Sunday, January 17, 2010

Life in the Express Lane...

My mom has been harassing me to try the Harris Teeter Express Lane for a while now. (Hi Mom!) She swears that a family friend says that not only does it save time (no brainer) but it also saves money.

Yeah, I smiled politely. I knew no one could ever beat the Superwalmart for grocery prices.

Oh. So. True. For prices.

What I found out in my first foray into the Express Lane is this: I come home with pretty much exactly what was on my grocery list. No extra ice cream. No unplanned cookies or frozen desserts. No flip flops. No DVDs. No new summer plates. No UNC sweatshirts. No beading supplies. No new bathmats. Just groceries.

Last spring we discovered the glories of e-mealz, but I have to confess that my LEAST favorite part of e-mealzing has been scavenger hunt for ingredients at the Superwalmart. The expedition inevitably let me to parts of the store I had no business exploring. And I always came home with MUCH more than the items on my list.

So far, I'm averaging $60 a week less in the Express Lane than at Superwalmart. For realz! And that's just planning around the specials. If I could ever bring myself to clip coupons, I'm betting I'd save a ton more.

I sit down on Sunday night, look at the website, plan menus, shop online (using my previous list as a basis for recurring items), and -- voila! -- one of the Harris Teeter elves pulls the items off the shelf, puts them in a cart, and rings them up. When I arrive, I tell them my last name, they bring out the receipt and scan my debit card and load the groceries in the car.

I don't even get out of the car at the Harris Teeter. Shoot, by not buying the canvas patio unbrella (at a VIC price of $69.95), I can pay for someone else to do my marketing for over a year.

Thanks, Mom!

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