Grocery Roundup, Aug 15 - trying new things

This week I went to my favorite grocery store, across town, because it has the nicest produce and best selection. It's not as inexpensive as the one right near me, but since what I needed this time was primarily packable lunch foods, fruits, veggies, and frozen/dairy (rather than paper goods, meats and cleaning products), I was more interested in choice rather than price. Plus, frankly, it's just a nicer store.

Their gas points are calculated on a different basis than the cheaper store, however. Nicer store adds to your total for every dollar you spend, regardless of the amount you spend (you get a dime off per 100 points). Cheaper store gives a flat $.10 per every $50. Thus, you can get more off your gas at Cheaper store, IF you shop in $50 increments, because it's not pro-rated, so if you stop in after school to get pizzas and some soda, and spend $25, you get nothing at cheaper store, whereas Nicer store would give you 25 points. Plus, Nicer store runs promotions where if you buy a certain number of things, or mixture of items, you can get bonus gas points added to your total. So, it ends up being about the same in the end.

Here's the New Thing I tried this week: Nicer Store offers the option to scan and bag your groceries as you shop. You get the hand scanner at a kiosk where you also scan in your bonus card, so they're linked right away. I really, really liked it! It was fun, and I knew exactly what I was spending as I went through the store. I packed my own stuff, so it was all grouped how I wanted it to be, and packed neatly rather than thrown in there by some schmuck. When I was done with my trip, I went to a self checkout line, scanned a bar code on the machine that said 'Order Complete', and all my info was loaded into the register. Then, I scanned in my own coupons, paid, and left. I didn't have to unload my whole cart at the register! This is a huge improvement in the speed department, since checkout typically takes at least ten minutes, plus time to wait for whoever is in front of me. Apparently, they do audit random people, or if they're suspicious (like if you scanned all your produce as bananas, I guess), but otherwise it's really faster and more pleasant all around. I will do this all the time from now on.

Without further ado, here you go:

Nicer Store Totals:

Total Before Savings: $323.18

Coupons Used: 21 (11 of which were doubled)
Coupon Savings: $24
Bonus card / sale savings: $39.48
Total Saved: $63.48
Total Items Purchased: 110

Total After Savings: $261.45
Percent Saved: 20%
Average Price Per Item: $2.37

YTD Savings (Bonus Card Only): $240.24 (I've only shopped there 3-4 times so far this year.)

Gas Points Earned: 478 (323 + extra earned via promotions)
Total Gas Points Earned this Earnings Period: 844 (this translates into $.80 per gallon, plus I'm $56 away from earning another dime off).

This particular earnings period ends 9/19, and then a new one will begin. I *should* have earned a free tank of gas by then.