10 Ways to Save Money While Shopping

As my husband and I are ‘VERY’ interested in ‘Early Retirement’, we have been trying to learn more about the people who have achieved the freedom of choice whether to work, in order to discover some crucial tips from their live experiences. Their many books, blogs and interviews show us what to do and how to do to reach the freedom and one of the most common (the most important) advices I have found is ‘Financial independence’. Financial independence is the foundation of the road of freedom and the first step to the financial independence is ‘Saving’. So, I would like to talk and learn more about saving to be ready for the day that I have saved enough to retire (not need to work anymore).

 

Since I have been mindful on saving, I have become more conscious on spending. We cannot simply live without spending but, we can spend wisely to spend less and save more. One of my biggest expenses is grocery shopping currently and I have been trying to shop wisely not to waste money. So, why don’t I share with you some ways I have found to save money while shopping?  

 

 

 

10 ways to save money while shopping

1. Less shopping, less spending: Reduce the number of times you go shopping. If you go 3 times a week, reduce to twice. If you go twice a week, reduce to once. I have found from my own shopping habit that I go shopping not because I certainly need to buy things, only because I think I may need to do shopping routinely. More time I shop I intend to make more compulsive purchases that are often not necessary and regrettable. If you do less time shopping, you will definitely buy less stuff which is not needed and you can save money. Less time of shopping will also offer you extra time which can be used for other things (Don’t we always complain about lack of time?). Remember that time is money.

 

 

2. Empty your fridge and pantry before shopping: Before going shopping, check the fridge and pantry and find out whether you really need to buy more things to store or not. I used to buy same stuff and I found out I had them already only after shopping. So, I try to empty my fridge before I go shopping. When fridge and pantry are not empty that simply means you don’t need for another shopping. So, try to delay the shopping and use whatever you have. One ingredient missing will not harm your meal as much as you think. Beginning will be bit hard to adjust your shopping habit but you will have a fantastic feeling when you see the empty shelves. Because you know you didn’t waste any food and also it is time for shopping.

 

3. Buy what you need not what you like: Don’t be distracted by new products, well-presented products, promotion products or sale products while you are shopping. Buy what you planned to buy, not what you find out that you may like to have. How often we buy things unnecessarily because we feel like to buy. It is very common way to waste our money which we exchanged with our precious time and life (at work to make the money), so don’t buy if you don’t need. 

4. Make a shopping list: Write down what you need to buy before you go shopping. If you don’t have a shopping list, you are likely to buy more things than you need. Also, you can forget things you need to buy so you have to do extra shopping. The shopping list will direct you where to find and what to buy, so it will reduce the chance of habitual purchases and also your shopping time.   

 

5. Buy on big sales: I try to be very careful on sale items because they are very tempting. The letter ‘SALE’ is too distractive to focus on buying what we planned. However, if you control your emotional craving and use the chance wisely (buy what you need), you can save quite a lot of money by purchasing goods on sale. I don’t consider 20% or 30% sale as a big sale. Quite often, many items in big supermarkets are half priced or having further deductions (which can be up to 75% down) so you need to focus on the big sales. You can buy bigger quantity of daily items such as shampoo, toilet papers, washing powders, tooth paste or frozen items which you can store longer on big sales so you don’t have to pay full price next time.

 

6. Buy seasonal fruits and vegetables: Eating more fruits and vegetables are essential to keep our body healthy and control weight. However, unfortunately it is not always good for our wallet as some fruits and vegetables are brutally (unreasonably) expensive. Try to buy seasonal fruits and vegetables instead of not having them or buying expensive ones. You can always find seasonal fruits and vegetables which are cheaper than others. Some people might argue that they deserve to buy what they want to have even though they have to pay heaps more, but this mindset (I deserve better one.) can be a very dangerous factor to push away your financial independence.

 

7. Maximise store card benefits but don't buy to get the benefits: All the big supermarket chains provide their store cards to attract more customers. I was very reluctant to get any of them as I thought there must be hidden tricks to tempt the customers to spend more money. I still believe that is the main reason why they offer all the benefits/bonuses to their customers. However, if you use the store card benefits properly, you can save up quite a bit of money. If I do one bigger shopping instead of doing two small shippings, I can get $10 off which is 12.5% extra off from the sale price (I don’t buy anything full priced.). If I diligently activate their bonus point offers which doesn’t take me any cost, I can get between $10 and $50 off from a shopping. So, use it wisely to save up. However, be careful not to buy extra stuff to get more points or discounts.

 

8. Be flexible: We all have our prefer brands or items but, to save money, we need to be flexible. If the items are far more expensive than others or not on sale, try to find alternatives. You can try new and different things to compare the quality and also save up money.

 

9. Check the measurement: It is sometimes quite hard to know how much actual things are in the various sizes of packages. Therefore, compare the price by the measurements ($/g, $/kg, $/L etc…) is very helpful to find out how much value we are actually getting by paying same amount of money.    

10. Check the receipts: Don’t forget the check the receipts before you leave the shops. Human can make mistakes so you need to be responsible for not paying more than you need to pay. Check the receipts if the items you bought are correctly entered. One time, I was charged my green beans ($2/kg) as mushrooms ($11/kg) so I had to pay 5.5 times. This can happen anytime so check the receipts to avoid getting overpaid. 

 

I know the 10 tips will not make you extraordinary savings or instant rich but I believe that they will direct you to get the correct shopping habits which can impact on your savings in a long term. As every journey starts with a step, our financial independence will be achieved by our simple spending habits. Whenever you do shopping, remember that you are not only spending money but also your precious time and life.