More Tips and Tricks

So if you've been shopping at Albertson's this week, you've probably found yourself doing numerous transactions in order to take advantage of all the catalinas available in addition to the sales this week. After having done these big sales a few time, and doing numerous transaction at each, I've come up with a few ideas that work well to help me get organized, keep things organized while I'm at the store, and help me get through the checkout as quickly as possible. I thought now might be a good time to share these ideas with you so that you can try them, if you're interested. Here they are:

1. The first thing I do when I'm getting things ready for a big sale like this is to put all of my transactions into a spreadsheet. That way it's easy to list things out, move things around, and then just print it right before you go. It also helps you make sure you have the right amount of items or the right amount of money per transaction in order to trigger the catalinas to print. Here's what my spreadsheet looked like for my shopping trip this week:

(This only has my first 3 transactions - I did 5 total - but I didn't want to shrink it down any further and make it more difficult to read. If you have problems reading it, click on the picture to see it larger.)

I like having my list looking like this when I head to the store. First of all, I know exactly what I'm putting in each transaction. Secondly, I have all coupons and catalina's I'm planning to use listed for each transaction. Third, I have all of the totals for each transaction. This one is really useful because I can look at the final value and compare it to the final total the cashier tells me and know right away whether everything rang up and was deducted correctly. If I'm off by 50 cents or less, I usually let it go - to me it's not worth arguing over that little. but if it's more than that, then I usually have the cashier look it over to make sure everything rings up correctly.

Now, if you're not a computer or spreadsheet person, don't panic. There is absolutely NOTHING WRONG with writing it out or having it in some other format. Personally, I'm a computer person and I can type faster than I can write, so I like the spreadsheet format. I also like being able to move things around easily. Plus, it's a good starting point for the next week's list. Either way, having it all organized and separated is a big organizational tool when having multiple items or transactions.

One thing I want to mention is about the way the tax is calculated. Since coupons and catalinas are treated as a portion of your payment, the tax is actually calculated based on your sale total, before either coupons or catalinas are subtracted. So when you are figuring things up, don't forget that you need to calculated it based on that amount. Here in Utah, tax on food is 3%, it probably varies in different states.

By the way, if you're interested in getting a copy of this spreadsheet, just leave me a comment with your email address or email me at jjzhawks@hotmail.com and I'd be happy to send it to you. Don't feel that you have to use it just as is, feel free to edit and make it more suitable to you and your style - this is just the format that works the best for me.

2. Once you get your transactions all separated out and coupons clipped, store the coupons for each transaction together. For me, it has worked to put all of my coupons from one transaction together and paper clip them with a little piece of paper indicating which transaction it is - like a little piece of paper with the #1 on it. That way if you accidentally drop your coupons or rearrange your transactions last minute, you won't get confused which coupons go with which transaction.

3. Get yourself some reusable shopping bags and put each transaction into it's own separate bag. This may seem strange that you are "bagging" your groceries before you even pay, but let me tell you that this is the best thing when having multiple transactions. If you have everything from one transaction in one bag and the coupons paper clipped together and attached to the handle of the bag, the checkout process is fast and easy. In fact, I've been told by my favorite cashier at Albertson's that doing things that way is the best idea she's seen in getting through the checkout quickly and easily.

There are a couple of ways to do this. Either you can go around the store and put everything you want to buy into your basket, then find a quiet and non-busy aisle and organize everything into the bags (I do this when I'm worried about getting everything I want or if the store is really busy). Or you can open your bags in your cart and then sort the items into the bags as you pick them up in the store.

Prior to this little idea I had, I would usually pull up to the checkout, try and organize my transactions on the little checkout turn-table and wouldn't even be paying attention to what the cashier was doing, if things were ringing up right, and then I would hurry and have to pull out my coupons, pay, then head back and keep organizing. Since I came up with this little idea of using the reusable shopping bags, I have been so much less stressed at the checkout and it's been so easy to throw up the bags with each transaction (and with coupons clipped to it), then I can stand there and watch the items ring up and make sure everythng is as it should be.

One thing I want to caution you about is the appearance of what you might be doing. I really don't think that anyone would think anything sinister is going on if you are careful not to give any impression of being dishonest. For me, that means that I stay away from corners of the store and the doors. The first time I tried this, I was worried they would think I was trying to steal all of these groceries without paying. So I was careful to stay in full view of the checkout once I had everything organized in my bags. Luckily for me, the cashier that works at my Albertson's knows me and now knows why I use these bags and knows that I'm not up to anything dishonest. Just something to keep in mind.

These are just a few little tips and tricks that I use when I have multiple transactions or a ton of coupons. This last week, using the 3 items above, I was able to organize and clip my coupons in about an hour. Then I was at the store for less than 30 minutes - that included time spent picking up my items, sorting them into bags, and checking out - with 5 transactions. I really believe that if you are organized and use every available thing you can to make it quick and painless, it will be, for you and for the cashier (and I know they appreciate that).

Hope you are able to use some of the tips and tricks above - again feel free to tailor them to your own style and preference. May you all have speedy and stress-free experiences.