to 3 different grocery stores on grocery shop day, to save 5 cents on lettuce.

As a kid, I'd say "Mom. Why do we have to load the groceries here and then drive across town for lettuce and Campbell's soup?"

"Because it is 5 cents less over there..."

Totally worth the hour lost to traffic and yet another grocery line. It used to kill me. And this was back when gas was expensive (relatively- the Carter embargo years).

She did teach me to price things by the ounce, though (before the stores were forced to disclose that info on the shelf).