A few weeks ago my friend Maureen posted a few 1/2 price sale items at Woolworths over on the Cheapskates Chatter Facebook page. One of those items was Lipton teabags 100 pack on a half price sale for $2.90. My first thought was - bargain. We love drinking tea and teabags haven't been 1/2 price for quite a long time.
I did need to buy apples and carrots too so I combined it all into one shop. For 6 boxes of tea bags, 2 x 1 kilo bags of apples and 1 x 1 kilo bag of carrots, I ended up paying $13.40. That's a really good deal isn't it ? The receipt did originally say I needed to pay $26.00 but I had a few tricks up my sleeve.
So how did I get these items so cheap ?
Firstly, I used my monthly 10% off discount on a total shop through Woolworth Rewards saving $2.60
Secondly, I had $10 in rewards money on my card. With these 2 discounts the bill came down to $13.40.
But the savings didn't end there.
The full price for all those groceries would usually cost
$34.80 for the tea
$7.00 for the apples
$1.60 for the carrots for a grand total value of $43.40 which is a saving of $30.00
I didn't pay full price for the teabags so that was a saving of $17.40 The bags of apples are for Darren's lunches. I picked the bags that had the smallest apples for a total of 8 apples per bag. Some bags only had 6 apples ( same weight ). Darren doesn't like big apples with his lunch so this was perfect for him. It's also another way of portion controlling and making the food last longer.
I also weighed the 3 bags ( carrots too ) and they were all about 70grams each over weight which is about 200 grams of food for free. I'm not going to try and calculate how much that saving was, but a saving is a saving.
I also wisely used these savings to buy real food.
Hi Wendy, I was interested in your 10% discount at woollies. I have a rewards card but haven't heard of this before? Can you explain how you access it? Thank you for your tips on weighing bags of fruit/veg, that's a great idea. Gill (Ulverstone)
ReplyDeleteWe have a car and house insurance with Woolies. For us, they were the best prices after comparing many insurance companies. .
DeleteSo glad you got some of those bargains Wendy. I also purchased a year’s worth of Lipton tea bags. Every little bit of savings helps 💖
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of when my children were a lot smaller & they wanted the freebies included in certain cereal packets, I used to take a few boxes of said cereal to the grocery section to weigh them to make sure we were getting the free toy/cards or whatever as they were in random boxes not all, good savings tip Wendy, thanks, Deb.
ReplyDeleteOur local posh-y supermarket has a reward point scheme, but as it's close to an airport, many customers don't have their reward card. They discard their receipts everywhere, and I pick them up and claim the points on my next shop (the unclaimed points are listed on the receipt). 500 points = €5 off your next shop.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I weigh the pre-packaged produce.
I also check the price per kilo, because regularly whatever they have on offer, the non-offer is cheaper!
Any really good offers I stock up on for about a year. For instance: my toothpaste is €6 per tube, it goes on sale once a year for 4 for €10; I buy 12.
With pre-packaged produce I take my time checking every item in the bag. And, like you, I buy small apples for my daughters.
We eat what's on sale and in season (preferably both :))
Tea has not been on sale here in the USA for a long time as well. Last week Tetley family size iced tea bags were $1.50 each and I had $1/1 back on iBotta with a limit of five. So, I maxed that out and bought five boxes for a net cost of $2.50. We are starting to see sales on items that have not been on sale for a long time in many areas. But, I have seen that we have to watch the dates as they seem to be clearing out the warehouses. We are the opposite on apples and look for the biggest ones because Hubby and I share one but he is retired, I used to look for the little ones too when he was still working. My tip for apples for children is to cut them in wedges and start with just one and if the kids eat that one then cut another one. We raised five and often just two or three apples was enough and nothing was wasted.
ReplyDeleteI’ve just joined the extras program and am compiling a list of staples to do a bulk buy, I always browse the rtc meat section and the rtc f & v trolley
ReplyDeleteI have been struggling what to pack into DH's lunchbox...would love to hear about the whole lunch you give him.
ReplyDeleteDarren usually take a homemade wholemeal bread roll with pickings or thins slices of meat and salad thing if we have them. He takes a couple of pieces of fruit, savoury biscuits and cheese and maybe a small chocolate.
DeleteI usually save my 10% discount for when I do a really big shop and then I get $25 off a $250 shop. Great price on the teabags.
ReplyDeleteWe get 10% off twice a month. Our food budget is $120 for the month so it's hard to find enough food to buy to get a big saving. The shop above was not my big monthly shop but an in between one.
Delete$120 for the month? 😳you’re doing an amazing job!
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