To me grocery shopping is one of the easiest and most instant places to start saving in your personal budget. One of the main tools that I've started to use to lower my bill is couponing, and I wanted to share the results of one of my more recent shopping trips.
My regional grocer, Kroger, has one of the more favorable coupon policies, doubling coupons up to $.50 or $1.00 depending on the face value. You can also combine these coupons with sales through the store's loyalty card, so that's where I choose to shop.
I took advantage of Kroger's periodic Mega Event, giving you $5.00 off your total bill instantly for every ten items you purchase that are a part of the promotion. When layering with coupons, a sale like this means you can score items for pennies on the dollar or even free!
Some of the great items that I scored at no cost to me include toothaste and two liters of Dr. Pepper soda. I also picked up some Uncle Ben's Ready Rice packets for just $.27 each and some usually expense High Liners Sea Cuisine fish fillets for just $2.99 each (they normally retail for $7.49!).
I won't go down the list of each item, but above is my total haul. The retail value of my purchase was $88.30, but I paid only
$33.28. Not bad! I did have to pick up some more expensive staples that I wouldn't normally purchase on every shopping trip, so that was a little higher than I normally aim for. But my percentage of savings encourages me to keep lowering that bill!
What are some of your couponing tricks? What resources do you use to plan your shopping trip?
