{savings recap}

I've been slack about posting my shopping trips - I know everyone is devastated. Instead of doing a detailed report from every store, here' s a recap instead. This includes the following trips:
- Quick Harris Teeter trip last week (before triples)
- Big Harris Teeter trip with triple coupons
- Quick run to Bi-Lo by my husband (no coupons)
- Big Food Lion trip this week
- Quick Food Lion trip this week

Notes:
In addition to triples at Harris Teeter, I was very excited because of a couple rebates they were offering and the sales that went along with them. I worked very hard to come up with a list of 15 General Mills items for a $5 rebate. Though this wasn't a great deal on its own, almost everything on my list was on sale plus had a coupon, and they were items we use alot. And I incorporated another $3.50 rebate on Nature Valley granola bars. NEITHER one worked at the register and I literally had to argue with the lady at customer service to get my $8.50. Though I got it, it took the fun out of it! I was also disappointed that most of the Pillsbury items I wanted were already sold out (I went on the 2nd day of the sale).

Here are some of the deals worth noting (saved at least 75% if listed):
- Gerber cereal = 34 cents
- Gerber Stage 3 food = 11 cents
- Nature Valley granola bars (5 boxes) = 27 cents each (used 5 $0.40 coupons which were all tripled + sale price of $2.50 + $3.50 rebate if you buy 5 + part of the $5 General Mills rebate)
- Betty Crocker cookie mix = $0.14
- Free rice
- Lysol tub & tile cleaner = 9 cents
- Lysol cling toilet bowl cleaner = 49 cents
- Lysol dual action wipes (2) = 62 cents
- free jar of Earth's Best baby food
- ziploc bags 100ct = 94 cents
- ziploc containers = 14 cents
Just an FYI...I saved almost 80% at Harris Teeter during the triples trip.

I took two trips to Food Lion this week to take advantage of a decent deal on formula (24 oz for $18.99 after sale + FLIP coupon), and a VERY good deal on Huggies ($3.49 after sale + manu coupon + FLIP coupon). On my second trip (same store), the sale tags for the diapers had been removed and they rang up full price. The store adjusted the price with no fan fare but this is a brand new store and it put a sour taste in my mouth because I felt like they were being dishonest. The ad has them on sale the whole week, why did it change?
Other great baby deals using FLIP coupons:
- Beech Nut baby food jars for $0.06 each on one trip and $0.15 on the other (the latter should've been free but they missed a coupon apparently).
- Gerber 2packs for $0.62 each (about half off) and jars for $0.20 each.
- 40ct wipes for $0.12
- this new store doesn't carry the baby bibs that I normally get free, but I was able to utilize the FLIP with a BOGO on lightbulbs and got those free instead.


Summary
Total @ Full Retail = $284.45
Total after Sales = $216.48
Total coupon/rebate savings = $76.82
TOTAL SAVINGS = $144.79 (51%)
Total Paid = $139.66