Anybody got any plans for their economic stimulus check?
I see Krogers has a deal that if you take it and buy a Krogers gift certificate they'll match it for 10%.
If you shop at krogers anyway, that's not a bad return on your investment
Plans for your tax rebate?
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In truth, theyre based in ohio AND a union store, who buys their produce locally when available, so your whining is kind of moot.
And they actually PAY their employees. Imagine that.
I think I am going to get some new carpet with my check. I actually had it deposited yesterday to my surprise.
Char, I'm not sure what you're basing your rant on. I shop at Krogers and the Broadway Market for 99% of my food. I see food-freshness problems at both, but it's not terrible since you can just choose to avoid that tiny minority of items. As for prices, most things I buy (single person cooking) are cheaper at Krogers, but I still buy some of them at Broadway for more money by choice.
True, overall sending your money to Cincinnati is a worse deal than sending your money to the owner of Broadway Market. But Krogers is a solid employer in Toledo, and the owner of the Broadway Market could be some asshole who sends his money to Lebanon all the time. As a major grocer based in Ohio, I spend at Krogers without complaint (now that I devote a portion of my budget to the local grocer).
One thing I get at Broadway is the avacado. They're 79c, whereas Krogers has them at $2.00. Sure, they're a little smaller than the Krogers offering, and rarely (as with Krogers) the batch of avacadoes is dried and useless ... but overall they're a better deal.
However, I find myself spending more money for things like olives, eggs and cheese at Broadway. Again, I'm choosing to spend my money there as an expression of local support, so I'm not bothered. I'm also continuing to lose weight (just made my 2nd hole-cut in my belt for a snugger fit, in just under a year). I figured that if I was going to eat less, I ought to eat better, hence spending more money per serving on food was workable.
About the only thing I have trouble with at Krogers is the "market timing" issue. They play games with prices. Take my favorite Muenster cheese, for instance. Krogers tends to keep the price at an un-buy-able $4.45 for some time. Then, it drops the price to $3.29 for a short period. Granted, I should eat less cheese, and ever since milk product pricing rose hugely, I did stop eating all that cheese ... but these price swings at Krogers are silly and I feel as though they're treating me like a child with trying to game me with price timing.
I've adapted to the price games by simply eating less. Americans are too lardly anyway, so it's not like that's a bad thing in all dimensions. The people who are suffering are those who are trying to feed piles of children. It's going to be a terrible blow when they finally realize that they can't just feed those kids whatever they wish. Children will have to go onto the same rationing system that I've setup, and as such, they're not going to end up at my corn- and beef-fed size with such frequency.
I dont know about the other Krogers but the new one on Suder sucks. When they were still open on summit they were smaller sure, but they had a decent selection of brands. Now sure they sell furniture and other misc crap, but the selection of brands has dwindled to near no choice, Unless Kroger brand is your choice. And just look in the cereal aisle if you want to see them try to trick you to buy Kroger brand stuff. Used to be named brands on the middle shelves and generic / Kroger brand on the bottom, now they are placed side by side and the boxes look the same. Guess you have to be tricked into buying their brand.
posted by Linecrosser on Apr 29, 2008 at 01:23:20 pm #
I sure wish that a independand food store or small food chain would come to the old Kroger place on Summit street. From what i hear they still hold the lease till like November this year, guess they are trying to be sure nothing moved in to give them competition.
posted by Linecrosser on Apr 29, 2008 at 01:26:04 pm #
"Anybody got any plans for their economic stimulus check?"
We'll use it to help pay our share of Toledo's 25-year-old, temporary 3/4% payroll tax that voters thoughtfully renewed last month.
Ours is going straight back to Uncle Sam.
posted by jhostetler on Apr 29, 2008 at 02:24:26 pm #
Linecrosser, I love the new Kroger on Suder. As far as the cereal boxes go, that strategy is hardly new and is not meant to trick the consumer, but to give them an option. If people are buying Kroger brand by accident that sounds like their problem.
Also, the Summit Street store is near collapse. That is part of the reason they built a new one. That and the fact that the old one on Suder had a non-compete clause in their lease that they could not have a pharmacy due to Rite Aid being across the street.
Guest Zero - regarding the price cycles for groceries:
All chain stores tend to run in 12 week price cycles. That cheese you mentioned is going to be on sale at the "rock bottom" price once every 12 weeks.
If you pay attention to the cycles, you can really maximize your grocery budget. To shop most efficiently, you can stock up on any items that can be stored for 12 weeks while they are at their "rock bottom" price for the cycle. (Not going to work for your cheese, of course, but any staples, canned goods, cereals, etc. can be purchased using that philosophy.)
Kroger follows the sale trends about the same as the national average...if you play the game and follow the sales cycles, Kroger is a huge bargain.
You could "invest" (I like it when people use the word incorrectly.... so savvy) your money into a nice garden. The dividends taste better than anything at Krogz.
Jesus will water and sun it for you.
Thanks, mom2. I never sat down and figured out if there was a cycle. I'd just tend to stop by with a mental list of "have to get" and "want to get" and "want to get if the price is low enough", and fill those categories as I encounter items in the aisles. If something was too expensive and wasn't a staple (like cheese), then I just didn't buy it.
Why is the sales cycle 12 weeks long?
Char, you'd be hard pressed to explain that a garden is an investment, since the yuppies and their many poseurs always argue that time spent gardening could be better spent at a 2nd or 3rd job (as per-hour income). Of course, they then largely don't get those other jobs, and they still don't garden, and prefer to spend time with entertainwaste.
I'm going to use ours to get hubby all new garage workbenches, cabinets etc. We've lived in this house 34 years. We've redone,remodeled or reworked the entire house including the landscaping but never taken care of the garage. It's his turn. So, I guess we'll stimulate the economy via Sears.
I'm buying a hitch for my truck so I can pull my pop-up camper without it's tail end dragging. The rest is going to credit card bills.
posted by hunkytownsausage on Apr 29, 2008 at 08:41:18 pm #
GZ - to tell you the truth, I'm not sure why stores tend to use the 12 week cycles. Perhaps they figure that's a long enough block of time that the average person won't stock up, so more people will pay full retail price?
I stock up on anything that's feasible to stock up on while its at the lowest sale price in the cycle.
If I know that we're going to go through 5 boxes of cereal in 12 weeks, then I might as well buy 5 boxes at the lowest sale price. (Unopened cereal has a long shelf life.) Why buy 1 box on sale, then pay full price for 4 more within the next few weeks?
Using my money efficiently for the stuff that's stockpile-able leaves more each week for me to spend on perishables...fresh produce, milk, cheese, etc.
I also have a chest freezer in the garage. I only buy meats when they are are sale at a good price and stock up then. Saves a good chunk of money that way too, without resorting to the cheapest cuts of meat and/or cutting back on meat entirely.
Some of our friends/family used to laugh at me for my grocery buying habits, because I didn't "need" to shop like that. But instead of chuckling at me now that food prices are rising, they're asking me for pointers. lol
There's a lot of info about grocery budgeting and sale cycles on the web...here's one quick summary, but you can find plenty of others too.
http://www.koat.com/asseenon/15984361/detail.html
P.S. Sorry for the thread hijack. To stay on topic...our "frivolous" expense from the tax rebate is to take our kids to Greenfield Village for the Thomas the Tank Engine event. (Kids and parents get to take a half hour ride on a full sized Thomas train - it will probably be the highlight of my kids year. lol) The rest is going into savings.
Me and the wife have a garden every year. We will be getting a pretty good check back, so I think we will take a vacation somewhere and take my mom with us. Not sure where yet,but it won't be in ohio or any surrounding states.
posted by camaroman2125 on Apr 29, 2008 at 09:37:29 pm #
We don't have room for a garden. I'd put one in if we did...was thinking about growing a few tomato plants in pots anyhow.
My parents have always had a huge garden...spent lots of time pulling weeds, snipping beans, shucking corn, etc. as a kid. I wouldn't mind putting the work into a big garden if we had the space - my kids are still at the age where helping would be fun for them.
I do get lots of free vegetables from my parents garden though. Dad still hasn't scaled back on the garden size even though its just him and mom at home now. :)
mom2 - if you havnt yet, try Costco. I don't do "warehouse clubs". Never would pay to shop at Sam's. But Costco impressed me. Even got my glasses there and saved literally hundreds even with getting designer frames. It's just my husband and me but we still find shopping there a value. Never thought I'd say that about a warehouse club.
I'd just tend to stop by with a mental list of "have to get" and "want to get" and "want to get if the price is low enough", and fill those categories as I encounter items in the aisles. If something was too expensive and wasn't a staple (like cheese), then I just didn't buy it.
I usually do that myself. I'll have my grocery list, and some items will usually be labled, "... if on sale."
As for my stimulus check, I think I'll let about $100 get absorbed into my checking account to help offset my increasing food and fuel costs, and with the rest I'll make a credit card payment that'll wipe out a good chunk of my revolving debt.
I've been considering what to do with our stimulus check. I think it will be one or more of the following: fix our basement, buy a new couch, send to the credit card company or kid's college fund, or buying a Nintendo Wii.
-
More than likely, damned car repair, which seems neverending.
Word, Darkseid, word.
I "paid off" my car loan eight months ago. No kidding, the minute my last payment went through, my car started to fall apart. Since then, I've spent around $900.00 on repairs. Funny how having no car payment has not turned out to be the salvage of my checking account that I thought it would be!
I believe it. You think every time, this has to be it, there can't possibly be anything else. But that was only true with the older cars. Welcome to the age of sensors, relays, etc. We need motor mounts on her ford-now I about shit when they gave us the estimate-THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS!! I was under the assumption that motor mounts were still just a big, solid piece of rubber for cushioning and allowing torque. Ah, but no-most newer vehicles take FLUID in the motor mounts-they're more like shock absorbers than the old style mounts.
"or buying a Nintendo Wii."
Sounds good to me, I love my Wii :)
I think I'll buy three foreclosures in the 43607 zip, rent them out to Section 8 people and triple my money via the government. MMMMUUUUWWWWAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHA.
posted by muddyriverduck on May 01, 2008 at 11:23:52 pm #
'Smatter, Darkseid? Can't you replace motor mounts yourself? You and many other Americans are going to have to resort to more and more car maintenance by yourselves since the shop prices are too large for the marginal benefits to be had for each tiny piece that needs to be fixed. Take a heater core, for instance. Some models require 6 or more hours just for the labor, which means at least $300. The heater core itself is rarely above $50.
There's something basically wrong with paying somebody $300 to replace a $50 part. That's the BASIC ATTITUDE that seems to be missing from most of the American populace.
Here's another funny thing about all that: The public library is chock-full of automotive repair books where you can just go step-by-step and repair the blasted thing yourself. We seem to have millions of Americans who go to Home Depots and Auto Zones yet don't take full advantage of the stock of tools in those stores. Those same millions seem to have garages and spare time, too. Blarg, it's just a pet peeve of mine.
Do you work for teh Krogz?
I thought they were the quasi-communist monolith lacking decent fresh food at not so great prices.
A better return on your "spending" would be trying something from one the many local markets.... that whole buy local thing.
posted by charlatan on Apr 29, 2008 at 09:42:39 am #