Steal of a deal

"A can of mushrooms here is only 58 cents?!"

"And look, they have low-sodium diced tomatoes and bread flour!"

"Check this out, their cheese is 14 cents cheaper a bag."

"Mom, can you believe this? I just paid $1 more for this at Byerly’s."

"No, Heather, I can’t. And I just paid 77 cents more for a bag of pecans at Target."

This is me and my mom at Wal-mart this past Wednesday night at 11pm. Yes. 11pm. And yes. We can tell you exactly how much we pay—down to the cent—for specific groceries at various stores.

I have never shopped at Wal-mart at 11pm, but I now highly recommend. Why we were there at that time is a long story (it involves red hots). Neither of us shop at Wal-mart—we’re Targetters—but as we quickly walked through the store to get to the one aisle we needed to purchase the ONE item we needed, our steps began to slow. Our eyes, like automated scanners, began to take in the prices lining the shelves. We were distracted by the crazy low numbers and specific items that our regular grocery-shopping places do not carry. And we both began to map out in our minds how we could change our weekly shopping routine to incorporate Wal-mart and its rollback prices. Next thing I knew we had a cart, and were filling it with stuff because, I mean, how could we not?! The brown sugar was a whole 33 cents cheaper than what we usually pay.

We are suckers for deals, even at 11pm. Which is why before leaving Wal-mart, we ended up hitting almost every single aisle. And the one item turned into far more than the allowed "express lane" number.

But I have to tell you about the best deal I ever got: my mom. Today is her birthday, and here is why she is such a deal. I pay nothing and get everything—unconditional love, forgiveness, understanding, encouragement, smiles, a friendship. I don’t even need a coupon, and if I did, it wouldn’t have an expiration date. It’s a steal of a deal, really. Happy Birthday, momma.