Bonus

Every once in a while when you are shopping you can run into some rebate items. Most people I know don't like to waste their time to send these in and get their money back. But if you take the time you can find some really good rebates and it is basically money back on stuff you already purchase. In the past week I have found 2 really good rebates, 1 is for $10 cash back on the purchase of $50 in gift cards and the other is for $8 on the purchase of 2 bottles of Captain Morgan, Johnny Walker Red, or Tanqueray Gin.

On the $10 rebate I just purchased a $50 Kroger gift card on my way into the grocery the other day and then did my grocery shopping and used the card I had just purchased. Now all I have to do is send in the rebate and I have $10 back on my shopping trip which was already pretty good due to coupons now even better because of some free money from Coors (and you didn't even have to purchase beer). For the other rebate, we don't really drink at all but I do have a glass on the occasion that my buddy comes down from Ohio, or some old friends stop by so I picked up a bottle of Captain Morgan on sale at Meijer for $13.99 and a bottle of Johnny Walker on sale for $21.99 and I will get $8 of that back.

On top of the $10 rebate from Kroger, another thing to consider is the fuel points. At a time when gas is still fairly high every cent at the pump counts. Since I purchased the $50 gift card I got 50 points towards the 100 needed for fuel, when I spent the gift card on my groceries I got the other 50 points needed to make the hundred and now I have $.10 a gallon off at the pump just for spending $50 that I would normally spend on groceries anyways(which will be $40 once I get my rebate). Kroger is also running a deal right now that if you purchase $100 worth of gift cards you will get $.40 a gallon off at the pump on your next fill up. Considering this is Christmas (yes I said CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holidays) time it should be pretty easy to spend $100 on gift cards to give out, and this is on any gift cards on their wall, not just Kroger branded ones and you can save quite a bit on a fill up.

These are all little things to consider while shopping. Some stores may try and outright say they have the lowest prices but you have to add in any extras that you can get depending on where you shop and also any loyalty bonuses, I.E. Kroger's will send out bonus coupons every once in a while and a lot of times they are very good coupons based on your shopping habits on your Kroger card. Both Kroger and Meijer's have online coupons that can be used at the register without printing them out, they just come off of you order if you use your Kroger card or at Meijer just enter your phone # that you attach to the website.