My Kroger story is long overdue.
( This happened in early January)
I went to Kroger to do my grocery shopping ( I love Kroger for food and gas). This time I used the envelope method ( I will explain this another time) and took $40.00 cash that I intended to spend instead of using plastic. When I go shopping I always have a shopping list. This time I took it a step further and had actual meals planned out. On my list I also put the prices of the items down as I place them in my cart. This allows me to track my spending so that I don’t go over budget. When I list things I usually round up( guesstimate) to make sure that taxes are covered ( I do not want to be surprised when I get to the register lol).
Right before my list was complete I did a quick check by adding the items up that I already had in my cart. I realized that I was over. After looking at my list again I saw that I had things on my list that I could do without. I had a couple of junk food items that I did not need. I love my Little Debbie Cakes so I could not put those down. I went over needs vs wants a couple of times and my wants won the battle. I figure I might as well purchase a pack of swiss rolls now rather than buy them from the store individually later lol. I also had Real Lemon juice ( for lemonade) and Tea so I put the Real Lemon Juice back. I figure I could do with out one until the next grocery trip.
I figured I was only about $3 over so what the heck. I thought I could use the money from somewhere else since I did have some extra money on me at the time. I was feeling guilty all the way to the register because I had good intentions to only use $40.00 I intended to use.
Well I got in line to check out and then the manager told me to go into the 15 items or less line. I had well over 15 items but Kroger has this new thing where you don’t have to wait in line so you can go to any register.
So I go the register and I start to unload my cart. I realize that no one is there to start my check out. I look around and I see two young employees talking. One of the girls EVENTUALLY comes over and starts to check me out. At this point all of my stuff is on the belt. She did not ask for my savings card she just started scanning. Im looking at my total and I’m like why are these Groceries over $50.00!!!!! I had to stop her to give her the card and she is like “oh”. I didnt say anything I just looked at her. This took me down to 45.00. Im still confused because I calculated that I was over by $3.00 and not $5.00.
When I got to my car something told me to check my receipt. I got a lot of deals so I ended up with a agood amount of food. Everything seemed to be on point but the last item which were my Oranges!!! They were on my receipt they were listed as $4.19 but I had them down on my list as $3.10 ( my guesstimated price). I would not have purchased them if I had to pay $4.19.
I went back into the store with my oranges and looked at the price again. I saw that what I had down was right. So then I went to customer service. This took FOOREVVVERR. I stood up there for about 15-20 min. The lady behind the counter messed up someone else’s stuff so she just kept apologizing. Someone else finally came and helped the other customers out.
The customer service worker took my receipt and went to look at the price herself. When she came back she stated that someone had the sign wrong and it was suppose to be $4.19. Mind you this sign was not written. It was typed, big, and bold. There was no fuss about it though. At this point I thought that she would just give me the difference back or give me a refund.
To my surprise she gave me all of my money back that I paid for the Oranges and allowed me to keep the Oranges. I was happy LOL.
So in the end I actually did okay…Yeah I would have still been over $1 or$2 but I have a lot of room for improvement. Next time I will be under my limit lol.
On the upside:
Kroger allows you to go on their website to add coupons to your Kroger card. You can also see the weekly ad for the current week as well as the following week.
Frgual Tip: Use Coupons ( I didnt see any that I could use so I didn’t use them this time)
Frugal Tip: Plan your meals out before grocery shopping
Frugal Tip: Take a list with you
Frugal Tip: Determine Needs VS Wants