[Darster]

Hi everyone...I wanted to share my money grubbing theories and see if anyone can relate...

I spent $126 at Kroger a couple days ago, and it was 2 carts worth of stuff!

They had a buy one get one free sale, and it really added up to some major savings. I've decided that cutting coupons wasn't worth my time, even though sometimes I could save $16 at the grocery store, when I factored in all the time cutting, and then fumbling around with them, it just seemed like a hassle that wasn't worth it.

I cleaned out an area in my garage where I'm going to store some things I get on sale, and stock up....like laundry detergent, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.

On the buy one get one free sale, my laundry detergent (Purex) came out to be 2.26, the cheapest no name brand I usually buy (Tempo) costs over 3.00, to give a point of reference. Consumer Reports says buy the cheapest laundry detergent, because they basically have the same ingredients anyway.

Hi-C juice boxes (pkg of 10) came out to 1.50 each, rather than 3.00, and buy buying the toilet paper in bulk, I paid about .66 cents per 4-pack of toilet paper, rather than over a dollar.

We found that the Suave Naturals strawberry shampoo at 88 cents to a dollar works fine as a bubble bath too! So I bought two and used a coupon and got a free Suave deodorant worth $2.19.

So all in all, I easily saved $20 off my per unit prices I am willing to pay (prices in my head)...although the Kroger receipt says $69 saved with my Kroger card, I don't pay much attention to that, I pay attention to what my usual or lowest price is.

Some people who are really into this frugalness at the grocery store swear by a price list...what you do is get some paper in a notebook and write down the items you buy most often, and note the date, store, and price paid. Then, when something goes on 'sale' you can figure out if it's really a good deal or not...and if you find a fantastic deal, then you can stock up.

My husband doesn't really understand the concept I'm going for with the stocking up. He just sees the $126 spent and freaks at the total....I am trying to show him that yes, that's a big total, and it is a killer to pay ... temporarily....but if all I have to buy next week is Milk, bread, eggs, and cheese at $9, it's not only a money saver, but it saves time also. It will also be nice to just step into my garage grocery store when I need something.

A little more explanation to why this works for me too, my little honda doesn't run very well, and it doesn't have air conditioning....so when I use the larger car WITH air conditioning, I like to also stock up....my little car doesn't hold a lot of stuff.

Some of the other stores around here like Publix, you really have to watch them - they do a buy one get one free sale, and then what they do is jack up the per unit price, so if something is normally 2.25, all of a sudden on the buy one get one free sale, it's 3.50 for the one you buy...that is dirty pool, and then sometimes if I take the price I have to pay for the one, then divide that in half to get the actual per unit price I'll be paying, it's more than it is to buy one of the thing straight out at Kroger.

Then Publix here runs ads to say they have 'no cards, no memberships, no hassles'...and they claim they have lower prices than Kroger. Yah riiight.

I will say something for Kroger, I have always found them to be fair in all their practices, and I appreciate that. I won't spend money at a store I can't trust.

So I showed dh the stockpile in the garage, and he puts his arm around me and says, "y'know, it's really comforting to know, that if we ever face the Apocalypse, we have FOUR BOTTLES of Mrs. Butterworth Syrup stocked up." LOL!