The Grocery Game

I guess I'm on a domestic kick lately.

A couple days ago, I read some money saving tips on Money/CNN where an article mentioned The Grocery Game.

The Grocery Game keeps a database of the Sunday coupons as well as the weekly sales as advertised in the circulars and unadvertised sales at certain stores. The premise of The Grocery Game is that one can save more money by shopping the sales at the supermarkets rather that going to that evil, evil place with the "Everyday Low Prices". Furthermore, by matching the sales with the Sunday coupons, truly insane deals can be had.

In my case, in Baton Rouge, that certain supermarket is Albertson's. (One can also choose Winn-Dixie, but the one near me has closed recently).

The Grocery Game offers a $1 four-week trial, and I guess I'm a sucker because I'm now playing it. (It's $10 per 8 weeks after that).

About two years ago, I obsessed over the coupons and circulars. I even tried creating a database of prices so that I could better evaluate what was a good deal or not. After each trip I would enter the data using my receipt. I kept up with my database for a total of one shopping trip.

So The Grocery Game keeps up with all that for me. It tells me when certain coupons appeared in the paper. It also helps me distinguish between real sales (so-called "rock-bottom sales") versus the "phantom sales".

I tried it out this evening. I printed out a list of the sales. Even though I didn't have any coupons, I still found some great deals. I got some boxes of Life cereal for $2 a box (Mikey likes it!). I got a huge box of Quaker Oatmeal for $2. Basically, I got a lot of random stuff, but I made sure it was all stuff that I know I will use: toilet paper, Triscuits, spinach, dryer sheets, Rotel tomatoes. All in all, I bought $56 worth of groceries for about $32, a savings of 43%.

And that was without using any coupons.

Another fun thing is visiting the message board at The Grocery Game, where a bunch of stay-at-home moms, or SAHM as they like to refer to themselves, exchange tips about using the rebates at Walgreens and Rite-Aid. And all their messages end with the pictures, names and ages of their toddlers.

I've always been a sucker for subcultures.