Ingles Triples: Spent $25.58, Saved 67%

Well, I'm back from my first "triple coupon" event at Ingles and honestly? I'm not sure it's worth all that WORK. I spent a good HOUR in the store, maybe a bit more actually, checking and double-checking my math ...

I had a list all figured out beforehand where my total before coupons/tax was about $52. This would allow me to triple 15 coupons, most of the items being free or under 50 cents. I also had coupons that would not triple (over $0.50) for a lot of the other items to get me to that total but still keep my out of pocket cost under $20. There were several free or cheap items that were GONE, if you can believe it, and others that I just couldn't find. I did a quick tally and my total had gone down to $38. I didn't want to bother with a raincheck b/c I don't shop Ingles that often, so I did the best I could to fill in the blanks. (This is where having ALL your coupons with you is a lifesaver!)

Total BEFORE Coupons/Sale: $77.12

AFTER Coupons: $25.58



The other thing is that it DOES take a loooooooong time to check out. I'm not sure that the cashiers don't have to manually double AND triple all the coupons, b/c it just took forever. My cashiers were pretty young but patient and polite. I will note that I WAS able to triple coupons that said "Do not double or triple" on top and I DID get overages on my triples. Still.... I think I'll wait for Publix to come here before trying tripling again.

Here's what I got:
(2) CoffeeMate Single Serve Packets (BOGO coupon)
(2) French's Fried Onions (tripled both)
(1) Dunbars Roasted Red Peppers (tripled)
(1) Dukes Mayonnaise
(2) Betty Crocker Mini Warm Delights (tripled both)
(2) Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad (tripled both)
(1) Hormel Compleats
(1) Mahatma Brown Rice (tripled)
(1) Mahatma White Rice
(1) Weber Grilling Marinade (tripled)
(2) CoffeeMate Flavored Liquid Creamer (tripled both)
(1) Reddi Whip (triple)
(1) Skim Milk
(1) Glade Sense & Spray Starter kit
(1) Cascade Rinse Agent
(1) Glass Plus w/ Jet Dry (tripled)
(1) Suave Body Wash (tripled)
(1) Whiskas Temptations (tripled)
(1) Post Trail Mix Crunch (got to use the $2 coupon that expires today!)
(1) Country Style Pork Ribs
(2) Tyson Boneless Chicken Tenderloins
(1) Whole Catfish
(1) Potatos, 5 lbs

If you're going to try Ingles this week, make your list, take ALL your coupons and be prepared to make some back up purchases just in case.

Overall, it wasn't a bad trip but for time's sake, and I DID also manage to get a couple more meats in there by only going a few $ over my projected estimate. But... give me Kroger anyday.

More Info on Ingles for Triple Week

I haven't had time to get to the store yet but I'm busy putting my list together and gathering tips/deals from various matchups. UPDATE: You can get lists of matchups HERE, HERE, and HERE (thanks CouponMommie, Southern Savers, and Saving Your Cents).

Also, here's an updated review of Ingles coupon policies with special regard to triples, AND a link to Gabrielle at Couponing in Critical Times who posted some tips for shopping Ingles this week and in general. In reviewing the blogs I learned a few new things, too (but then I didn't much bother with Ingles for coupons either). It ain't Kroger b/c of that 3 for every $10 spent rule, but it's workable.

• Ingles will only TRIPLE coupons that are $0.50 or less (maximum savings of $1.50). This is the same cap as for doubling. Anything $0.51 or over will not triple OR double; during Triples week, doubling is essentially replaced by tripling. I also read on Saving Your Cents that some Ingles will not triple $0.50/2 coupons... This may be a case of how YMMV b/c I'm pretty sure I've never had problems with those coupons doubling in the past...
  
  
• As with their regular doubling during the rest of the year, Ingles will only TRIPLE 3 coupons for every $10 spent (that's $10 BEFORE tax and BEFORE coupons are applied... So if you have 4 items that are $2.50 each before ANY coupons or tax, you could apply 3 "triple-able" $0.50 coupons toward that batch of items). When you have $20 in total items, you can triple 6 coupons, $30 lets you triple 9, and so on.
  
  
• UNLIKE with Kroger, Ingles' published policy on triples is that you will only receive up TO the value of the item (i.e. Item "A" costs $1.25 and you have a $0.50 coupon... the coupon will triple & you'll get that item FREE, but the extra $0.25 generated by the triple just disappears into a black hole; it is not applied to the rest of your total purchase like at Kroger). Which means no "overage" savings. Now, Gabrielle over at Couponing in Critical Times reported that she DID get the overages on her triples this week... but I'm not going to bank on it. I'll just be pleasantly surprised that way. :-)
  
  
• You CAN use coupons for your other items, so long as they don't qualify for tripling. There is no limit that I'm aware of on non-triple coupons, so this is a good time to get out those $0.75 and $1.00 coupons!
  
  
• In order to "work" around the 3 coupons/$10 rule you will need to put forth some effort and keep track of how much you're tallying up BEFORE coupons. Supposedly not all Ingles are strict about the 3/$10 rule... but better to err on the side of them holding to that rule. To keep myself from overspending at the store, I personally go through the ad and matchups before shopping and make a list in MS Excel. I highlight all the items that I'd like to buy that should be free or close to it with a triple coupon. I make a column for the pre-coupon price and I get it to "sum" up as I add items. Once I have my list, I try not to deviate unless I'm adding items that don't use a triple coupon.
  
  
• Another trick to ensure you don't get caught by the 3/$10 rule is to plan to make some other non-coupon purchases like meats, fish, or produce. I like Ingles' seasoned fish section, and they also tend to have Pepsi fridge packs on a decent sale (which I never get coupons for despite being in the Xtras club... grr). I'll buy 4-5 of those at a time and that's $12 right there, allowing me another 3 tripled coupons.
  
  
• When at the store... DO NOT use the self-check out lane! I never would just because the purpose of those lanes is for people to get in/out quickly, and I'd hate to tie up one cashier who's overseeing 4 "lanes" with my stack of coupons. But I didn't realize that Ingles has to manually triple coupons for this event; so if you don't go through a regular line, you don't get triple value.
  

Saving Your Cents has a really good "scenario" for how she's going to work Ingles this week to show how to combine triple coupons and buy enough "extra" to get your total purchase up BUT STILL spend as LITTLE out of pocket as possible. Be sure to check it out! If I have time I'll post up my plan later...

TRIPLE Coupons at Ingles!

The local Ingles is having a TRIPLE coupon event this week! This is the first time any store around me has done a triple coupon week, so I'm pretty excited. Still..... It's Ingles. Ingles has a rule of not doubling more than 3 coupons for every $10 you spend and that same rule applies to tripling, I'm sure. Of course, that $10 is before any other coupons, so as long as you're careful, deals are doable.

Jennifer at Coupon Mommie has a selection of matchups already and I'm already copying a few down for my list! Go here to check them out. Also, Saving Your Cents should have a list of matchups coming as well but it probably won't be for another couple of days. I'm not sure if there will be a lot of unadvertised deals like Kroger normally has, but I'm hoping so. The ad in the paper looked good, but not fantastic.



Speaking of Kroger, they are continuing their MegaSale through this week so if there are any deals you didn't get in on, there's still time. I'll probably be focusing on Ingles this week myself. Now that I'm doing CVS on a regular basis I can only handle one other store at a time!