Picking and choosing my deals

I have a 2 year old so I'm having to pick and choose my deals a lot lately. I find that taking him to too many stores to try to grab all the deals ends up frustrating for both of us. He simply doesn't have the patience and likes to attempt to crawl out of the carts. So, I've been really picking and choosing my deals lately. I know that when I first started mega couponing, I would run out to get every deal but now, I'm pickier.

The stores I frequent the most are Meijer, Kroger, Rite Aid, and CVS. It always takes us FOREVER to check out at Walgreens and it's about 15 minutes from me so it's the farthest store from me. And the Register Rewards expire within 2 weeks and my store just won't accept any even if they are one day old and I ask permission. So, for me, its a rarity that I go to Walgreens. Additionally, it seems everyone else in the country has a much bigger ad than Metro Detroit, I think our ad is half the size. So, many of the deals on websites that I frequent don't apply to our stores here.

So, what I'm trying to say is I've tried hard to find balance in the household. Not many kids want to be stuck in a grocery cart for a long amount of time and so I don't venture out as much as I used to. But I will tell you that the savings my family has seen has been tremendous. My husband and I recently put me on a allowance/budget. So, I get money every 2 weeks and when it's gone, it's gone. This has helped me A LOT because I would do tons of 1.00 and 2.00 transactions and didn't realize how they could add up!