I am a woman of product loyalties. This is something I share with my husband. We only own Mac computers,for example. We nearly broke our hearts when we decided to buy a minivan that wasn’t a Ford, and the debate is still on about the merits of Sony versus Panasonic VCRs (yes, even in the DVD and Blu-ray age).
The loyalty extends to grocery stores as well. There is one chain store that I like to frequent, and when we moved, I was reassured that there was a location near our new home. I like knowing where the different aisles are and what the pricing is. Plus, doing a bit of comparison, my store of choice seems to have the best balanced prices. That is, while not every product is the cheapest price, the products that I buy usually are, and my overall bill is in control.
Of course, I do stray a bit here and there. I might pick up an item or two from another store, especially if that is all that I need, and I know that store has the best price. Today, I did just that.
We had a full morning ahead of us. My kids really wanted to participate in the free Lowe’s Build to Grow program. Since that is about 20 minutes away, we needed to combine errands. I also had zero time to put a entire list together, and the bargains for my usual store were on the skimpy side this week.
So, I stopped in Trader Joes for some basics, such as a few gallons of milk, organic produce (I’m still scared from the recent news article) and cereal. I also picked up several boxes of cookies. Without any coupons at all, the bill came to less than $55. On another errand, I picked up organic snacks for $6, bringing the entire total to about $61. The snacks took place of having to stop and pay for fast food, since the errands caused a little delay in lunch time. We packed water in reusable bottles.
Another reason to skip the major store was the fact that I have a decent stockpile of food that can easily carry us through the week.
Let’s see what happens next week. I’ll be doing a full loss leader shop.