Frugal Failures: Shopping and Dining

Hello, everyone! So this is more of a post about frugal failures, unfortunately. Well, some successes, but in general, I think I got out of practice taking that vacation, haha.

So on Monday, I did a shortened version of my shopping rounds: Walmart, Stop and Shop, and Shoprite. Walmart was kind of a disappointment--the result was one tube of Colgate ($1-$1off coupon from P&G 6/29=free) and one tube of Crest ($1.66-$1off coupon from P&G 7/5=$0.82-->ok, the cashier messed this up clearly, but there was a big line and I didn't want to make a fuss). But anyway, $0.41 a tube for brand name toothpaste isn't all that bad.

At Stop and Shop I grabbed a couple of cans of Muir Glen diced tomatoes w/Italian herbs (the whole tomatoes were gone, but these were being discontinued as well). The price for these broke down to: $1.59-50%off-$1off coupon=free. I also picked up a package of Yo-plus vanilla yogurt (2/$4-$1=$1/1). I really like this brand because the cups are so convenient, without having the high price tag of other individual cups that cost at least $0.69-$1.19 each.

Finally, at Shoprite I picked up a bunch of Muir Glen tomato pastes ($0.99-$1off coupon=free) and a bottle of International Delight coffee creamer for $1.66. The latter I got because my mother's birthday was the next day and I wanted her to have something to make her morning special in a simple way. Also, Blue Bunny novelties weren't on sale at all, so that was a big disappointment in this weather.

I guess the other thing I need to start working on is remembering that I don't currently have a source of income. For instance, on my mom's birthday, she wanted to take me and my sister out to lunch. Yes, it would have been very nice, but I would have felt so terrible...So instead I snuck off to talk to the waitress and had her charge the bill to my card. And then, when my mom and sister saw me take the bill at the table to sign off on it, I got so nervous that I left a 25% tip, after, let's face it, pretty poor service. Grrr...The main point of this is that this is something I would normally do without thinking. The difference is that now, for the first time since I was 17, I have no independent source of income. I hate to stop doing spontaneous things like this for my family and friends, but I guess I have to be a little more sensible. Chalk it up to a frugal lapse.

The final frugal failures have been an attempt to go to the free family film festival with my mom(here), only to find it completely overtaken by busloads of camp-kids. Next time we try this, I'll definitely call the theatre ahead of time and ask if they are expecting any large groups! This was replaced by our weekly shopping trip, for which I had forgotten my coupon book...

Hopefully you all are having more success than I have had and I'll learn from my mistakes!

Cheers,
Alison