Coupon Cheerleader

My friend Jenny was visiting over the weekend, and I even took Monday off to hang out with her while she is on Spring Break this week from grad school.  Hey, I'll do anything to support my friends.  Especially if it involves taking a random three day weekend. 

We had a Weekend of Healthy Living, which means that we still spent an ungodly number of hours watching chick flicks (High School Musical 2, The Breakup, Little Black Book, Something Like Love... need I go on?) and lolling around unshowered in our pajamas - BUT!  We also exercised every day and made healthy meals.  You know, instead of binging on pretzels and peanut butter and then washing it down with ten gallons of Franzia. 

We also ran some errands on Monday - I finally dropped off a package I've been holding on to for weeks at the post office and we made a much needed run to the grocery store.  I warned Jenny that, clad in our sweatpants and greasy hair, we would woefully underdressed for a trip to the Canton Safeway, but that I didn't care if she didn't.   She was a little confused.  Isn't Safeway the ghetto grocery store?   I mean, you dress up to go to Ukrop's or Wegman's, but Safeway?   Yup.  Welcome to Baltimore, where the Canton Safeway is the place to be seen in your cute biznass pants after work.

I also warned Jenny that she couldn't judge me for shopping like I was feeding a family of seventeen starving orphans.  I have a problem when I grocery shop -- I cannot leave without filling the cart.   If something is on sale, I don't buy two -- I buy ten.  I also enjoy going to the grocery store when I'm starving, because then my hunger inspires me to buy things that normally would not look appealing at all.  And I hate going to the store if I don't have at least an hour, because then I don't have time to wander up and down every aisle.  Problems: I have them. 

When I saw that Family Value Packs of ground beef were on sale for 99 cents a pound, I looked at Jenny and said "Don't judge me. I'm getting two."  You know, since my meat-eating "family" consists of me (a wannabe vegetarian), Max, and Joel, so CLEARLY I needed TWO supersized packages of 80% lean ground beef.  Without blinking, she responded that she'd judge me if I ripped open the pack and shoved a handful of raw meat into my mouth - otherwise, me and my ten pounds of ground beef we were all good in her book.

(Have I mentioned that I have the best friends in the world?  And that after our long weekend of grocery shopping, power walking, and preparing balanced meals that are on the table when Joel gets home from work, we've taken to calling each other sister-wife?  Because we have.  I would gladly enter into a polygamous relationship if it meant I had a live-in BFF like Jenny.  We decided that for it to work, we'd just have to have one husband that neither of us were romantically interested in to support us, and our real husbands on the side.  And no creepy compounds.) 

We pushed my overloaded cart into the checkout line, clutching our matching coffees (from the in-store Starbucks, of course.  FANCY!) and I commented that I knew I was really getting old because the cover stories on Oprah's O! Magazine looked more interesting to me than than Cosmo did.  And then I sealed my geriatric status by whipping out a coupon from my giant wallet and handing it over to the cashier. 

It must have been a slow day at the Canton Safeway, because that coupon made the the cashier's day.  It was, admittedly, an awesome coupon - $10 off my entire purchase - but I wasn't expecting her to cheer "WOOHOO!  YOU GO GIRL!" as she scanned it.   She was so excited about my coupon that she didn't even notice that it hadn't properly gone through.  But don't worry - I noticed.  After all, we old ladies read our receipts to make sure we got that ground beef for 99cents a pound, and not a sixpence more.

How was your weekend, internet?

Comments

[RA]

I probably would have jumped out of my skin if a cashier cheered me on. It's like that insurance commercial when the guy is ringing up his coverage, and he says something like, "That's awesome!" about the savings.

Then the peppy cashier goes, "THAT'S AWESOME! I say it louder! Have a nice day!"

For what it's worth, we stock up on ground beef on sale, too. It freezes well, and then you have nicely pre-portioned packets for chili and spaghetti sauce and meat loaf and such. What? Too much?

[Operation Pink Herring]

Nope, I totally agree! Heck, it's not going to be .99/lb forever! Get it while it's cheap! That's what freezers are for!

She was so genuinely excited for my $10 coupon. She also gleefully pointed out that I'd saved $58 total on my $114 order - that's 50%! YOU GO GIRL!

[heidikins]

My best friend (married, 2.5 kids) always tells me that she wants me to be her sister-wife so I can earn the monies and she can hang out with her husband... she also promised to do my laundry, make breakfast and scrub the bathroom. Honestly? That almost sounds like it's worth it. :o)

xox

[Laurie]

Too funny! At least she's cheery and not a crank.

I do get annoyed when the grocer cashiers comment on what I'm buying. An occasional, "that's a great cereal" is ok but some take it too far and analyze your entire haul!

[janet]

wait a minute! I, also a semi vegetarian in a household of two plus cats, also bought TWO giant packs of 99 cent meat from Safeway!!! What were we thinking?

I was thinking about BBQs.

[Audrey]

We always buy our ground beef in bulk like that. We keep it in the freezer and when we want to cook some Tim breaks out a hammer and a meat cleaver and pounds a chunk off. It's . . . well, it's really something.

[Isabel]

Everything about this post makes me love you more...from the greasy hair all the way down to your sister wife!

You go girl(s)!

[nancypearlwannabe]

Chris loves coupons probably as much as he loves me. And that is a lot. My Mom once bought him one of those books of coupons to places in the city and the look of pleasure he got on his face was so complete I thought he'd get down on one knee and propose. To my MOM.

[Operation Pink Herring]

Gee, Janet, between the two of us I don't think we've mentioned enough that 80% lean ground beef is ON SALE at SAFEWAY for the LOW LOW PRICE OF 99 CENTS/LB! Hurry to your local Safeway!

(Pepsi products were also buy 2, get 2 free)

[Stephanie]

I should just go ahead and admit that I always buy my hamburger in the 5lb containers.

And I buy two at a time.

WHAT! I have a seal a meal thingy.

[Laurel]

I miss grocery shopping with a car. Carrying your own groceries makes stocking up on sale items far less fun.

Also, I love Wegmans.

[Mary]

Go coupons! My husband and I are coupon crazy and all of our friends make fun of us, but I don't care because I'd rather get more for less!

[Erin]

Peppy checkout ladies make the world go 'round. Seriously, we all ought to get so genuinely excited about stuff like that. You know?

Like 'HEY TRAFFIC! YES! Look at all of us get around! We are DRIVING! TOGETHER!'

Sounds like a possible New Years Resolution for next year...

[Kristabella]

Hahaha! At my grocery store, they get noticeably irritated with coupons. And always question whether I really bought that item.