Shopping Scenarios | The Frugal Batavian

Tops Markets Shopping Trip – October 7, 2012

This morning, I headed out to Tops Markets to take advantage of some of their sweet deals for this upcoming week. The cereal deal is definitely at my stock up price, with the Multi-Grain Cheerios coming out FREE and Honey Nut Cheerios and Cocoa Puffs only coming to $0.40 after coupons are doubled. Also, with the $0.50/2 Betty Crockers Potatoes printable coupon and the sale, that means for every two I buy that I am receiving one of them for FREE. Adam loves to eat these for a quick meal, and they end up coming out cheaper than the Aldi’s brand. Not pictured is the 10 extra Smart Ones I bought so I can have room on the table for the picture.Here’s what I did this morning:

TRANSACTION #1

Buy (20) Smart Ones – 5/$10
Buy (4) Heniz Gravy – $1/1
Buy (6) Betty Crocker Potatoes – $1/1
Buy (1) Earthbound Organic Lettuce – $3
Buy (4) Multi Grain Cheerios – 4/$6
Use (2) $4/10 Weight Watchers Smart Ones printable
Use (3) $0.50/2 Betty Crocker Boxed Potatoes printable and use $0.50/2 Betty Crocker Boxed Potatoes (SavingStar.com)
Use (1) $0.75/1 EarthBound Farm Organic Product printable
Use (4) $0.75/1 Cheerios Multi Grain or Multi Grain Cheerios Peanut Butter Cereal printable
OOP = $40.50

They forgot to double one coupon, but they can fix that. So it looks like this will end up under $20 once that is fixed

TRANSACTION #2

Buy (4) Cocoa Puffs
Buy (4) Honey Nut Cherrios
Use (4) $0.60/1 Cocoa Puffs or Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch Cereal printable and use $0.50/1 Cocoa Puffs or Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch Cereal (SavingStar.com)
Use (4) $0.60/1 Cheerios Honey Nut Cereal printable and use $0.50/1 Cheerios Honey Nut Cereal (SavingStar.com)
OOP = $2.40

I paid a combined total of $42.90 OOP for what should have cost me $137.17. The total OOP will lower after the coupon that did not double is fixed. If I were to factor in the SavingStar eCoupons, my actual cost breaks down to $41.40. I also earned $0.40 off per gallon, and I am close to earning $0.50 off per gallon. I did e-mail Tops Markets because I think I should have earned more GasPoints, so I want someone to take a look at it to see if I am right or wrong on that.

To calculate my percentage saved to not include GasPoints earned, I factor in the following:

Calculate Total Savings: $137.17
Add my total OOP + eCoupons savings: $41.40
Subtract the OOP from the Total Savings: $95.77
Divide $95.77 by the total savings of $137.17: 70% saved on my shopping trip

If I were to also consider that I’ve earned $0.80 off per gallon for my 33 gallon gas tank, that is a savings of $26.40 in gas the next time I need to head to the pump.

Not bad considering I feel a bit rusty! I haven’t shopped at Tops Markets lately so I even had to brush up on some pointers. My savings might improve by a percentage once they fix the coupon that did not double, and once I receive my answer on the GasPoints. I am waiting for some coupons to come in the mail, and I will be headed out again this week to take advantage of some more Betty Crocker Potatoes and Chef Boyardee. I am also hoping to stock up on some more cereal with more coupons. None of the cereal expires until September 2013, and we go through cereal like crazy. Great stock up prices this week for stuff we already buy.

Tops Markets Sneak Peek For October 7 – Free Cereal with Coupons, Cheap Chef Boyardree & More!

Here is a preview of the Tops Markets deals starting on October 7th! There’s a great stock up price on cereal where you can pay as low NOTHING for cereal with these printable coupons! WOW! Thanks to Simply Family Savings for the ad scan. It’s going to be another week of accumulating gas points, and we have up until October 27th to take advantage of this deal. If you’re not familiar with how to save money at Tops Markets and earning GasPoints, read my posts below to get started:

The benefit of getting a peek at the ad early is to give you time to find coupons, or even find a coupon clipping service such as Coupon Dede for coupons. Below are some scenarios for some cheap or freebies next week! Remember, to print these coupons while you can! And you can print two coupons per computer. The full coupon match up for Tops will be completed this weekend. Some of the deals below also talk about SavingStar cCoupons. If you’re not familiar with SavingStar, you can learn about the benefits of using SavingStar at my post here.

General Mills Cereal – 4/$6 (wyb multiples of 4)
Includes Cocoa Puffs, Honey Nut Cherries, Multi Grain Cheerios, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Use (1) $0.50 off ONE BOX Cocoa Puffs cereal
or use (1) $0.50 off ONE BOX Honey Nut Cheerios cereal
or use (1) $0.75 off ONE BOX Multi Grain Cheerios
and active SavingStar eCoupons: Save 50¢ when you buy any ONE (1) BOX Cocoa Puffs® or Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch® cereal and/or Save 50¢ when you buy ONE BOX (1) Honey Nut Cheerios® cereal
Final Price = as low as FREE + $0.40 money maker after coupons double, and SavingStar eCoupons

Deal Scenario #1

General Mills Cereal – 4/$6
Use (2) $0.50 off ONE BOX Cocoa Puffs cereal
and use (2) $0.50 off ONE BOX Honey Nut Cheerios cereal
and active SavingStar eCoupons: Save 50¢ when you buy any ONE (1) BOX Cocoa Puffs® or Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch® cereal and Save 50¢ when you buy ONE BOX (1) Honey Nut Cheerios® cereal
Pay – $2
Final Price = $0.25 per box after coupons double, and SavingStar eCoupons are applied!

Deal Scenario #2

General Mills Cereal – 4/$6
Use (1) $0.50 off ONE BOX Cocoa Puffs cereal
or use (1) $0.50 off ONE BOX Honey Nut Cheerios cereal
or use (2) $0.75 off ONE BOX Multi Grain Cheerios
and active SavingStar eCoupons: Save 50¢ when you buy any ONE (1) BOX Cocoa Puffs® or Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch® cereal and Save 50¢ when you buy ONE BOX (1) Honey Nut Cheerios® cereal
Pay – $1
Final Price = as low as FREE after coupons double, and SavingStar eCoupons are applied! You will receive the two boxes of Multi Grain Cheerios free at checkout once the coupons are doubled.

Deal Scenario #3

General Mills Cereal – 4/$6
Use (4) $0.75 off ONE BOX Multi Grain Cheerios
Pay – $0
Final Price = Four FREE Boxes of cereal!!

I’m sure there are several ways to go about this deal! I can’t wait to stock up on cereal that’s for sure!

Chef Boyardee Canned Pasta or Microwave Cups – 10/$10
Use (2) $0.50/4 Chef Boyardee Cans or Microwave Pasta coupon (SS 9/16/12)
Final Price = $0.75 each wyb 8

Betty Crocker Potatoes (select varieties) – 10/$10
Use (4) $0.50/2 Betty Crocker Boxed Potatoes coupon (SS 9/16/12)
or use (4) $0.50/2 Betty Crocker boxed Potatoes printable coupon
or use (4) Betty Crocker $.50/2 boxed potatoes except Potato Buds and Pouch (will be in 10/7/12 paper as a General Mills Insert)
and activate SavingStar eCoupon: Save 50¢ when you buy TWO (2) any flavor Betty Crocker® boxed Potatoes (Except Potato Buds® and Betty Crocker® Pouch)
Final Price = $0.44 each wyb 8, coupons doubled and SavingStar eCoupon is applied.