Total Savings-95%!!!

Since I posted about the coupons last week I've had lots of people ask about how it works. Last week was a great week to stock up on groceries because Kroger was having one of their "Mega" events and Harris Teeter was doing triple coupons. Publix had a pretty good sale too!

So, I ended up having one of my best shopping trips EVER this weekend. I had been to Kroger earlier in the week to pick up a couple of things in the Mega Event, but I wanted to go back AFTER I had hit Harris Teeter for the triples and knew how much room was left in the cabinets/freezer (Answer=Not much). So I made a quick run on Saturday when I was out running around with my mom-what I love about Kroger (and there is not much, haha) is that they actually break down your PERCENT of savings on the receipt. The dollar amount saved is great and usually plenty of motivation for me, but seeing the total "percent off" like you see at other retail stores, but not usually grocery, is kind of neat. So, without further ado, I will summarize my Kroger receipt for you so you can "see how it's done."

-2 Birds Eye Voila Meals in a Bag-Reg. Price 8.29 each, on sale for 5.99 each
-4 I Can't Believe its Not Butter stick packs (yes, 16 total, holiday baking here I come!) Reg Price 2.29 each, On Sale for 1.49 each
2 Larabars (been wanting to try these) Reg Price 1.69 each on sale 1.25 each
1 Bumble Bee tuna pouch Reg 1.65, on sale for .99
4 Birds Eye Steamfresh Frozen Veggies Reg Price 2.49 each, on sale for 1.99 each
3 Frostings (1 Duncan Hines, 2 Betty Crocker) DH Reg. 1.99 each, BC REg 1.89 each, all on sale 3/$5

This would have come to 46.50 pre-tax (over 50 after tax) if I had bought it all at regular price.

So how did I walk out of the store paying only $4.33? (2.01 of that was my tax!)

As Monk would say, here's what happened-
I started by matching up SALES with COUPONS I already had. I had coupons for everything I bought except for the butter sticks. Those were a great price, so I wanted to stock up for holiday baking! Since this was a "Mega Event" Sale, that means that if you buy any 10 "mega" items, they take $5 off your total (which equals 50 cents off of each item). So, I got $5 off for that, I had a Cellfire coupon on my Kroger card for one of the frostings which took another .50 off. Those were my "Kroger" discounts. I had 2 coupons for .40 cents off a Larabar, which got doubled to .80 off each bar, making them .45 each. I had 4 coupons for .50 cents off each (kroger doubled) of the Birds Eye Veggies, making them .99 cents each. I had two coupons that were "Buy 2 Birds Eye Veggies, Get one Birds Eye Steamfresh Meal Free." The cashier made a little mistake, which I didn't realize until I got home looking at the receipt. He manually entered the Meals at 8.99, even though Kroger sells them for 8.29 and they were on sale for 5.99. So, that gave me an extra $6 discount OVER the meals being free. WOO-HOO! I had a $1 off a Bumble Bee tuna pouch, so that ended up being FREE. I had 2 fifty cent coupons for the 2 other frostings that both got doubled to $1, so those 3/$5 frostings ended up costing me 2.50 total after the Cellfire coupon listed above, making them .83 each. Did I mention I am baking for the holidays? Oh yes! And finally I got my 4 packs of butter for 1.49 each, no coupon, but after the frozen meal overage it is probably good that there was something I didn't have a coupon for! I wonder if they would have given me money back if I had come back in the negative?

Grand total of savings, per my Kroger receipt, was $23.38 in manufacturer's coupons, $3.80 in bonus coupons (that means the ones they doubled), 17.10 in Kroger Plus savings (the sales price discounts plus the $5 Mega Sale), giving me a grand total of 44.18 savings, or 95% off the regular prices off all that I bought. I spent 4.33 out of pocket, 2.01 was tax, so my actual food only rang up at 2.32 (you do usually have to pay tax on the point of sale price when you use coupons-each store varies a little).

Do you believe in coupons yet?