Hoarders called. They want their show back....by Justine

Last night I dragged Malia (aka. warm body to push extra cart) on a massive grocery shop last night to take advantage of Safeway's "Spend $75 and get $10 off" 3 day sale and the "30% + an additional 10% off when you buy 6" wine sale.

I thought I was totally prepared. We're talking the whole enchilada - excel spreadsheet, clipboard, coupon binder and 2 grocery carts (can we say "Dork", yes we can!). We separated the grocery list into 3 transactions and worked our way systematically through the store. The checkout counter was a completely different story. Picture the dramatic moment on "Extreme Couponing" when the line is building behind the crazy couponer and "something" goes wrong at the register. Yep, that's how it was. Don't worry. It all worked out and there was the equally dramatic "deep sigh of relief" moment.

Here's what I learned:

• Work into your plan that you may need to adjust at the store for out of stock items. That kind of threw me for a loop.

• Take into account which items qualify (and more importantly - which ones don't! Duh. Wine does NOT qualify) and adjust your calculations accordingly.

• Figure out which checkers are super friendly and helpful and go to their line. My checker did absolutely everything she possibly could to help me out!

• Yes. You can spend $75 in the first transaction then turn around and do it again. You can also earn the $10 reward and use it on your very next transaction(s).

I didn't quite reach my goal of 50% off so I can't officially mark it off my list but I was pretty proud of the $174 we saved!!!

Now. If I tell you that I need to go grocery shopping anytime soon, you have my permission to slap me silly.