Someone recently asked me what my favorite grocery store was and I didn't have to think twice before answering...Fry's. There are many reasons why this is my grocer of choice and I am so grateful that one was recently built by our "new old house" that we just moved back into!
One of the first reasons I love Fry's is their pharmacy. One of the benefits of having a chronic illness and having frequent prescriptions is that I'm almost always able to make money when I have to fill a prescription. Here's why - there are many coupons for $25 for a new or transferred prescriptions from CVS, Walgreens, Safeway, etc. Fry's will honor their competitor's coupons, so rather than truly having to switch my scripts every month, they honor the coupon. Check with your pharmacy as every manager is different. With insurance, most of my scripts cost around $10. So, I pay $10 for my prescription and they load my Fry's VIP card with a $25 credit for keeping my business there. Gotta love that!
The other reason is Fry's is an everyday low cost operator meaning that they keep most of their prices fairly low all of the time. Other grocery stores have more expensive everyday prices for most of their items and offer awesome sales on a few items to hopefully draw people to do all their shopping there and spend more at the end. This strategy works for the uninformed, but consider yourselves all informed now :) I used to do all my grocery shopping at wal-mart but I found that I always caught myself wandering into the clothing dept or the baby dept, and I always left the store with a cart full of things that weren't on my list and that broke my budget. Plus, Wal-mart doesn't double coupons and I use coupons so frequently that often times I get things for free. Prime example, last week, Cottonelle toilet paper was on sale at Fry's for $0.99. There is a coupon available for $0.50 off. After Fry's doubles my coupon up to $1.00, they've actually paid me a penny to take a 4 pack of toilet paper. So, I stock up on these coupons and tonight I came home with 7 4-packs of toilet paper for free!
To give you an idea of my savings, the original cost of what I bought tonight was $171. I used my VIP card which gave me a savings of $67. Then I used manufacturer's coupons (what come in the sunday paper) worth $25 and Fry's double coupon policy saved me an additional $9. My total savings was $102 and my final bill out the door was $69, for a savings of 59%!!! It would have been $44 but I forgot my prescription coupon at home so I'll simply use that $25 credit on my next shopping trip. See how it all adds up? This is how our family is able to keep our pantry fully stocked with all the goodies and treats for approx $150 to $200 a month total! I'll give you more tips as we go but hopefully this has convinced you of the value of couponing!
