How to Save 91% at Kroger-TODAY ONLY

Once again the stars have aligned with the special deals at Kroger. Here's how I just saved 91% on 10 items at Kroger, but that level of savings is only good TODAY, January 24.

Kroger has a mega event this week: buy 10 (specified products), get $5 off instantly. Today is the last day of a Kraft promotion that specifies you buy 5 Kraft products and get a $5 Catalina savings off your total of your next shopping trip. Combine that with sales, coupons, and e-savers, and you can save you serious bucks.

I bought 5 8oz packs of Kraft shredded cheese (normally $3.29, on sale for $1.49 each). The mega event knocks $.50 off each package and I used 2 $1/2 printables found here. Once you take into consideration the $5 coupon you earn at the end, that's like making $2. I think you can only earn one per transaction.

I also bought 2 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars and 3 boxes of Fiber One bars (both on sale). I had 2 $.40 printables for Nature Valley, 2 $.40 printables for Fiber One, and 1 $.40 paper coupon for Fiber One. These are all over the internet; try here or here. Since Kroger doubles these, that's a $4 savings. Note: Kroger now limits you to 2 internet printable coupons per product, per transaction. Since I had loaded several e-savers for both products from Cellfire and Shortcuts over the past couple of weeks, that saved me an additional $2. And since I bought 10 qualifying products, that knocked another $2.50 off my total today. All told, the cost of each box was $.99.

My total before tax was $7.90 and I walked away with $5 in savings next time. So it was like getting products that normally cost $32.90 for $2.90. There are lots of products that qualify for the mega event going on all week, but the Kraft promotion will no longer apply. Happy savings.

Ok, I know I said I was done with the savings rant. If you can bear one more, here are three of the best deals I found at Kroger today (my total savings: $45.88).

There are several items that can earn you discounts on future trips (within two weeks)--like Walgreens register rewards. I bought 4 Pillsbury pizza dough tubes, got $1 off from Cellfire.com and $1 off from Shortcuts.com, and earned a $2 reward. I could have saved another $.40 from a coupon I printed online, but my printer was running low on ink and it wouldn't scan.

Another good deal I thought was Ziploc bags: buy 3 boxes and get a $2 reward. I'm now going to send in for a rebate from SC Johnson and will get $5 back. Since you can get 50 sandwich bags for $2.29, it's like getting three boxes for free. And if you have manufacturer's coupons, you can even make some money. May I suggest the Ziploc Evolve version (same price as the regular) but it's better for the environment because it uses 25% less plastic and is made with wind energy. With this deal, you get to be a Super Mom on several levels!

Finally, I stocked up on sodas because of the free Cheezits promotion: buy 3 12 packs or Cokes / Sprites on sale for $12 and get 2 free boxes of Cheezits (worth $5.58). Even though I've seen Cokes cheaper at Target, if your kids like Cheezits, this is the better deal.

How Low Can You Go?

It all started with my latest trip to Sam’s Club to stock up on some basics. Lately I’ve been going about every three months for those essentials I buy in bulk. I was feeling great about all the money I must be saving when the cashier said: $722.97. What?! Something must be wrong. Have prices sky rocketed when I wasn’t looking? Is my strategy of buying in bulk not all that it’s cracked up to be?

That’s when I decided to get out my calculator, scour several stores for prices, and figure out how to get the best bang for my buck on everything I buy. I broke down each item by price per pound, price per ounce, or price per unit. I chose to compare prices for select items at Sam’s Club, Kroger’s, Ingles, Target, and Walgreen’s. What I discovered is that there is no one store that’s the golden ticket to savings, but with a little work I could save a lot of money. I now have a new mantra: how low can you go?

I had always thought the grocery chains Kroger’s and Ingles were comparable in prices; not anymore. When I compared nearly 50 regular grocery items, Kroger’s almost always came out cheaper. Ingles won out on a few sale items, but those could easily go on sale at Kroger’s the next week. So even though Ingles is the most convenient grocery store for me, it’s off my regular errand list for now.

When I compared the regular prices for items at Sam’s against the other stores, Sam’s was the clear winner on most goods. So for people who aren’t interested in waiting for sales or clipping coupons, this is probably the best store for them. However, I’m up for the challenge of saving the most money--however I have to do it. I’m convinced if I’m crafty, I can get lots of groceries for less elsewhere.

Here’s an example. The “big rolls” of Bounty paper towels at Sam’s work out to $1.42 a roll. I found the same product at Target on sale for $1.25 a roll. If I found a Target coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon (usually $.25 each), I could bring it down to $1.20 a roll.

Since the regular Kroger’s price is $1.84 a roll, I have my work cut out for me to save money here. For Kroger’s to win out on the price wars, I’m going to have to find $4.69 savings through sales and coupons on a pack of 8. The advantage of Kroger’s though is that thanks to websites like www.cellfire.com, www.shortcuts.com, and www.PGEsaver.com, I can load specific coupons electronically onto my Kroger’s card for free. There is no paper waste, the savings appear automatically at check-out, and they can be used with manufacturer’s coupons for additional savings (a process called “stacking”).

After all my comparisons, I discovered the surprising winner on this particular product is Walgreen’s. Flipping through this week’s flyer (available in the newspaper and online), I found they are selling 12 big rolls for $12; that’s $1 a roll. Armed with my coupon in the weekly flyer and a $7 register rewards I got for buying a $7 item, the total for all those paper towels is $5 before tax (regularly $18.49). If I’d had a manufacturer’s coupon or if they’d had extra savings in their monthly coupon book, I could have saved even more. The young check-out girl is stunned by what I just accomplished and says, “How did you do that?!” I direct her to the real savings expert, Knoxville’s own Coupon Katie (www.couponkatie.com). I’ll write more about register rewards and how to get free stuff in a future blog.

In summary, there were some clear winners at Sam’s that I will continue buying: cheese, fresh salsa, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, frozen blueberries, chocolates, olive oil, potato chips, pure maple syrup, and their yummy cookies. I had been buying all my meat and fish at Sam’s but discovered I could get most of that for less on sale at Kroger’s. At Kroger’s, I’ll be buying most of my fresh food: produce, breads, dairy, and meats. I’ll also see where I can stack coupons and wait until those items go on sale. I’ll be checking the Walgreen’s flyers for sales and register rewards items; I hear they’re great for cleaning supplies and hygiene goods. At Target, I’ll be looking for what’s on sale or in the clearance bins and checking their coupon books as well. Their sale price for canned cokes was the lowest I found from all the stores.

The key is that I’m now armed with prices, which I plan to put on a cheat sheet where I store my coupons. I’ll know what’s a good deal and not impulsively buy something because “it’s on sale.” It all seems so obvious; I’m embarrassed that I’m only now figuring this out. Better late than never, I suppose. I’ll check back in to report on my savings after a few weeks. So let the games begin—how low can you go?