Introduction
You all have shopped groceries at local “supermarket” like Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, Costco, etc., right? I have too, and recently we have been shopping at local Kroger stores for majority of our grocery and pharmacy needs. In this article, let me show you "how to save” constantly (above 30% of total bill) on Kroger purchases so you don’t have to be constantly hungry!!
Only a few steps for surprise surprise!!
You are all busy people and you don't want to change a lot of your "grocery" habits. So we will only follow a few steps below for "how to change" your habits to save more at Kroger!
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32 percent save on one shopping (Kroger Receipt) |
- Sign up for the Kroger Plus card and register for the online account. (and sign up for local organization to support, too.)
- Pay attention to Kroger coupon, Swagbucks coupon, digital coupon and manufacture coupon!
- Check Clearance Rack!
- Go for the end of the day shopping!
- Know basic "Rules of Thumb"!
- Use Kroger App!
- Use Ibotta App!
See, the point here is that you want to know "how to minimize" time doing all these steps to maximize saving, and these steps don't take much time!!
Excited?!?
I sure am because this story could provide a win-win situation for all!! Read on!
Background
I have a fairly good size family, and we try to save as much on our basic needs. We have shopped at all the above places. Sure, other places have reasonable prices for most of our needs.
About 5 months ago, we bought two beautiful American Eski puppies. After we met them, we just couldn’t resist not to get them. If you think about it, keeping a dog (in our case, two of them!!!) is a serous business. Dogs require foods/treats (duh…), medications (for heart warm, ticks, etc.), surgeries (like spay/neuter), other accessaries like leash, poop bags, shampoos, toys, backyard fences, oh my god, the list continues! I almost flipped over when I saw how pricy “bully sticks” were, but our puppies love them, so we end up getting them. Anyhow, the point is things could get expensive having dogs.
As such, we started to look more into how else “WE" could save on our own groceries, and we believe we have come up with THE ULTIMATE SECRET that can constantly save over 30% on the final grocery bills.
As such, we started to look more into how else “WE" could save on our own groceries, and we believe we have come up with THE ULTIMATE SECRET that can constantly save over 30% on the final grocery bills.
This does NOT include any gas point nor any other recent phone app rebates. Interested?
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| Our American Eskis! So CUTE! |
Potential Difference
Let's go through the potential difference result saving first so that you can determine whether this is worth doing and worth your time. The table on the side shows the above receipt details. When we shop, we are usually only interested in the values that I have put arrows in the graphic and the table actually lists the values. Our plan is to target above 30% on the "TOTAL SAVINGS" section EVERY TIME you shop. Oh, don't forget the amount saved here is nearly $55 for one shopping. We usually go to shopping once a week, so that would be $55 X 4 = $220 per month saving. That could be a surprise surprise $2,640 saving in a year!! You could almost take a vacation with this! Sure, there are certain assumptions built in this calculation that we are doing a simple assumption calculation like you save the same amount every time which is usually NOT the case. It could be more or less. That would depend on your shopping habits. BUT!!! The "TOTAL SAVINGS" percentage of 32% is a relative term based on the total amount. As such, that is a good number to compare for EVERY shopping!
Saving Methods
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Amount
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Manufacture
Coupon
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$4.55
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Store
coupon/Store saving
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$50.68
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Total
Saved (32%)
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$55.23
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Total Due
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$115.41
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Steps to execute!
Here, we go through more details on all the steps. Make sure to follow one by one, and in the end, your results will follow you! If doing all steps are too hard in the beginning, try to increase the number of steps each time you shop. In a short time, you will realize all the saving opportunities!!
1. Sign up for the Kroger Plus card and register for the online digital account. (and sign up for local organization to support, too.)
If you don't have the Kroger Plus card, then go to the local store's customer service, and apply. It's a free application, and takes only 5 minutes to complete. If you don't have the online account, you must register online for all other benefits on other steps below. Get familiar with all the benefit!
Oh, while you are at it, do register for the Community Rewards Program. We register for our local Boy Scout Troop that our son has been part of. In this way, you buy what you need for grocery at the local Kroger store and the part of the money spent is rewarded to the Boy Scout Troop. This has got to be the true win-win situation!
2. Pay attention to Kroger coupon, Swagbucks coupon, digital coupon and manufacture coupon!
Sooner or later you start receiving Kroger paper store coupons in the mail. Do NOT throw them away!! These coupons have savings for things you normally buy. For instance, coupons include ones for bread, pizzas, chocolate, cheese, and other items. Not only these provide a fairly good coupon savings at $1.00 ranges, but also for things you really need. A recent coupon included a FREE bagel pack of 5!
