probably mentioned it to my husband off and on for 2 hours Saturday evening. Lucky him. I went through the check out and was stunned to see the register total of $188.00. Really? Are you sure you don't have someone else's items in with mine? Is the register broke because this gal never spends that much at a grocery store. Oh.....wait a minute, I hadn't handed her my coupons, but I wasn't feeling it. I handed them over and prayed for Divine Intervention.....after my coupons I got the total down to $109.00. Really? Cough, hack, wack....this cannot be true. You're talking to a girl who normally only spends anywhere from $30 to $60 after coupons. $109.00.....REALLY!!!!!! So I went home and pulled out some old register receipts. What can I say......yes I keep them for a while. It's how I figure out how much the meals I am creating are costing per serving.

O.K. back to the story. I pulled out the old prices and started comparing like items. Needless to say I was less than thrilled. Honestly I can't post here my real feelings. Trying to keep it clean :).
Six weeks ago I purchased 1 Jimmy Dean roll sausage for $2.49, regular priced. I almost bought one this time but was stunned at the price of $4.50 per roll, regular price. What the heck is going on. I went through item by item and quite frankly doubt I will be shopping there in the future.

Now I know they said prices will be going up but let's get real here. Sunday the hubby and I went to Wal-Mart to replace the printer that was broken during my trip out of town. While there I decided to do some price checking of my own. I had my receipt from my Kroger shopping trip in m wallet so I was able to compare apples to apples so to speak. That same roll of Jimmy Dean sausage was regular priced at Wal-Mart for $2.49 a roll. Now couple that with the recent $1.50 off 2 coupon and the $1 off 1 coupon that is out on Red Plum right now and you get a much more affordable $1.24 each roll when purchasing two rolls. Using these same coupons at Krogers, you still pay more out of pocket per roll ($3.25/ea.) than you would for one regular priced at Wal-Mart.

I can't say that I have figured out what is going on at Krogers, but I'm not happy about it. O.K. I know they do the 10 for $10 sales a lot but look at the items they include in the sale. Are these really good for you items? Are they jacking up the prices on other items to cover the possible loss on the 10/$10 sale? Or are they jacking up the prices to cover the $.10 off a gallon of gas for everyone $100 to spend. For whatever reason they are increasing their prices, the bottom line is they definitely are going up.

Now more than ever, it is extremely important to pay attention to who has what on sale. Not the time to be store specific. If your Local Rite Aid or Walgreens or CVS has something cheaper than the grocery store, for goodness sakes, purchase it there.

Be smart with your money. The economy is not looking any better regardless of what financial indicators you review and the story is gas is expected to be on the rise in a huge way this year. Take the time to check the flyers and check your favorite blog sites. It's not getting any easier and we have to be more diligent in how we spend and where we spend.

That's my two cents for today!

This post is part of the Becentsable Gathering
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