Personal Policies and Epic Fails

I have a very obnoxious habit.  When I take on a project or an idea, I really go for it.  It drives my husband to drink because for weeks it is all I talk about.  I get obsessive and a little on the crazy side for a while until it just folds into our lives seamlessly.  We all know what my latest obsession is.....becoming adept in the usage of coupons combined with store sales to save lots of money on the shopping that we have to do.

I have been reading some books on the subject and doing internet research, I am of the opinion that you cannot have too much information.  There is a ton of information out there some good, some bad and some completely useless but as I sort through and process it I begin to establish my "Personal Policies".  Yes, I did just capitalize that...these are the guidelines I live my life by.  These are the things that I do that mostly drive everyone bananas or that make people look at me like I just dropped in from Mars.  Some of my friends and family have even accused me of being anal, or having OCD or well, just being crazy.  I am OK with this because these things keep me sane and happy.  So criticize if you will but leave me to my policies since they are not likely to change.  (Alright, putting the soap box back in the corner for now).

The point of the previous tangent was simply to note that in general I do establish "Personal Policies" about much of my day to day life and this situation is no different.  My trip to the stores last week led to two new personal policies:

1. Wait to finalize lists until Wed night or Thurs morning after all the grocery store ads have been updated (Drugstore ads and sales reset on Sun, but grocery stores run from Wed to Tue).  Then do a line item comparison for everything.  This should be a no brainer but last week I did not do that and wound up buying the same item at 2 different stores for 2 different prices.
2. Stick to one drugstore.  We have CVS and Walgreens close to the house.  I had lists for both last week, Walgreens had a 5 item list and after 20 minutes searching the store I found NONE of them.  Both drugstores also have a program where they give store dollars based on purchases.  Walgreens has register rewards and CVS has ExtraCare Bucks.  When you purchase specific items they kick out a "coupon" on your register receipt for a certain amount off of your next trip.  So we spent $20 at CVS last week and got $6 back for my trip there this week.  Rather than having to track both of these, I will stick to CVS unless there is a really, really, really good price on something because I will probably have to drive to another Walgreens to get it.

I have a plan for another "Personal Policy" which was in the plan to establish last week, how much I should be willing to pay for an item.  However, I had a terrifying realization.....I have absolutely NO idea what things should cost.  Now there are a few exceptions, I know what dog food costs, and what Coke Zero costs and my Tillamook Cheese....aside from that, almost completely ignorant.  How can that be?

My usual shopping trip involves a fabulous list that my puddin' put together, lists almost every single item that I buy and the store with a little checkbox next to it.  When I start getting low on something I check the little box and grab it on the way out the door.  I hit 3 stores during this normal trip: Sam's Club, Target and a grocery store if necessary.  Whatever I don't find at Sam's or Target I swing into the grocery store to buy.  If I found an item on sale, yay bonus!  But I never looked at the ads or made any attempt to plan around sales or coupons so I just grabbed what I needed and headed to the checkout.  So my major reality check this week was that I have no idea if what I have on my lists this week are a really good deal or not.  Savingsangel lists the amount you save on the item which is helpful but that is based on the retail price of the item AT THAT STORE and not in general.

I was completely horrified with myself, I have been unemployed for more than 2 years now and Joe has been the sole source of income.  The amount of money that I spent on groceries or whatever was just what it was and we have cut back in other areas.  We don't go out to dinner very often, things like movies or video games or new laptops have been removed from the budget almost entirely.  I have not gone to see my family in Portland for nearly a year (Before now, I have gone at least twice a year).  These are things that need to be added back in to our lives.  Our savings could use a booster shot as well, so I find myself in the position of actually having to do research in the stores that I have spent hours and hours in.  The fact that until this week I had no idea that I was clueless about this is even more horrifying....although Joe got a huge laugh out of it.  He really loves finding that I have some areas of complete idiocy.  Course he quit laughing when I started talking about my new "Personal Policies", his eyes actually went glassy and I would swear he snored at least once.

I have given myself a month to get my coupon shopping up and running, establish my system and start making some decisions about what and when to buy and when to pass up the deal.  Apparently now during that time period I also have to learn what groceries and stuff actually cost, I may need to add a month to my time projection to undertake that particular project.  In the meantime, I shall be haunting my store aisles and establishing unit prices on the items that I buy for comparison purposes and move forward from there.  Makes me tired just thinking of it, I think I shall head for a nap!