Swagbucks has a printable coupon section that you can use. The good thing with this coupon option is that you can only pick the ones you need, instead of printing out all the coupons you won't use. Contact me with details using the form below if you would like to know more about it.
Digital coupon is something that becomes available once you register for the online digital account in step 1. There are certain items that have additional discounts just in digital coupon. You may see a sign in the store showing to get the digital coupon. If you can get this in advance, that will be great. I, however, realize not many people have TIME to look through these in advance. So I only get digital coupons when we see a product we want to buy and it has the digital coupon sign. This can be accomplished at the local store if you use the Kroger App introduced in step 4 below.
Kroger takes manufacture coupons. A while back, I saw a TV program that showed "Extreme coupon moms". Remember our goal is to minimize the time it takes to maximize the benefit. We are certainly NOT coupon clippers! We don't buy newspapers, either. So we only get paper manufacture coupons every week from the local papers that automatically get delivered. We then go through these coupons quickly to see if we need something, and keep only the ones we really need. Throw away the rest of coupon papers for recycling!!
3. Check Clearance Rack!
When you get to the local Kroger store, you MUST look for the clearance rack or cart. Sometimes they may be hidden, harder to notice. For instance, our local store regularly has the clearance rack all the way back in the store, and if you don't pay attention, you will just pass it. These clearance racks have potentially VERY GOOD price items. We found not long ago that Nature Valley's Sweet and Salty nut boxes for $1.00 each!!! Usually, this costs $2 ~ $2.50. So that's a good deal.
When you get to the local Kroger store, you MUST look for the clearance rack or cart. Sometimes they may be hidden, harder to notice. For instance, our local store regularly has the clearance rack all the way back in the store, and if you don't pay attention, you will just pass it. These clearance racks have potentially VERY GOOD price items. We found not long ago that Nature Valley's Sweet and Salty nut boxes for $1.00 each!!! Usually, this costs $2 ~ $2.50. So that's a good deal.
4. Go for the end of the day shopping!
Did you know some items get 50% discount after 7 pm?? Like donuts, bagels and other bakery items. Yes, you surely knew that. (Right???)
Did you know some items get 50% discount after 7 pm?? Like donuts, bagels and other bakery items. Yes, you surely knew that. (Right???)
What you may not have known is that you can actually pick items on your own.
After 7pm, workers start cleaning up all the left overs for the day. They will pick assortments of donuts in a dozen box. Some times you may not want some of these ones you don't like. So you basically make the box with full donuts of what you like!! Now, once you have what you want, take the box to the worker for a marked down price tag sticker. In our local store, a dozen new donuts costs around $7.00. If you do this trick, then you get $3.50 per dozen box. That is a good deal! and kids (and you?) will love them!!
After 7pm, workers start cleaning up all the left overs for the day. They will pick assortments of donuts in a dozen box. Some times you may not want some of these ones you don't like. So you basically make the box with full donuts of what you like!! Now, once you have what you want, take the box to the worker for a marked down price tag sticker. In our local store, a dozen new donuts costs around $7.00. If you do this trick, then you get $3.50 per dozen box. That is a good deal! and kids (and you?) will love them!!
5. Know basic "Rules of Thumb"!
There are a few things to mention here. So pay attention!
- Large size is NOT necessarily cheaper. It is most of the time true that if you buy in bulk, things get cheaper in costs. But you should verify this is truly the case. For instance, in many cases, 1 gallon milk is cheaper. However, in some cases, 1/2 gallon milk gets cheaper. In this case, the decision is relatively simple. Double the price of 1/2 gallon milk, and see if that's cheaper or more expensive with 1 gallon milk. Just get the cheaper one (1 gallon or 1/2 gallon). Pay also some attentions to others which milk they will pick. In many cases when a cheaper price is obvious, people just do get the 1 gallon one which may be more expensive. Now you know. Think for 1 second and you get a bit wealthier!!
- Coupons usually provide the most savings on smaller quantity. This is true on majority of the cases although some times numbers are very close. For instance, an obvious example would be something like the $1.00 coupon can be used for a smaller quantity item of $2.00 cost or a larger quantity item of $5.00 cost. In this case, the saving for the smaller quantity item is at 50% ($1.00/$2.00), while the saving for the larger quantity item is only 20% ($1.00/$5.00). Long story short, use coupons for the smallest (and usually cheaper) product options!!
- Do NOT depend too much on "brand name" products. Value brand products like Kroger branded ones are generally cheaper than brand name products. This happens EVERYWHERE in the store from foods to medicine, etc. For these instances, we always check the ingredients. For many medicines, value brand products usually have the EXACT same chemical contents, and prices are generally much cheaper. Next time when you go to pharmacy, compare and look at the details on the label for allergy or cold medications. You will see what I mean. As such, there is no longer a good reason to stay with brand name products.
