If you want to really take advantage of the gas deals, sometimes you have to be willing to buy several of the same items. Sometimes the deal is so good (ex. free or a money maker after coupons and gas) that even if it's something you don't need, you might buy anyway. You can give these items to people who can use them. If it's a product you use all the time you will wish you had bought more when you finally run out! Don't forget to ask yourself these questions: Can I use 20 cans of olives by 2018? Probably. Will we eat 30 boxes of granola bars by July? Maybe not.
You need to save all your Sunday paper coupon inserts. Don't clip the coupons yet. Write the date on the front and put them in a file. As you will see below, you can easily search a coupon database to find the coupons you need. You may also need to print some coupons. You can usually print 2 of each coupon per computer.
You can make these deals even better by using a credit card that offer rewards on your grocery purchases but you must pay your cards off each month to avoid paying interest.
You will be using your gas money to get free groceries or you will use your grocery money to get free gas. Look at it either way you want but you will be spending money on one to get the other free. I like to think that since we will need gas anyway, if I have to buy an item I normally wouldn't it's like a treat, donation or an opportunity to try something new.
Buy the correct items. Double check the ad and match the product on the shelf to the shelf tag and the ad. Check the sizes.
When you get your Giant flyer on Friday you may see something like this:
Save $0.40 per gallon (up to 25 gallons) when you buy any 8 participating items.
1. The first thing I do is determine how much gas I will receive for purchasing the required number of items. Multiple $0.40 by 25 gallons=$10.00 of free gas when you get 25 gallons. If you don't have a 25 gallon tank hopefully you have a truck and some gas cans to take full advantage. If not you will want to multiply $0.40 by XX gallons of gas you can get. Of course this will reduce your savings.
2. In this particular deal you will get $10 worth of gas for buying 8 items. Divide $10 by 8 items for $1.25 off each item.
3. Look at the price of each of the participating items and subtract $1.25. Here are a few examples from this week which, unfortunately, aren't nearly as great as some weeks.
Breyers Ice Cream $1.99-$1.25=$0.75 each.
Bandaids $2.99-$1.25=$1.74 each.
Minute Rice $1.69-$1.25=$0.44 each.
4. But wait! You can bring the price of some of these items down even further by pairing them with coupons. Go to a coupon database and search for a coupon that matches the item.
Take, for example, two items from above:
Bandaids $2.99-$1.25-$1.50/2 Coupons.com coupon=$0.99 each when you buy 2.
Minute Rice $1.69-$1.25-$1 (doubled) coupon from the 3/1 RedPlum newspaper insert=$0.56 Money Maker!
Become familiar with Giant's coupon policy. Some things to keep in mind: You can only use 16 identical coupons in one transaction. Only the first of identical coupons will double though lately they have all doubled. Some stores double up to $1 and some go higher.
If gas happened to be $2.80 per gallon today and you purchased 56 items, you would get a free fill-up. But you don't have to do that. Next week there will be another deal. Sometimes there are 2 deals. It may look like this:
Save $0.40 per gallon when you buy any 5 items
AND
Save $0.30 per gallon when you buy any 7 items
Gas points (100 points equal $0.10) expire at the end of the month following the month you earn them. So if you earn points on April 1st, you have until May 31st to use them. If you earn points on March 31st you have until April 30th to use them. Your receipt will tell you how many points you earned this visit, your total points and how many will expire at the end of the month. You can view them on-line too. I do this when I have a lot of receipts or can't remember when or if we used the points. If you earn $7 (7000 points) off per gallon and you fill up when gas is $3/gallon you will then have $4 per gallon for next time. You won't lose your points if you don't use them all unless they expire.
Don't forget your Giant Bonus Card when you shop and fill up!
