Shopping In The Middle Of The Night

So I've never actually went grocery shopping at 2:00 am before - until now. Here's what I learned:

The Good:
* You can pretty much have your choice of parking spots.
* It's much more relaxing.
* There aren't 13 people trying to run you over with those electric carts and no screaming babies. No women in high heels wearing 5 layers of makeup yacking on their cell phones while shoving past you to grab some recycled bag of organic chips.
* Nobody is yelling over the loud speaker.
* You can use 2 carts and no one cares.

* You can sort 100 coupons on the popcorn shelf and no one looks at you like you're crazy.
* The same man comes around 6 times and asks if you're still finding everything and doing ok. Still not sure why he kept laughing each time he walked away.
* If you can't find the croutons you wanted - there's a good chance there's a bag sitting in the middle of the cookie isle just waiting for you - and there's no one around to step on it before you get to it.
* The '12 items or less' cashier welcomes you with open arms ........ since he is the only lane open.
* The cashier takes his/her time scanning each one of your coupons and doesn't squirm because you have so many.
* Nobody is grunting and huffing behind you in line and giving you that 'seriously lady?" look.

The Bad:
* It's 2:00 am
* They re-stock the shelves at night. There's nothing on the shelves and everything is in boxes in the isles sitting in your way. IMPORTANT: Make sure you take a friend with you who is willing to slice open boxes of mac & cheese with their finger nail to get you the exact kind you are looking for. You will have to be strong enough to lift boxes (or push them over onto the floor) and move pallets out of your way.
* Men are gross creatures by nature. But the stock boys will fart really loud from the next isle over thinking there's no one in the store except them.
* For the most part - the store is void of customers. But the select few that are in there are just as weird as you are. Keep a tight grip on that last bag of Oreo's.
* The free sample lady doesn't work in the middle of the night.
* The bakery and deli aren't open.
* I think they pick 'certain' employees to work the night shift for a reason.
* No one thinks it's odd you had a shoe box full of coupons sitting nicely on the kiddie seat of the cart. Each one neatly placed in it's own little section staring back at you with those 'pick me!' eyes.

So if you're wondering if I'll every do it again - sure why not. Depending on the day and my mood. I have to remember to go to the housewares section first and grab a knife to cut open the boxes though.

Total savings:  $3.49 (Meijers MPerks), $44.49 (buying sale items), $50.80 (41 coupons) for a grand total of $98.78 SAVED!  :)  Time to eat..................