My three year-old has been watching Mary Poppins almost continually since my friend loaned us the movie about 3 months ago. Since that time I have also been watching/hearing about Mary Poppins almost daily. I can hear my sweet girl humming and singing all of the songs from the movie:
- "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down"
- "Chim-chiminey, chim-chiminey, chim-chim-charoo"
- "Steppin' time, steppin' time"
- "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag"
- "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag"
- "Let's go fly a kite"
So, I guess I shouldn't have been confused when my daughter pulled out a tape measure the other day and started measuring me and then began mumbling something to herself. Still, I was flummoxed. Sometimes when she speaks I can't understand a word that she is saying; I swear she's speaking in tongues. Then it dawned on me what she was doing. She was measuring me to see what kind of person I was. Upon further investigation I realized that she was saying, "practically perfect in every way."
Yep, that about sums it up (smiling great big).
Seriously though, it got me thinking about Publix. I want to take my tape measure and go down to my local store and pull it out and walk up to each person that works there and then tell them that I think that they are "practically perfect in every way." I want to tell them not to change a thing. I want to tell them what a great job they do every day. I want to encourage them and let them know that their store is amazing and that I notice that it is spit-spot clean. I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for all of the amazing deals that I get there every week.
So, this week, I want you to get out there and tell your managers, cashiers, baggers and anyone stocking shelves that you appreciate what they do. Tell them that you notice how hard they work and tell them that you appreciate them.
Then go out to the parking lot after your shop and count your blessings since God in His mercy not only causes the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous but also gives us life and breath and all things (including our most loveable Publix).
Ok, here's the shop (and what an awesome shop it was this week)! This is two shops combined:
MONEYMAKERS
12 Revlon $1.49-$2.49 ea.
-$1/1 from 08/16/09 SS (purchased)
-$2/1 Publix Q from Green Advantage flyer
= FREE + $.51 - $1.51 overage ea.
6 Axe Hair products $1.00 ea. (clearance price)
- $2/1 Publix Q from Green Advantage flyer
= FREE + $1.00 overage ea.
12 Oral B. Indicator Toothbrush $1.67 ea. (advertised sale)
- $1/1 Q from "Live Well" flyer (really old flyer)
- B1G1 Q 08/23/09 RP
= FREE + $.17 cents overage ea.
6 Crest Toothpaste (8.2 oz) $1.67 ea. (advertised sale)
- $1/1 Q from "Live Well" flyer (really old flyer)
- $.50/1 08/30/09 PG
= FREE + $.34 cents overage ea.
9 sugar $.85 ea.
- $1 off sugar wyb 5 Kool Aid Food Lion tearpad
= FREE + $.15 overage ea.
4 Mrs. Pauls $2.25 ea. (B1G1 price)
- $1/1 Q from "Toss for Cash" booklet (not in FL version)
- $3/1 Q printable (no longer available)
= FREE + $1.75 overage ea.
2 Mrs. Pauls $2.25 ea. (B1G1 price)
- $1/1 Q from "Toss for Cash" booklet (not in FL version)
- $1.50/1 Q printable (no longer available)
= FREE + $.25 cents overage ea.
- $1/1 Q from "Toss for Cash" booklet (not in FL version)
- $1.50/1 Q printable (no longer available)
= FREE + $.25 cents overage ea.
4 Pork items $1.91-$2.75 ea.
- $6/1 Q printable
= FREE + $3.25-$4.09 overage ea.
STOCKPILE
5 Popsicle (24 packs) $2.00 ea. (B1G1 price)
-$1/1 Q "Raise your hand for savings" booklet
4 Dannon Light and Fit 6-packs $1.25 ea (B1G1 price)
- $1/1 08/30/09 SS
- $.25 cents ea.
2 Superpretzel $1.50 ea. (B1G1 price)
= $.50 ea.
2 Smucker's Uncrustables $2.00 ea (advertised sale)
= $1.00 ea.
2 Barber Foods Stuffed Chicken $2.50 (B1G1 price)
= $1.50 ea.
2 Heluva Good Dip (hate that name) $1.00 ea (B1G1 price)
= FREE
1 Lean Pocket $2.09 ea. (regular price)
- $1/1 peelie
= $1.09 ea.
2 Pillsbury Simply cookies $2.50 ea (advertised sale)
= $1.25 ea.
45 Kool Aid $.20 ea.
no coupons
= $.20 ea.
