Here’s how you can quickly get up to $2 off per gallon, up to 35 gallons per fill-up, through September 30, 2012.

What:
Kroger is the largest supermarket chain in in the country. It is parent to 16 other chains.  If Octomom were supermarket, she’d need to spit out two litters to equal Kroger’s brood.  The Kroger Family of Stores has an awesome program called “Fuel Points”.

Fuel Points perks vary between each Kroger chain. For example, Kroger & King Soopers top out at $2 off per gallon. My area Ralphs caps at 20 cents a gallon. 20 cents ain’t too shabby, but it’s not 2 bucks! Fill up at your Kroger chain fuel centers for the best discount.

How:
You earn Fuel Points when you make purchases using your Kroger Plus Card – (or whatever your Kroger chain membership program is called).  I’ll use Kroger for this post.

Spend a buck and get a Fuel Point (normal exclusions apply).  You earn twice as many Fuel Points when you purchase a merchant specific gift card from Kroger.  Here are over 100 merchant specific gift cards you can expect to find at Kroger stores.

- Buy a $50 gift card and get 100 Fuel Points = 10 cents off per gallon.
- Spend $1,000 on gift cards and get 2,000 Fuel Points = $2 off per gallon.
- They have special promotions where you get 4x the Fuel Points on gift card purchases.

The Goal:
Get 2,000 Fuel Points in a calendar month, so you can knock $2 off every gallon of gas you put in your bone dry gas tank at your next fill-up, up to 35 gallons.  If you are a ne’er-do-well or scoff-law, you should know that trying to fill up two cars without shutting off the pump might get you thrown in Kroger jail.

My Suggestion:
1.  If you are going to make a major purchase (TV, appliances, furniture, clothes, remodeling, etc.), stop by Kroger first to buy gift cards for the store you are going to use.  Use those gift cards to make that major purchase.

2.  Gift cards can be a hassle to manage and a financial blunder if you lose them.  That’s another reason I like Amazon.com gift cards.  If you buy an Amazon.com gift card, you can go home, sign into your Amazon.com account, enter the gift card numbers, and that gift card balance will now show up in your Amazon account for future purchases.  You can cut up your newly purchased gift card.  No worries!

3.  Buy the gift cards with a credit card that gets you cash back or airline miles, and collect those rewards as well.

4.  Of course, don’t spend $1,000 on gift cards for junk you don’t need, just so you can save $2/gallon on your next fill-up.  Only use a credit card to buy your gift cards if you will pay off that credit card bill in full when it’s due.

The Perfect Scenario:
Like me, you have a standard definition TV.  You’ve decided it’s time to buy a $600 HDTV at Best Buy, a bag of hammers at Home Depot, and a lifetime supply of Silly Putty at Amazon.  You go into Kroger and buy gift cards: $600 for Best Buy, $300 for Home Depot, and $100 for Amazon.com.  Bingo, you have 2,000 Fuel Points!

You jump back in your RV, SUV, or automotive acronym of choice, and head to the Kroger fuel center.  Your car sputters on its last drop of petrol as you coast to the pump.

You want to fill up on an empty tank to maximize your savings.  You’ll get $2 off per gallon, whether you buy one gallon or the maximum 35 gallons per vehicle per purchase.

Before you fill up, swipe your Kroger Plus Card so you get the $2 off.  Enter your form of payment.  If you use your Chase Freedom or Discover it card, you’ll get an additional 5% cash back on gasoline purchases July-September 2012.

Thanks to Subscriber Chris:
See his actual Kroger receipts below.  In June, he bought $1,500 in gift cards.  That added 3,000 Fuel Points to Chris’ account which already had 116 points.  On his July 3^rd fill-up, 2,000 Fuel Points were deducted from the 3,116 Fuel Points in his account.  He got $2 off per gallon and saved $41.50.  As you can see on the receipt, that’s $1.57 per gallon for Premium!  He filled-up like it was 1999.

This left Chris with 1,116 Fuel Points earned in June.  On July 10^th, he filled-up again and used 1,100 fuel points to get $1.10 off per gallon and saved $22.93.  That’s a grand total of $64.43 saved!!

If Chris used his Chase Freedom or Discover it to buy the gas, he’d save another 5% on the gas from July – September.

You can read more about how this works by clicking the links above or Googling your Kroger chain and “Fuel Points”.

How long do I have to use my Fuel Points?
Fuel Points earned in a given month are available for use through the end of the following calendar month. Points do not combine across months. When filling up at a Kroger fuel center, you’ll always be offered the biggest discount available, based on each month’s fuel point totals available in your account. For example, if you have 200 unredeemed fuel points from January and 300 fuel points in February, the 30¢ per gallon discount from February will be offered on your next fill-up. The 20¢ per gallon discount from January will be available through the end of February.