I have been couponing for about 2 months now and today was my best shopping trip yet! I was so excited when I returned home and sent Ronnie a text message telling him about it. He asked me to send him a pic at work so I did. He posted this pic on facebook and it has lead to lots of questions about how this all worked. This is my attempt to break it down.
Kroger is having a great mega savings event this week featuring over 120 items. This means that if you buy any 10 participating items you will get $5 deducted off your total (or 50 cents off per item). You can do multiple mega deals in one transaction, for example today I did 3. Its important to note that the Kroger circular that you get in the mail or view online does NOT list all the participating items. I found out about most of the additional ones at southernsavers.com.
I planned out my list carefully before going. It helped me to list them out in groups of 10 so I could keep things straight. Then when I shopped I also grouped them in my cart this way. This isn't necessary by any means, but I am visual and it helped me. This was my plan:
(note- the price in parathesis is the sale price when you buy 10 participating items, but without any coupons deducted yet)
Mega Deal1
2 bags of Chex Mix (1.49)- both were free as I combined printable coupons from coupons.com with ecoupons loaded to my Kroger card from cellfire and shortcuts
5 cans Del Monte Tomatos (.49)- I had a coupon for $1 off of 5 making them .29 each
2 cans Dole Mandarin Oranges (.50)- this was actually a money maker since the 2 coupons that I had doubled for more than the price of the cans
1 box Betty Crocker mashed potatos (.99)- free by combining printable and ecoupon
Mega Deal 2
2 Sunny D Smoothies (.89)- this was also a money maker. I found the coupons on the Sunny D site and again they doubled to more than the sale price. I have never tried these, but hey I am willing when I am making some money off my total to do it!
4 cans Carnation Evaporated Milk (.69)- these ended up being .19 each as I used printable coupons from coupons.com
3 Birdseye Steamfresh Veggies (1.49)- these were .49 each as I used coupons.com coupons that doubled
1 Colgate Toothpaste ($1)- didn't have a coupon but we just need it :)
Mega Deal 3
3 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks (1.99)- combined printables with ecoupons again and got 3 for 3.27 BUT it printed out a save 1.50 catalina!
4 Uncle Ben's Wild Rice (1.29)- these were .79 each with printable coupons
1 bag Fritos (1.49)- i didn't have a coupon but Ronnie will like these in his lunch.
2 more Evaporated milks- needed 2 more items to round out this deal and since they were so cheap I opted for these. I have some good recipes that call for this so it should come in handy.
Finally- I purchased non mega sale items that we just needed like milk, bread, baking powder, produce, paper towels and napkins. I was able to save money on these buy using some coupons and using some catalinas that I had from previous purchases. (Catalinas are little rewards that print when you buy a certain amount of a particular product. Last week I bought 4 boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats and it printed out a $3 one.) Today I had 6.50 worth of these. They scan just like a coupon and deduct the amount from your total.
You might look at this and think this is a random assortment of food- no meat for example. This is because I have stocked up on meat and other various things other weeks when there have been good sales. Essentially, I am not shopping for just a week's worth of food but for stocking the pantry and freezer. I am spending way less now but we have a great stock already. My freezer is almost bursting with frozen veggies!
Now for the numbers:
Total Spent- 24.73
Total Saved- 62.35
Total items- 41
Average price per item- .60
Hope that was helpful to those that were wondering!
PS- check out the southernsavers.com site for a much more detailed listing of coupon amounts and where exactly they can be found.
6 comments:
I love this! I may make a Kroger trip on Monday for some of these things. You should keep this up, because I cannot wrap my mind around it all and need detailed instructions!
Way to go!
I planned my shopping trip tonight. Tukes and I will go on Friday.
Now that you've started mastering coupons here is your next challenge... add a three year old to the mix!
Oh, Gracie, you are such a good sport about saving money - this sounds like a lot of work! How do you keep it all straight - blows me away! But...it all makes sense if you spend the time to research everything before you go shopping.
Oh My Stars... That is crazy! Before I started working, I would look at several money saving blogs (every day!), and I started getting the paper.... but I have not been able to really work on it at all! The coupons I've been getting lately in the paper really aren't that great... I need to just follow you around one day!!
Okay, Campbell and I did our shopping trip this morning... 1 bumped head (not mine), 1 bakery cookie (not mine), and 1.5 hours later here are my savings.
Total Spent -- $78.15
Total Saved -- $62.66
Total Items -- 53
Cost/Item -- $1.47
45% savings
My budget was $75 so I came in $3.15 over budget but for what all I got that is fine. I did 2 mega deals and will probably go back next week for more.
My favorite cashier, Miss Susan -- she makes sure all my deals ring up correctly, gave me a check-list of every item included in the mega shopping event. Very helpful, as I'll likely go back next week for more. Ask at the service desk of your Kroger for this comprehensive list, it will make planning to shop MUCH easier.
Good job Christian! Impressive, especially considering you had a 3 year old along and were shopping for twice the people as me. I'm not sure I can imagine doing this with a 3 year old...I imagine that is where the bakery cookie came in :) I am hoping that I can really get the hang of this now so when that time comes maybe it won't take me so long.
I was able to pick up one of those lists and it is very helpful.
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