4 Mt. Olive pickles $1.40 ea (B1G1 price)
- $.50/1 07/19/09 SS, 08/16/09 SS
= $.40 ea
4 KC Masterpiece BBQ (seriously, shouldn't we own stock by now) $1.99 ea
$2 off KC Masterpiece wyb charcoal 06/21/09 RP
= FREE
4 bags charcoal $7.99 ea (advertised sale)
- $3/1 Q from "Fire up the Grill" booklet
- $3/1 FLIP
= $1.99 ea
THINGS I NEEDED
1 Sorrento Fresh Mozarella $3.99
- $1/1 blinkie
= $2.99 ea.
4 meat items $2.82 - $3.32 ea
- $2 off meat wyb charcoal Q (tearpad from Food Lion)
= $.82- $1.32 ea.
4 boxes regular Cheerios $2.00 ea (B1G1 price)
- $1/1 General Mills Target printable
= FREE
2 boxes Apple Cinnamon Cheerios $2.00 ea (B1G1 price)
- $1/1 General Mills Target printable
= $.25 ea.
2 Publix reusable shopping bags
- Buy two cheerios get one reusable shopping bag "peelie"
= FREE
1 pineapple $3.99
- $1/1 Target printable
= $2.99 ea.
Grapes $1.23
no coupons
= $1.23
Nectarines $1.40
no coupons
= $1.40
Peaches $1.91
no coupons
= $1.91
Bananas $.51 and $.68
- $.50/1lb. Target printable
= .19 total
Tomatoes on the vine $1.37
no coupons
= $1.37
Asparagus $2.34
no coupons
= $2.34
Two $5/50 competitor Q's
TOTAL: $363.70
TOTAL AFTER COUPONS: $13.76
SAVINGS: 96%
NOTE: Jason and I debated for a long time about whether or not we should use the $3/1 charcoal FLIP as a competitor coupon because it does not say "manufacturer" on it (even though many websites are reporting it as a manufacturer Q). It says store coupon and it has a Food Lion symbol on it. We decided to go ahead and use it as a competitor coupon. This was a personal decision and you may come to a different conclusion. We believe that the wording on the coupon regulates the use of a coupon but that's just our take on the ethics of this coupon.
19 comments:
Once again, a fabulous shop!! I will definitely say a big thank you to the employees! And a big thank you to you, Kelly & Jason, for your efforts! I know it's a ton of work to put all of this together for us!
By the way, does anyone have extra Mt. Olive coupons that you would be willing to trade? My husband loves pickles! I have lots of inserts, so let me know what you need! You can email me at sherry @ abookstarringme . com. Just remove the spaces! : ). Thanks!
Sherry, thanks for the shout out.
I have extra Mt. Olive. I have six of them left and you are welcome to them if you want them. If you're interested then you can either pick them up (I live off of Edmondson by Community Bible Church) or I can mail them to you.
Email me at starbucksgirl@hotmail.com.
Great trip!
I agree on the Kingsford FLIP. It says store coupon on it. I suspect that it was an agreement between Food Lion and Kingsford so that Kingsford would reimburse Food Lion specifically for its use in their store. Because that is the case, Publix would not be reimbursed for it as a manufacturer coupon, thus making it a Food Lion store specific competitor coupon. That is just my take on it.
I love your story about your daughter measuring you Mary Poppins style! It was a great tie in to expressing gratitude for a job well done.
Last night I used the FLIP with a manufacturing coupon on the charcoal as well and with no problem. Just trying to learn - why is there a question about using these two coupons together?
Karla
I would encourage people to not only thank their Publix store employees in person, but to also email corporate and tell them how much you appreciate them! I did this a few weeks ago and all the people I mentioned by name came up to me the last time I was in and thanked me for my "kind words". The message came down to the store manager and apparently all the people I mentioned received some kind of gift certificates for a free dinner. A job well done is worth complimenting, so please do!
HELP! I can't find the Revlon Mfg Q in the 8/16 SS. I have 3 of them (all from the Tennessean) and can not find it! Am I just overlooking it?
Also, if there is anybody else with extra Mt. Olive coupons I would also be willing to trade!
Karla, there are some folks that believe that you should not combine that FLIP with the manufacturer Q because the FLIP has the coding of a manufacturer Q (and, therefore, it would scan at the Publix registers). I also do not know if Publix will be reimbursed for it because it is a Food Lion coupon and agree with Trina that they may not be reimbursed (although I don't know for sure). This is a gray area to me and so I am comfortable using it as a FLIP.
