Kristen B’s Kroger Trip 10/6/20

Y’all, this picture is so artistic.

Pre-rumpus, I wrote many words about how we should all feel empowered to take our receipts back if we were charged incorrectly.

It feels like a literal lifetime ago, but my rallying cry was that you are paying money for these good and services. You deserve to pay the money that was advertised for the product in question. Cash registers and scanners and computers make mistakes. It’s okay to kindly, I cannot stress that kindly enough, bring the issue to the attention of the fine people at the Customer Service desk.

Now, I just made that point in less than 100 words, so if you’re a newer reader it may surprise you to know that coming to this conclusion took quite a few weeks and, subsequently, quite a few blogs. And by quite a few I mean like, 12. It was a 12 part series. It was pretty much a season of a television show. A television show about a nervous woman who has a very hard time making any kind of decision, who is terrified of confrontation of any stripe, and who must also buy food on a weekly basis. It’s called Kroger & KB and it airs sporadically.

We’re all on a journey and for a while, that was mine. Learning to assert myself, respectfully, in situations where I felt there had been a misunderstanding. The alternative was going home and crying about how I overpaid for my cereal or making my husband drive back with a package of chicken thighs and a receipt. Yeesh, y’all remember that? I got up to some hijinks.

But here we are, and I have grown and changed into the beautiful butterfly you see before you. Or have I?

See, when the rumpus began, I let the little mistakes slide. The coupon didn’t go through? I was overcharged for those canned tomatoes by $.20? Someone forgot to change a promotion sign and now I’m paying $76 for one onion? No problem! It’s all good. We’re all literally just trying to survive, so I am not out here freaking out about my budget. There were other things to freak out about. Remember those shopping trips in the early rumpus? With the food shortages and getting used to the masks and store employees literally working around the clock? Yeah, that was not the time for me to be asserting my little butterfly self at Customer Service. That was like the time to take your $76 onion and be glad there were onions to buy and people to charge you for them. Periodt. End of story.

But now we’re about nine months into the rumpus and  shopping circumstances are no longer new and they’re not quite as overwhelming. There are food shortages sometimes, but we cope. Things are a little more expensive than they were, but we cope. Store hours are back on a reliable schedule. Masks have become a fun way to talk myself without anyone hearing me. Our new normal has become…normal.

But I didn’t realize just how normal until this trip.

On this grocery trip, raspberries were advertised in the Weekly Ad for two 6 z containers for $4. When I got to the store, the sign said the same thing. I bought four containers. Y’all know where this is going. You’re smart people. While perusing the baby food options, Beech Nut Organic Pouches had a sign proclaiming them to be 10 for $10, or $1 a piece with a Kroger card. And you know my Kroger card might as well be tattooed over my heart, so I was ready to go. And before you ask, yes, I am sure it was for this particular item. The sign literally said, “Beechnut Organic Baby Food Pouches, 10 for $10, or $1 a piece with Kroger Card.”

I get to the register, I pay for my items, it seems a little higher than I was expecting, and then I do the same thing I do every week: hide in an alcove outside the entrance and scan my receipt. And what do mine eyes detect? I have been charged $2.99 for EACH raspberry containers. Sacré bleu! What should have cost $8 rang up as $11.96! And not only that, some of my Beechnut Organic Pouches rang up as $1.29. All told, it was a $5.12 overcharge.

Feeling less like a butterfly and more like the saddest little caterpillar, I slunk my way back in the store. At the Customer Service desk, I fought the urge to explain the situation in a whisper, reminding myself, in my head, that I was the same woman who spent literal months of her life learning to speak up for herself in grocery related matters. I could do this.

And I did.

And it was fine.

Actually, it was better than fine.

The lady at the desk was super nice. She walkied an employee on the floor, who confirmed that both signs were up. She apologized, I apologized, she told me I had nothing to apologize for, I thanked her, she credited my card, I thanked her again, she said no problem, and then I thanked her one more time for good measure. It took less time than it would for a chrysalis to harden.

The moral of the story, I think, is that the world is always going to change around us. But we can’t forget that we’ve changed, too. A butterfly doesn’t revert back to a caterpillar on rainy days. We can adapt to new circumstances without losing the progress we’ve made.

• Avocados (3)-$1.64. *Digital Coupon* for $.40 off combined with in-store sale of $.68 each.
• Bananas, 2 lb-$1.18.
• Beechnut Baby Food Pouches (7)-$7.
• Bell Peppers (5)-$4.95. In-store sale.
• Blue Cheese-$4.80.
• Boar’s Head Pepperoni, .75 lb-$5.93. *Digital Coupon* for $1 off Sliced Meats.
• Clementines, 3 lb-$2.97.
• Fuji Apples, 5.18 lb-$6.16.
• Gouda-$3. Manager’s Special!
• Heritage Farm Chicken Breasts, 4.54 lb -$9.05.
• Heritage Chicken Thighs, 8.10 lb-$6.24. In-store sale, $.77 per pound.
• Kroger Ground Turkey, 1 lb-$2.79. *Digital Coupon* for $1 off one pound.
• Kroger Sausage, 2 lb-$5.50. *Digital Coupon* for $.50 off.
• Mangoes (3) -$2.04.
• Private Selection Bread (2)-$2.88. *Digital Coupon* for $.50 off each loaf but then also another $.50 off coupon that I can’t make heads or tails of.
• Private Selection Honey Turkey, .75 lb-$6.31.
• Raspberries, pint (4)-$8.
• Red Leaf Lettuce, .68 lb-$1.15.
• Ribeyes Steaks-$12.54. These were on Manager’s Special and they were the exact same price, which means they were the exact same weight, which never happens. So I had to buy them. Date night!
• Red Gold Canned Tomatoes (2)-$2.
• Roma Tomato, 1.08 lb-$1.07.
• Salmon, 1.94 lb -$13.63.
• Shrimp, 2 lb-$11.54.
• Silk Almond Milk, .5 gal (2)-$3.80. *Digital Coupon* for $1.20 off two, bringing each half gallon to $1.90.
• Vidal Onions, 1.76 lb -$2.09.
• Best Customer Bonus! $13 off a purchase of $130 or more. Which is why I went so big this trip. But the best part is, the Best Customer Bonus comes off the total BEFORE coupons, so you essentially get to stack! Hooray!
• Apps I’ll submit to: Fetch Rewards, CoinOut, Ibotta ($.10 off Avocados)

                                       Total Budget: $98

                                       Total Spent: $118.26.

                                       Total Saved: $48.09

                                      Deducted from Next Week: $20.26.

Are you accustomed to the new normal? Have you found yourself slipping into old shopping habits? What have you been doing in instances where there are small mistakes? Tell me about your butterfly moments in the comments!

Kristen B. is wife to the best Prince around, mama to the spunkiest little princesses, and lover of all things Disney. She started her savings journey five years ago and is now dedicated to making her family’s wishes come true one coupon at a time. She is so excited to take her love of saving to the next level and share her journey with you! Click here to catch up on Kristen’s Savings and join in on your own savings adventure!