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| More Groceries! |
Yes, I had more groceries delivered today, Friday, August 21!
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| August 21 Groceries |
Remember the pork chops that were on sale at a particular store that I had wanted to buy? I had gone to the store on my way from the pharmacy to the library to look for the pork chops on Wednesday and had been unable to find them.
Yesterday, I was debating if I should make a special trip and go back to the store to look for the pork chops, again. Was it worth my while? Did the store have other items I needed that might be on sale? The sales ad was in the other room, where my daughter was working and having back-to-back meetings all day. I didn't want to go there to look for the sales ad and disturb her. So, I decided to check if this store had the weekly sales ads on their store website. Not only did they have their sales ad on the website, I also found out that they now have store pick up and delivery options, too! The last time I shopped at this store was just before we went into Covid lockdown!
Not only that! This store (I'll call it Store F as their name starts with an F) is owned by the same parent company that owns Store R that I have been using 99% of the time since Covid lockdown and yesterday, I was thrilled to discover that, contrary to what an online search had stated, the paid membership my daughter got for me for Store R was also valid at Store F! How wonderful is that?
This second chain of grocery stores is the company's "no frills" version (you bag your own groceries, for example) and, often, their prices are lower than at the other, "full service" store. I wanted to take advantage of their bargains and decided to give it a try! The same rules applied to qualify for free delivery - a minimum order of $35 and opt for next day delivery.
So, I put in another order for groceries, yesterday, and they were delivered, this morning. I signed up to receive the same text notifications when the shopper started and checked out, if any substitutions needed my approval, when the groceries will be delivered, etc. Up until I received the order confirmation, I wasn't quite sure if the paid membership benefits would apply, but, they did!
The only blip with this particular order was that they were out of the regular cucumbers on sale for 3/$1 and the shopper substituted 3 English cucumbers which were priced $1.69 each without notifying me! I had specified no substitutions except for one item (pancake mix, where I specified the substitution). As a result, my bill was higher than I had intended it to be, but, I am going to chalk it up to experience. We do like English cucumbers (in fact, daughter prefers them to regular cucumbers) and I will not request a refund for that reason. Sometimes, things depend on the individual shopper.
Without further ado, here's today's grocery receipt from Store F (I have done a price comparison between the two stores, F and R, for my own amusement):
Item Details
16 Items
Other Fees
$0.60
I spent a total of $40.18
*Actually, 1 cantaloupe and 1 personal sized watermelon, priced $2.50 each
The only item that was the same price at both stores was the chocolate drink mix powder.
The same groceries at Store R would have cost me $62.41, if I substituted the store brand pancake mix and $66.01 if I had bought the brand name pancake mix.
I am rueing the fact that it has taken me over 4 months since my daughter bought me the membership (in April) to discover that I can use it to shop at this lower priced store owned by the same parent company. But, I am thrilled that I have discovered it now, with just over 7 months more to go before the membership ends. Maybe I might go ahead and renew it, next year!
I will not stop buying things from Store R; I will continue to shop from them, too, as they have their own deals (for example, the coffee I bought from there is selling at the regular price of $12.99 at Store F). But, I'll be paying close attention to the deals being offered at both stores from now on. At least, for as long as I am able to shop at both stores with the same membership discount!
My August Grocery spending to date:
$0.52 + $45.51 + $75.33 + $40.18 = $161.54
Balance left in the August Grocery budget = $258.95 - $161.54 = $97.41
I am okay with that amount of money spent to date and left in the budget, with 10 days to go until the end of the month.
I am very grateful that I discovered I could use the same paid membership account at both stores and look forward to taking full advantage of that fact for as long as I can!