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Buy 10, Save $5 special deal
(Kroger)
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- Buy items you need as part of Buy 5, Save $5, or Buy 10, Save $5 or Buy 10 for $10 deal. You probably have heard of a Kroger TV commercial advertising Buy 5, Save $5 or Buy 10, Save $5 or Buy 10 for $10 deal. You certainly have seen the sale pic like the one above!!! It seems that Kroger has these deals pretty much every week, and when we go to shopping at Kroger, there are always some deals going on. This requires a bit of planning, but what's important here is that you buy items that are part of these deals and stock up. Sometimes, what you plan on buying may not be on sale. If you can wait until the next shopping time, then forget about getting non-sale item, and only get the sale items. Obviously, you would then combine with these special Buy 5, Save $5 or Buy 10, Save $5, or Buy 10 for $10 deals. But wait, that's not all!! You then combine with other coupons we discussed in step 2. This is where magic starts to happen! Always look for ways to combine multiple saving methods, and stick to them. Yes, you can probably wait to buy THAT PARTICULAR NON-SALE product you came here for until next time. :-)
Keep in mind Buy 5, Save $5, is a twice as BETTER deal as Buy 10, Save $5. Why? Because you end up saving $1.00/item instead of $0.50/item!! Also, you don't have to buy exact same items as long as other items are part of this special promotion. This is a great news because we don't have to get stuck with one kind of many items at home!!
Recently, there was a 10 for $10 deal for Pringles Chips. We normally don't buy Pringles because they are usually pricy at $1.50+. If you do a simple calculation, this product becomes $1.00 each. That's well over 30% savings! We then stocked these up, and I have some snacks to take to work!!!
6. Use Kroger App!
Many people these days use smart phones and Kroger App can be a very helpful addition. Not only can you create a shopping list, but also you can re-order your prescription through local Kroger pharmacy. Yes, these are helpful, but what I consider MORE helpful is the Free Friday Deal. Every Friday, I open the Kroger App, and search "Free" in the digital coupon section. I then add the free item as digital coupon (this sounds rather difficult, but all you do is to tap on the big PLUS sign beside the product and it magically gets loaded to your Kroger card account). Then, the Kroger system ensures your Kroger card takes off the free item charge.
I have to say this is pretty slick!!! I was quite doubtful in the beginning, but it works.
Probably 80% of the time, we get these free items. The only times we don't get these free items are when the product is not available in the store (duh!) or the product is not something we need (like cat food, when we need DOG food!!!). Facebook has a hash tag #FreeFridayDownload and you can look up past and upcoming items. The price of these items are usually $1.00 ~ $3.00. There are some items that we never bought before until this free digital coupon came out. So this Kroger marketing is WORKING!
Let's do another simple calculation. Conservatively estimated, let's say you get 80% of these free items, and each item is worth $1.00. In one week, you may save ~$1.00. In one month, you may save ~$3.00. In one year, you may save around $40. That's pretty good for almost not doing any thing and get free products. You should definitely utilize this. Try it this Friday!!
Let's do another simple calculation. Conservatively estimated, let's say you get 80% of these free items, and each item is worth $1.00. In one week, you may save ~$1.00. In one month, you may save ~$3.00. In one year, you may save around $40. That's pretty good for almost not doing any thing and get free products. You should definitely utilize this. Try it this Friday!!
7. Use Ibotta App.
By doing up to step 6, we are able to save significant amount. In our receipt example, that was $55.23. Now, let's try something more and new. Use Ibotta! Ibotta is a smart phone app that can further increase your saving on usual grocery shopping. You declare what to get cash rebates on, and scan the receipt to send it in. Usually, within a few hours (in most cases in mere 30 minutes), you get the cash rebate accepted and your reward payment is recorded. You can withdraw after $10 is accumulated for gift cards, paypal, etc. There are some social aspect in this app that integrates with Facebook, and you can work on group saving. Anyhow, our receipt example provided additional $3.20 saving. Making the total saving of $58.43, thus making the final saving percentage to be 34%!!! If you would like details, please leave a comment below.
Every small amount counts and will soon become a mountain!
Take home items
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Recent receipts
Source: Kroger receipts
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I hope you have now understood it is possible to feasibly obtain a significant saving on every Kroger shopping. $50+ saving each time we shop is a pretty big deal to us and I am sure you can achieve something similar. The point is that I am not really changing anything much other than paying more attentions to saving details. It is just a change of mindset.
Finally, I want to show you some of other receipts we recently got at Kroger. Saving a lot is in fact possible! ==> $104 save!!
Do you think these steps are too hard? Again, one step at a time is just FINE!
Do you have a good story on Kroger saving technique? Please leave a comment below.
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