What I have learned...Awareness

Well it just goes to show no matter how much you think you know there is always more to learn. And so we begin another rousing installment of What have I learned.

1. Read the fine print. And by fine print, what I really mean is, read the small print, on the top, bottom or side of every single product. Otherwise known as the expiration date. Don't count on the store to be responsible for this. It's a big store, and I don't know who's job it is to check each and every item, but I have yet to find a store that has never slipped up.

Today I went to take advantage of the Albertsons coupon deals. I checked all the Pillsbury crescent rolls, grands and sweet rolls because in my zeal to keep my stockpile as full as possible, I have discovered a tendency to hoard as well, which I will get into later. I conducted an exhausting search to confirm all my items had the farthest expiration date I can find. I made a point to check the date on all of the Pillsbury products, but for some reason I neglected to check the rest of the items. So I get home and take my picture of my groceries and then begin the process of figuring out where everything is going to go and I discover that not one but all eight of my cans of frozen apple juice expired over 2 weeks ago!

When I run a deal in a store it takes a ton of planning, probably more than most sane people and probably more than my fellow couponers do. I run the sales, collect the coupons, make my list and then walk into the store (usually with my 2 year old). It takes forever to get through one store and I usually hit 2 or three in a day. Still, for all the time it takes me, apparently, I am still not taking the time I need to in the store. So now I need to make a point to check every single product for the expiration date, I'm sure I will miss some eventually, but with any luck the ones I forget to check won't be expired! Of course, this leads me to the next thing I have learned...

2. Stockpiling is not hoarding. As of right now I believe I have multiple packages of cookies,
more Pillsbury bread products, yogurt, cereal bars and who knows what else, ALL EXPIRED! As a result of all the deals I came across when I first started saving, I have a large number of various snack foods. Since I would normally not have bought them due to price, I opted to save them rather than add them to the normal rotation of foods and eat them along with everything else. As a result, I find myself with a pantry full of food and none of it eatable. Looks like I need to find a way to trust that I will be able to replace the food I use, otherwise free or not it's not worth getting it if it goes to waste.

3. Being a coupon snob isn't always beneficial. In my zeal to take advantage of free or better than free products from the beginning of my savings journey, I have developed a bit of an arrogance when it comes to paying more than the best price I have found. For instance, every month or so Albertsons seems to have milk for the equivalent of $2 a gallon. I buy the maximum I can each time and freeze the excess, hoping to have it get me over to the next sale period. Of course, freezing milk has it's own complications as I learned here. However, I find that my unwillingness to pay for milk until absolutely necessary if it's above my predetermined price is costing me more money and hassle over all. Turns out you have to be flexible and willing to pay a bit more than you'd like sometimes, because let me tell you, running out of milk in a house with three kids sucks!

4. Count your chickens...or in this case your items. Anyone who brings a 2 year old to the store knows you run the risk of having extra purchases tacked onto your bill. Last week I discovered to my dismay that my single box of Yogos fruit snacks had multiplied into 2 extra boxes, courtesy of my "helpful" daughter. Add that to the fact that my last King Soopers run had me buying an extra can of soup, an extra box of cereal bars and an extra cream cheese ALL without coupons. Some of these were items I'd forgotten to put back when my coupon went missing and some of them were due to a miscount in my cart scanning that I do before I check out. This is where being aware is really critical. I'm not entirely sure, yet how I plan to prevent this from happening in the future, as I tend to over fill my cart and can't always see every item, but once I figure out a way I'll be sure to share that with you all!

And that's it for this installment of What I have learned. What have you all learned in your efforts to be more frugal? Any cautionary tales for the rest of us? I'd love to hear them.