Are you a frequent Kroger shopper? I (Litsa) try to limit my Kroger shopping trips to twice a week. When I make my second shopping trip to Kroger during the week, I’m always amazed at all the deals I see that I didn’t see on my first shopping trip. What I’ve summarized from these sales/deals over the course of a year or more of studying sales/deals at Kroger is that one must keep coupons until their expiration dates! Items are marked down daily: clearance bins and closeout prices appear any time throughout the week——or even throughout the day!
Reasons Why:
Even if I have four bottles of shaving cream in our master bathroom for my husband, I keep the Edge Shaving Cream coupons that are available until their expiration dates. If I happen to see the specific Edge shaving gel he uses on a clearance rack, I add it to our stockpile if it is cheap, cheap, cheap! Or I buy it for my dad——@ $0.20, it is hard to pass up a bottle of shaving gel. Thus, don’t get rid of those valuable coupons! IF I ever do discard the coupons I think I won’t need, I ALWAYS see a deal that would have been a STEAL.
Here’s another scenario that transpired this month for me at Kroger.
On Jan. 8th, I bought two packs of Vanity Fair Napkins that were advertised 2/$4.00—I had a coupon for $1 off of two packs so I thought two packs of quality napkins for $3.50 were perfect for our family of three since we were completely out! When I checked my receipt, the price that rang up was $2.69 per pack of napkins. The customer service desk was charmed with my presence. I asked for the cashier to check these napkins’ price. They were tagged with an old price tag. Thus, I was refunded the $2.69 for both packs—–and was allowed to bring the napkins home for FREE under Kroger’s Price Scan Guarantee Policy!
A few days later, I passed a display in Kroger for Smucker’s jelly——a coupon was on the display. I stopped and read it. Buy two Vanity Fair Napkins and get $1.50 off Ziploc bags. My initial reaction was not to pick it up to file in my coupon notebook but I did since it didn’t expire right away! I knew I didn’t need napkins for awhile since I had just bought them and I didn’t want to be tempted with a coupon for an item I didn’t need. However, I remembered all the deals/steals that I lost by discarding my coupons before they expired. Summary: I Grabbed. I Filed.
And you guessed it…..I used that coupon today! I found a superb deal! Vanity Fair napkins were marked down for only $1.19 today in the clearance section at our Kroger. I bought two packs of napkins to use my coupon. I also added the cheapest pack of Ziploc bags (which was on my shopping list)——$2.49. Thus, two packs of Vanity Fair Napkins and One box of Ziploc bags cost me $3.37——-around $1.15 per item! Great deal! Even better, I now have a stockpile of napkins in my pantry!
Stockpiles save time and money! I encourage you to begin yours today by keeping coupons until expiration dates tell you to donate them to Coups for Troops (remember that military can use your expired coupons for up to six months after expiration date).
Budget money aside for items you use that will be a deal/steal with your coupons even if you don’t need it right now!
If you don’t have a Kroger, check with the grocery store you shop at for markdowns and their coupon policy!