Stop Raising Prices!!

Dear Shell,

As you can see by my coupon tracker to the right on this blog, coupon savings have been decreasing each month. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm doing bad though. The coupon tracker is only tracking what is saved with coupons, and coupons are only for brand name items. It's not showing the savings made by buying store brand instead of brand name and it doesn't show store sales (i.e. item is normally 3.19 each, on sale 2 for $4. that's a savings of $2.38 that doesn't show in the coupons).

I just got back from grocery shopping. And the bill was huge compared to the past couple months. But we were also out of just about everything. I stocked up on some items so those should be good for the next couple months. I also had to buy some high priced items that I don't normally buy every grocery shopping trip (razor blades are so expensive).

After shopping at both Krogers and Walmart over the past few months and tracking prices, Walmart has cheaper prices on almost everything, sometimes up to a couple dollars cheaper on some items. Krogers still has cheaper store brand canned veggies and they taste better. BUT, Walmart does not double coupons and Krogers does (coupons up to .50 will be doubled). So on items that are close in price between the two stores, if I have a coupon for the item it would be better to go to Krogers. If I do not have a coupon, Walmart is the better choice.

Walmart has raised prices again since last month. Some items went up about 4 cents, some went up 40 cents. Knorr's flavored rice went from .98 to 1.38 at Walmart, but it's still 1.68 at Krogers.

Watch Those Sizes!
Watch out when you run into the store brand and brand name that are same price for what looks to be same size can. You have a coupon for brand name so you're saying to yourself 'cool, im saving money'. Look again at the sizes. The store brand can is 2.54 for 7 ounces (.36 per ounce). The brand name can is 2.54 for 5 ounces (.51 per ounce). Unless you have a coupon that can get that brand name can under 1.80 for 5 ounces (.36 per ounce), you're really not saving anything.

Watch Those Sizes Again!
Smaller is better, right? Not always. Again, look at those per ounce/per unit prices. Add up what you'd spend on the smaller size to equal the amount you'd get on the larger size. Example: All Laundry detergent. 4.97 for 50 ounces. 8.97 for 100 ounces. You have 2 coupons for .40 off one and you know this is an item you use a lot of. Do you buy 2 bottles of 50 ounce All or 1 bottle of 100 ounce All? (Remember, we're at Walmart that doesn't double the coupons).
2 bottles of 50 ounces = 9.94
2 coupons @ .40 off = .80
total price for 2 bottles = 9.14
Right away you can see that even with the coupons, you're still paying more for 2 bottles of 50 ounce each than if you were to just buy the 1 bottle of 100 ounce. And if you buy the 100 ounce... guess what you can use that coupon on it! So you're getting 100 ounce bottle for 8.57. (I know what you're saying, well just buy 1 bottle of the 50 ounce, then buy another bottle next month when you run low. Okay...you're still paying more overall in the end, and you might not have any coupons at all for that product next month!)


Cutting the coupons again,
Shell