How I Got $120 Worth of Groceries for ONLY $7! (Part 1)

Kroger Trip #1

I decided to make a quick trip to Kroger to use a $3 off checkout coupon before it expired. I was running to Target next door to pick up the humidifier we'd ordered online, so I figured I'd be efficient. Turned out...a little extra effort paid off a TON.

Before leaving home, I checked online for on any coupon matchups. A coupon matchup is a couponer's jackpot! That's when a product is both on sale at the store AND there is a coupon out there for that item! This is how to make the "big bucks," so to speak, when couponing. There are often coupon matchups for items that result in a very low price, but sometimes, the coupons reduce the sale price so much that the item is FREE. I wasn't on the lookout for any particular products the other day, so I wanted to see how much free stuff I could get! I printed my coupons, and I was off.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this post where you'll find info about where to find coupon matchups!

A couple important things to note

First, I often split my shopping trip into multiple transactions if I have checkout coupons I want to use right away. Second, Kroger (and Meijer, and probably other stores) have sales where if you buy a certain number of items, you will save even more than the already posted sale price. At Kroger, it is called the "Buy 6, Save $3 Mega Event." OR it may look like: If you buy a certain number, you'll get one item free.

You do NOT have to buy all of one item. You can mix and match ANY items that are also part of the promotion. For example, below, baby food, Ice Mountain water, and Power Bars were all part of Kroger's Mega Event where if you buy six items, you earn an extra $3 off (basically $.50 off each item). If I bought a combination of five items, I wouldn't get the extra $.50 off each item. If I bought eleven, I would only get $.50 off six of them. The other 5 would be the regular "sale" price.

Here's where my problem solving skills came in. You won't find any specific scenarios on the coupon matchup websites. You have to make sure you have the right count in order to get the deepest discounts. Coupon matchup websites can tell you what's on sale and what coupons match up with those items, but if you aren't careful, you could take coupons and intend to buy exactly sixteen items and not get the lowest price because you are two shy (or four over) a multiple of six. Don't get me wrong: you'll still save a LOT of money!

In my scenario, I had coupons for sixteen baby food pouches, but that's not a multiple of six. So, I could buy two more, to total eighteen (spending $.59 each on two additional), or find other items in the store to create eighteen or 24 or 30, etc. Luckily, (I mean truly!) I found an applicable Ice Mountain Water matchup/checkout coupon if I bought four bottles, and I combined that with coupon matchup for four Power Bars. It just happened to all add up to 24 items, a perfect multiple of six! That made this math nerd super happy! (If you are rolling your eyes, I commend you for reading this far and won't be offended if you stop reading and never read again! Haha!)