How To Spend Less By Participating In Store Promotions
There are lots of ways to save money:
- Buying on sale
- Using coupons
- Planning your menu around the sales
- Comparing price per ounce
- Buying closeout and clearance items
- Comparing national brands vs. store brands
In today’s Wednesday 101 post, I’m going to talk about how you can spend less by taking advantage of store promotions. What are store promotions? Here are some examples:
- Kroger’s Mega Sales (Buy a specific number of participating items, receive dollars off instantly at checkout.)
- Buy 3 boxes of cereal, get a FREE gallon of milk.
- Spend a specified amount on a particular brand and earn store reward bucks. Example: Buy $10 of Crest products and receive $3 of store reward bucks.
- Kroger’s Fuel Program: Earn cents off per gallon of gas. The more you spend at Kroger, the higher your gas discount will be.
- Buy store gift cards as gifts, get one for yourself for FREE.
So many shoppers don’t pay attention to the store promotions. Maybe they think store promos are too much work, too difficult, too complicated, or too much of a hassle. I once heard a shopper say that he didn’t have time to fool with the store’s promotion. Because he didn’t take the time, he spent a lot more than he needed to spend!
Sometimes, it takes a little extra effort to take part in a store promotion. The Kroger Mega Sales, for example, usually require you to buy 10 participating items to receive $5 off at checkout. (In this week’s Kroger Mega Sale, if you buy 10 participating items you’ll get $3 off instantly AND a catalina coupon for $2.00 off a future order.) I’ll admit that it is somewhat of a hassle to have to count how many items I’m buying. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost count and had to re-count! But, the savings that I get make the extra effort well worth it.
In my classes, I devote an entire segment to “Store Promotions”. I’ve found that most store promotions are well worth the extra time and trouble. I strongly encourage you to keep an eye out for store promotions. Store promotions can certainly help you to spend less!
I lose count too, especially when I’m buying things that AREN’T part of the promotion as well. I started keeping a list with a tally of how many participating items I have in my cart.
Jen, I read a great idea recently. If you use reusable shopping bags, put 10 items in a bag then tie it shut. When you get another 10, fill another bag. This is an easy way to keep a count!