Grocery store warfare

Michelle came over this afternoon armed with three weeks’ worth of Sunday circulars and a manila folder that apparently contains her “system.” I thought I was being responsible by clipping a few coupons here and there, but watching her organize everything by store, expiration date, and meal category made me realize I’ve been playing amateur hour with our grocery budget.

Grocery store warfare

She’s got this whole strategy mapped out - double coupon days at Harris Teeter, price matching at Walmart, and something called “stockpiling” that sounds vaguely like preparing for the apocalypse but is apparently just smart shopping. Meanwhile I’m over here with my sad little stack of cereal coupons feeling like I need to take notes.

The evidence of our grocery store battle plan.

Three hours later we’ve got a battle plan for next week’s shopping trip and I’m pretty sure Michelle just saved Jake and me about forty dollars. The coffee table looks like a war room, but hey - if this is what it takes to stretch our budget until my next paycheck, I’m all in. Now I just need to remember which store to hit on which day without mixing up the whole system.