Posted By FarmerJ on December 7, 2009

Cheese and crackers!  I had an absolute blast spending my Monopoly money in November!  I’ve said it before, and I’ve got to say it again ~ I miss my Fry’s Food Store in Arizona!

Well, I got an extra special blessing over Thanksgiving weekend.  Darling Husbie announced we were going to Arizona, so I made sure all of the essentials were packed.  Turkey? Check.  Stuffing?  Check.  Cranberry Chutney? Check.  Coupon binder? Check.

Yes!  I got to spend Black Friday couponing in Fry’s with my buddy, Spark Plug!  It was unbelievable.  Truly.  Fry’s was ~ and still is ~ adjusting any manufacturer’s coupon up to $1.00.  If your coupon is .25 off an item, Fry’s will adjust it to $1.00 off.  If your coupon is .40 off an item, Fry’s will adjust it to $1.00.

Fry’s is the home of the 10 for $10 deals.  Now, it had been over two years since I’d had the opportunity to ‘coupon’ at Fry’s.  I’m telling you, it was like releasing a kid in a candy store.  And the tear-offs ~ oh my!  They were everywhere!  It’s like I was Bugs Bunny and the store managers were dangling carrots in front of my face.

Spark Plug finally made the executive decision to steer me in the direction of the check-out and take me outside for a breath of fresh air.  She was a little concerned about the consistent glaze over my eyes and them bugging out of my head.  She said I needed a break ~ besides, both of our buggies were full and we needed to off-load them into her car.

Unfortunately, we only had four hours to spend at Fry’s.  We could have easily spent another four.  Seriously, we didn’t even make it down half the aisles.  [And Spark Plug had asked me if I wanted to hit Marshall's or Kohls.  The silly girl that she is!]

But, despite the limited amount of time we had, we still managed to spend some serious Monopoly money ~ it was complete madness.  I’m not sure what Spark Plug’s totals were, but I do know that the store ended up owing her almost $6.00 for her first full buggy, so she had to grab six bottles of Pepsi to take care of the overage.  Heehee!  I had to pay for both of my orders [gasp!], you know, with me being out of practice and all.  Shaw!  Even so, I managed to carry out $300.25 worth of groceries for a whopping $42.29!  Thank goodness Husbie loaded Mr. Duster on the flatbed trailer to haul him home ~ I had him loaded to the gills with goodies.  Sa-weet!

Now, I can’t even really include all of that in my Monopoly Money Madness challenge, because that was an extreme blessing out of the blue.  My madness here at home consists of coupons at face value ~ no doubling, tripling or quadrupling here.

However, I do have to report that right before leaving for our trip, I fluttered through the frozen section in the grocery store and was ecstatic about a deal I was able to take advantage of.

Birds Eye Steamers were on sale.  The green beans, corn, broccoli and peas were on sale for .68 per bag.  Well, some weeks prior, my buddy Spark Plug had set me up with Birds Eye coupons.  I held on to them, betting that one or the other store would run a good sale before Thanksgiving ~ that gamble paid off.  My coupons were for .50 off any bag.  I had 14 coupons, and now we have 14 bags of Birds Eye Steamers for only .18 per bag.  Score!

Wait!  It gets better.  I scanned the page in my binder and noticed I had some coupons for the more ‘elaborate’ variety of Birds Eyes Steamers.  You know, like red potatoes with butter and garlic sauce, pasta and broccoli with cheese sauce, stir fry veggies, potatoes and mushrooms in gravy, etc.  The coupons were for $1.50 off.  I think I literally let out a ‘Squeeeeee!’ when I saw the price on the shelf.  Care to guess?  Yep!  There were about a dozen varieties priced at $1.50 each.  Free ‘elaborate’ Birds Eye Steamers!  I had 14 of these coupons, too.  How awesome was that?  That’s $21.00 worth of veggies for not even one penny ~ zilch!

So, needless to say, I had a great time when it came to spending my Monopoly money in November.  Again, without my Fry’s frenzy, my totals ring in at:

* Total Number of Items for Free = 43
* Total Number of Items for $.01 – .50 = 58
* Total Amount of Rebates = $10.00

November Monopoly Money Savings = $137.72

Year-to-Date Monopoly Money Savings = $1,226.68

Cha-ching!

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