[MargaretKur]

Wow! You really got overcharged on that one! My stepdaughter watches the display like a hawk when the cashier scans her purchases. Once she noticed that she was overcharged for orange juice and they actually had to send the bagger back to the case to double-check the price displayed. It did turn out that the price programmed into the scanner system was wrong.

Thanks, I'll think more about that. I don't know how old you are, but when I was younger, it was almost *always* a bargain to buy the larger package. It was always cheaper, we were told, because we were paying for less packaging...

Not so today! I'm always looking at the unit prices. It's cheaper for me to buy my favorite brand of toilet tissue (I'm not here to advertise, but this is the brand my mother always bought and after years of trying one brand or another I've come back to it because it lasts us much tonger) in packages of only 4 rolls, rather than in larger quantities or single rolls. It just turns out that the unit price for a 4-pack is the least expensive! Why? Beats me...but I check every time because they're forever changing things.

I've found the same thing with tuna, where it's cheaper to buy two cans than to buy one twice the size. My favorite brand of orange juice comes in 64-oz. (1/2 gallon) cartons and a 128-oz. (1 gallon) jug. It's one cent cheaper to buy the two cartons than it is to buy the jug.

Even if it's pennies, they do add up, don't they?

I'll be sure to check my receipts more carefully from now on. The thing that does make it harder nowadays is that they no longer put stickers on the products so you either have to write everything down or have a really good memory (or a tape recorder, LOL).

Oh, one more thing. I know it's good to check out prices at different stores. What I do every so often, since at our house we eat basically the same things so our list doesn't vary too much, is this: instead of going to Publix this time, we'll go to Wal-mart or Kash-n-Karry (soon to be Sweetbay), etc. We then compare the receipts to see which items are cheaper in which store. Then, of course, there are things that are only available in one particular store, but you get the idea.

After doing this, we can either choose to split up our shopping if the savings would be significant (not canceled out by the price of gas burned by driving to and fro) or to change stores for awhile. We wound up shopping every two weeks at one store, which was farther away, buying most of our groceries there, then getting only those things that were cheaper or only available at the second store. On the "off" week (not pay weeks) we'd go to the closer store for perishables only. We saved a lot that way.

It's about time for us to do this checking again, but with the gas prices the way they are, we'll see if the half-hour round trip to the other store is worth it. The other store's only a 3-minute drive away!

Whatever works.

Hey, I'm really rambling today. So in summary: yes, check receipts. Check those unit prices. Check to see if you're really saving when you compare your gasoline expenses to your savings by traveling from one store to another.

Happy shopping!