I have been saving a ton of money since we’ve adopted strategic shopping, but this is the first week I bought things just because of the deal and not necessarily because I use them all of the time – and let me tell you I am already regretting it. Don’t get me wrong – I didn’t go off the savings wagon. I bought $165.17 worth of groceries for $83.58 – a savings of $81.59 – almost 50% - Even better considering we haven’t gone shopping in 3 weeks or so. However, I need to keep myself from getting caught up in the high of getting a great deal – and to make sure I am buying only what we need and what we use. Let me explain..

Even though I don’t always eat as I should (who really does) – I try to make sure my daughter eats healthy most of the time - milk instead of juice, yogurt for dessert, etc. However, this week I bought those fruit snack things – thinking they would be easy to toss in her snack for camp as a summer treat. 

Normally $2.99 a box – they were on sale for $1.88 this week, plus I had two coupons for 50-cents off two – which – since Shaw’s doubles  – was really worth $1 off two.  So the final price was $1.38 each – a savings of  $1.61/box. Since I bought 4 boxes- I also got a free red box movie worth $1 and a general-use coupon for $2.50 to use during a next shopping trip. So for a little over $5, I got more than $15 in products, coupons, etc.

Here’s the bad part -  after getting over the rush of saving a ton of money on the purchase – I realized they were basically sugar – not a healthy snack. I really don’t want my daughter eating them. And, as you would guess, now that they are in the house – that’s the only snack she’s been asking for – not the yogurt or the fresh cherries I got a killer deal on (50% off).

So, it was a big reminder to me – to really buy what we need. Just because it was a good deal doesn’t mean it was a purchase I had to make. Yes, it was cheap – but it would have been cheaper to not buy it at all. Truly a lesson learned!