All that said, I respect others that may feel differently.
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Jennifer, I mentioned in my post that I bought those Q's off of EBAY. I will continue to indicate "purchased" next to the coupon when I buy a coupon instead of using a local insert coupon.
Although some of the folks in our community are in other regions and may have received this coupon we did not and since this is a local blog for Nashville I will indicate that when I write up my shop.
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Jennifer, I just went to the recycle bin and I found a few more Mt. Olive Q's. You're welcome to stop by my house also and I can set you up with some other great Q's if you need them. I have lots of inserts.
Kelly,
Thanks for the explanation on the Revlon. I just ordered some from Coupons by Dede (and mentioned your name - I hope you get some free Q out of it!)
I'm also going to try my first time doing the charcoal "deal". I didn't have any of those Kingsford Mfg Q to use earlier, so I'm excited to try. I have a sister with a charcoal grill, so she will appreciate the free supply!
I would be anxious to get those from you. Why don't you email me directions to your house at JenDBriggs (at) gmail (dot) com.
Thanks again for another great post!
Is there anybody out there with the FL version of the Toss For Cash books? I would be willing to trade the TN version!
I ran out of my $6/1 pork Q's...are they still printable?
In regards to the discussion about the $3/1 FLIP Charcoal coupon:
I wasn't sure how to handle the coupon so I decided to ask the management at my Publix store (Concord Rd). I spoke to the CS Mgr & explained to her that it looks like a Store Q, but the barcode & wording are like a Mfg Q. She said that Food Lion probably had some arrangement with the Mfg so they combined their deal so that customers would only have to use 1 Q (I hope I'm explaining that right!). Anyways, she said that I COULD use both my $2/1 Mfg Q AND the $3/1 FLIP together!
Thank you, Kelly, for encouraging us to make our own decision. If anybody else isn't sure, I would encourage you to just ask the managers at your store.
Mandi-
Here's the IP for pork:
http://iheartpublix.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/pork-q.pdf
Mandi, thanks for bringing that to my attention. I meant to link to that coupon in my post and forgot. The link is up now. You can get it off of my list.
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Jennifer, I still have alot of unanswered questions in my head about coupons.
I'm still trying to find out if Publix would get reimbursed for certain coupons (for example):
1. $2 off Butcher's Brand meat wyb charcoal Q (tearpad). It is a manufacturer Q but has Food Lion's brand of meat listed on it.
2. $1 off Food Lion sugar wyb 5 packs of Kool Aid. Again, it is a specific manufacturer Q off of Food Lion sugar (not just any ole' sugar).
I suspect that Q's like these are special deals that are made between the manufacturer and that specific store and that Publix will not be reimbursed for them.
But, alas, I don't know the answer to that question yet. If time permitted I would be on the phone to Publix corporate and the manufacturer to find out. But with two babies at home that isn't going to happen anytime soon.
Maybe over time the folks in our community will help to answer some of these questions (or at least post their experiences here). I don't believe in dogmatic answers as most of the time people speak out of ignorance or high emotion without truly knowing the answer to the question. They just make a best guess and many times they are wrong.
I hope that the tone that I have set for these issues is one of "think first before you speak." It's important to thoroughly investigate all of the angles of couponing/marketing before coming to a conclusion.
Welcome to the grey areas of couponing. I think they will be with us for a long time.
Jennifer, do you remember who you spoke with at Concord. If so, please post that here. It helps all of us to get to know the staff at the stores and also helps us to know who will accept our specific coupons. Thanks! See you later on today.
I spoke with Mandi. She's the CS Manager with the shorter dark-colored hair. She is SO nice to couponers. Maybe we could teach her couponing too. :-)
Jennifer. I sat outside until 11 with mandi outside of publix last night discussing couponing. She is great and so is jason... Red hair guy. Love the concord publix. Saved 160 dollars last night and they let me shop until late after closing.
What are some pointers to find items that are free plus overage? Do you take your coupon binder on each shop? Do you check the clearance before you start your shop?
Thanks for any info!!!
Thanks for posting your details!
Spent $100, saved $150. I was able to get a lot of good produce and fresh meat. I'm grilling fillets tonight! No problem with the FLIPs or anything else. I didn't have any big money makers this week, but that's OK.
Bryan
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