So, I know that with a lot of my recent Photo Show and Tells, I have said that I didn’t really need anything.  Today was a similar day, except I desperately needed ground turkey for meatballs since I want to make my meatballs and sauce this week.  Last night I put together my grocery list and as I did, I kept coming across more and more awesome deals.  I am SO excited about the FREE Gatorade – it’s a long distance runner’s dream!!  Today was my best day at Publix so far.  I spent $8.57 and saved $165.92!!!  I do have a few side notes to make. 

First of all, you may notice that very seldom I buy fresh veggies and fruit.  That is because I used to belong to a co-op and every month I spent $40.00 on produce.  Starting this month, I am no longer in the co-op, but I am keeping my produce budget of $40.00.  I will spend a bit of that on great deals at Publix, but most of it I plan to spend at a local veggie stand where I can get a bit more for my money.  I wanted to give this disclaimer because I don’t want you to think that all I eat is processed food.  I also will include all money spent on produce in my Monthly and Yearly Savings column on the far right column of this blog.

Secondly, you may notice that I very seldom buy meat and seafood.  I ALWAYS buy my meat and seafood at Publix.  However, I stock up when they have great sales so that I don’t have to shop for it very often.  When you stock up, you can be more selective as to when you buy meat.  I am actually very low on ground beef right now so once the extra lean ground beef goes on sale, I’m going to use the Yellow Advantage $1.00/2 lbs of Publix ground beef coupons and stock up!

Thirdly, I obviously buy in large quantities.  I am able to do this because of two reasons: buying multiple newspapers and having 2 printers.  I buy 6 – 8 newspapers every Sunday and I have two printers so I am able to print most printable coupons 4 times.  This excess in coupons may seem like a bit much, but, when items go on sale and are either free or at a rock bottom price, I would much rather get 8 of the item versus just 2.  It is up to you, but I ALWAYS make up the money I spend on Sunday papers.  And, I found a local place that sells Sunday papers for 50 cents each so I’m not breaking the bank! 

Fourth, I don’t need Bayer.  I don’t need Johnson and Johnson products or Rolaids or Phazyme.  I got all of this today because not only were they free, but Publix paid me to take them home.  They were all moneymakers.  The money I made from them was put towards the other items that I actually had to pay for!

Here’s the rundown and how to do what I did for today’s Publix stop: