Ok for those of you wanting to save money I have discovered a way to get more bang for my buck using giftcard purchases.  It just requires a little preplanning…ok put your seatbelts on…here we go.

Benefits:  Giftcards earn you double points for gas at Kroger (or its family of stores).  Occassionally (like now through 6/18) they sometimes run promotions so right now for fathers day you get 4x's the points!!!!  Ok there are restrictions on the promotions.  They don't count on kroger cards or on refill cards (those without denominations), but shoot stock up on your restaurant cards during this promotion…especially if you eat at a specific place a lot.  By using this method, you get the same items but get up to $1.00 off the price of the gallon at the tank (i.e., 1000 points = $1.00 off your price per gallon!).  

Cons:  You have to think ahead and you do use a lot of plastic (the cards are plastic, haven't tested if I just refill a card vs. repurchasing).  I haven't run into this but the website says it won't count Kroger giftcards towards your points, but I bought one yesterday and it did sooooo it may be dependant upon the store.  I would suggest doing a test and see.  Purchase one the next time you are going to buy grocery (prior to buying grocery) and see if you accumulate points.  Locate the Kroger locations with a gas station, it may be worth driving out of your way once a week.

Here's how you do it:

1.  Determine where you need to shop for the week and how much you THINK you will spend at each store
2.  Go to Kroger's Giftcard center and find the giftcards you want to get (yeah I probably should have said go scout the cards first so you know which ones they carry and which ones they don't)
3.  Make sure they scan your Kroger Plus Card (if you don't have one get it at the customer service window)
4.  Purchase the cards in the proper denominations 

Now…the $.10, $.20, $.30 discount is only on 35 gallons of gas.  Once you cut the pump off the discount is gone.  So I suggest doing your purchases weekly so you don't waste the discount.  I have to fill up about four times a month so I try to spread mine out…but for example I have to purchase a flight on southwest soon.  Well they sell southwest cards so I will purchases a giftcard for $150 bucks (heck yeah that's 300 points!) and then buy my flight with the giftcard.  

Example:

During Promotion - get 1 $25 giftcard for Subway = $.10 off a gal for your next purchase. (Normally you would have to buy $50 worth of cards to get this).
Normally - get 2 $25 giftcards (1 to Target and 1 to TJMaxx) = $.10 off a gal for your next purchase.

I will be testing this at my home depot b/c I could purchase the card at Kroger, use the card at Home Depot (for the purchase) and earn Home Depot points towards gas there!  (UPDATE:  This definitely works!  I earn gas discounts on both homedepot AND at Kroger with the same purchase just thinking ahead)