Both the Meijer and Kroger ads for this week in Monroe, Mich., are featuring 10 for $10 sales.

Now while one can pretty much consider the Kroger deals to be a “dollar menu” – buy whatever you want, each item costs a $1; the Meijer ad has this buy 10 items get 11th item free special. And there is a different promotion at Kroger this week in which shoppers can get a discount when they buy 8 participating items.

You have to do the math correctly and select the correct products to get these deals. I totally lost out one day on a $5 off at checkout from such a promotion because I grabbed the wrong size of product. Sadness.

This is how I stay organized now:

• First, I make sure my coupon box is up to date. This will help me set priorities on which 10, or which 8 or whichever number of grocery items to purchase.
• I study the sales flier for the store that I plan to go to. I circle the items in the flier that I particularly want to look for, and put a star or other mark next to the ones I can do coupon matches for.
• I try to go that store during a not-too-busy time, both for my sanity and the cashier’s benefit.
• I focus on the bargain picking of the day and buy as few items as possible that are not on the bundle promotion. When I do have to get milk or cheese or whatever, I put those additional purchases in a separate part of the shopping cart.
• I bring a pen or pencil with me and mark directly on the sales flier with a tally every time I put a participating bundle item into the cart. Keep in mind that a shelf tag might indicate an item that you can’t find in the flier is part of the bundle offer anyway.
• When I make the selections, I put the coupons in the front of my coupon box as I normally would.
• Before I get into a cashier line, I double-check the number of participating items in my cart with the tally marks I did on the sales flier.

If you can’t use all those 10 for $10 groceries this week, that’s fine. As long as you bought items that your family will really use before they expire, you will save money.