Triple Mega Mania Managed

This week many stores are starting or continuing mega sales of buy 10 participating items get $5 off. Kroger, Hollywood, and VG's are 3 of them. After doing all my planning and coupon gathering for a day and a half at least I finally got out the door today at about 4 pm. My plan was to at least go to one Kroger and then to Hollywood Market and then if there was time go to another Kroger. Reason being that as a Kroger employee I don't want to do multiple transactions in one store at one time and I had more than 3 coupons or similar coupons for some of my items and didn't want them being taken for some items and not for others. Especially since some of them were on my card. I like to be able to check the receipt to see if it took the digital off.

What I have below is the actual printed list I used to help me this time. I sorted my coupons into little 10 item groups rather than by aisle or category. What is shown is the item and the quantity. Every item I bought today had some sort of coupon used. And all except for the carrots were part of a mega 10 item combo sale. I did go to Kroger at 25 Mile & Dequinder, Hollywood at Rochester & Tienken (25 Mile continued in the next county), and then Kroger at Walton & Livernois. It turns out that this printout saved me a ton of time. I was only in the first store about 1:20 and I had plenty of time to drop in to the other two stores. I have a planned VG's trip added on that I plan to do before the end of the week since I found some more coupons to give me 10 items there.

At the first store before she started scanning my coupons my total was $112.97.
My total below for the 3 stores after coupons is $112.05

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ KROGER 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maxwell House Coffee - 1
Pebbles Cereal - 1
Ragu - 6
Philadelphia Cream Cheese - 1
Northern 12 pk - 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mom's Cereal - 2
Birds Eye Frozen Vegetables - 6
New York Knots - 1
New York Garlic Toast - 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hormel Chili - 6
Armour Meatballs - 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hunts Tomatoes - 9
Hidden Valley Ranch - 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Franks Red Hot Buffalo - 1
Franks Red Hot Thick - 2
French's Yellow Mustard - 3
French’s Honey Mustard - 3
Kraft Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese - 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kroger Mini Carrots - 2

52 items - $67.74


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HOLLYWOOD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A1 - 2
Kraft Homestyle - 6
Kraft Parm Cheese - 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kraft Dressing - 6
Planters PB - 4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
20 Items - $24.44

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ KROGER 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ragu - 2
French's Dijon - 2
French's Horseradish Mustard - 2
French's Spicy Brown - 2
French’s Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce - 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Franks Red Hot - Buffalo - 1
Franks Red Hot - Hot Buffalo - 2
Franks Red Hot - BBQ - 1
Franks Red Hot - Sweet Chili - 2
Heluva Good Dip - 3
Planters Peanuts - 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
20 Items - $19.87

3 Store Total = 92 Items for $112.05

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VG's - Planned trip ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kraft Shredded Cheese - 4
-$2
$5.96 for 4

A.1. Steak Sauce - 1
-$1
$1.49 for 1

Hellmann’s Mayo - 3
-$1.50
$5.97 for 3

Velveeta Cheesy Skillets - 2
-$2
$0.98 for 2

Should be
10 Items - $14.40 total

Thanks for reading.
I appreciate it.

It was double fun while it lasted but VG's is not as Very Good as it was

If you are not aware many of the VG's stores will have a change on their coupon policy this coming weekend Aug 14th. Many stores are dropping the $1 doubling and going down to 50 cent doubling and may have some other changes. I have not been to the store myself to read any posted signs but have been reading other blogs as well as VG's Facebook page. Nothing official is being posted on the FB page but there are many customers leaving feedback. I've also asked a few questions only to be ignored. Has VG's lost me as a customer? Not yet. But they have basically taken me back to where I was a few weeks ago when I started this. I thought that VG's was a 50 cent doubler and was going to simply compare them to the other stores in my area. They kinda had me on the bandwagon a bit with the $1 doubles and took my attention away from another local store, Hollywood Market which is a 50 center. On some of the posts it says that the stores are saying that its a corporate decision but I wonder if that means VG's corporate or Spartan stores?

So here's the bottom line. I spent money on a printer. The store that gets my business will be the one that still takes printable coupons. VG's was spoiling people by not only taking them but doubling some. I'll consider myself lucky that I had a handful doubled when I didn't know they would be.

I've been on a break as far as shopping trips. I've still been collecting my 3 papers worth each week. I'm going to have to weed through my coupons though. I'm sure half of what I printed is expired by now. Which is keeping me from scratching the itch to print more until I'm actually going to use them. Those limited time prints on FB pages are tempting but no sense winning if I'm not getting the prize cashed in.

I also want to say that Hollywood Market seems to respond well to people on their FB page.