Supermarkets are a great place to get all your shopping needs done in one go. But with the number of supermarkets increasing, you can’t just walk into the first one you see and expect to get great deals on groceries. You need to be smart about when and where you shop in order to save money. Here are some cost-saving tips for saving money when you shop in a supermarket:
Don’t Shop After You’ve Eaten Or Feeling Hungry
One of the worst times to go grocery shopping is when you’ve just eaten. This is because if you shop while you are hungry, your brain won’t be able to focus on the essentials. It is likely that you’ll end up buying things that you don’t need or something expensive. You can avoid this by scheduling your grocery shopping for a time of the day when you can focus fully. You will be able to check off what you need from your grocery list and walk out of the supermarket with only the things that you need. You can also avoid this by planning your shopping ahead of time. If you know what you need for the week, you can plan your shopping days for those items and go to the supermarket at the right time. This will help you to avoid unnecessary purchases.
Take Your Own Shopping Bags
You may think that this is one of those silly pieces of advice that don’t really make a difference when it comes to saving money when you shop. However, you’d be surprised how many people don’t use their own grocery bags. While it’s true that supermarkets provide bags for you to use, these are not free. If you don’t want to use the supermarket bags, you can always bring your own grocery bags. Alternatively, you can also bring along a reusable bag. While these may not seem like they’d make any difference, they actually can. If everyone uses their own bags, they’ll be using fewer plastic bags from the store and supermarkets. This will benefit the environment and your wallet. To get the most out of this practice, make sure you wash your grocery bags or reusable bags regularly so that they don’t get too smelly or dirty.
Look Out For Loss Leaders
Every supermarket has items that they want to sell. These products are called loss leaders and are often items that the store has to sell at a low price in order to attract customers. These items are often things that you need every day, and you don’t really think much about them. However, if you know how to look out for these items, you can save money at the supermarket. You can find loss leaders in the weekly or bi-weekly sales fliers. You can also find them online. Once you’ve identified loss leaders, you can use them to your advantage when shopping. For example, if you know that toilet paper is a loss leader, you can get as many as you need for cheap. You can also look for loss leaders in the produce aisle. These are fruits and vegetables that are slightly less ripe or less attractive than others that the store would like to get rid of. You can buy these items and still be able to use them.
Only Buy What You Actually Need!
This may seem like an obvious thing to do, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t actually stick to their shopping list. If you want to save money when you shop in a supermarket, you need to only buy what’s on your list. Otherwise, you’ll end up getting distracted and will end up buying things that you don’t need. You may even end up spending more money than you planned on because you were distracted by other things in the store. To make sure that you only buy what’s on your shopping list, you can use your phone. You can create a grocery list on an app like Evernote or Wunderlist or you can use something like the Grocery Money Savings Planner. This way, you can check off items as you go and avoid buying things that aren’t listed on your list.
Check The Unit Price Of Each Item
You may think that this is something that you only do when you’re trying to lose weight, but it can also come in handy for grocery shopping. The unit price is the price per ounce, pound, or other unit of measurement. You can find this information on the price tag of each item in the supermarket. You can use this information to find out which items are more cost-effective than others. Say you’re buying peanut butter. Two jars of peanut butter are priced equally, but the first jar has 16 ounces while the second jar has 12 ounces. Even though the two jars are priced the same, the 16-ounce jar is actually cheaper per ounce than the 12-ounce jar. You can also use this information to find out if an item is really on sale or not.
Be Mindful When You Shop
If you shop at the busiest time of day, you are going to end up spending more money. This is because there will be more people in the store, and you’ll have to wait in line for longer. This will cost you both time and money. To avoid this, you can shop at the right time of day. You can do this by studying the store’s sales and marketing strategies. You can also check out when the store gets crowded, and then go to the store when it’s least busy. You can use the data on the store’s website or app to find out when the store is busiest. Alternatively, you can also talk to friends who shop at the same store as you do. They can let you know when they find the store to be less busy.
Compare Product Prices Online
You can use your smartphone to compare the prices of items while you’re shopping. While this won’t tell you how price-efficient an item is, it can at least help you to know if the item is more expensive in one store compared to another.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many ways to save money when you shop in a supermarket. You just need to make sure that you stay alert and don’t get distracted by marketing tactics used by stores. You also need to be smart about the times you go to the store and which items you buy when. If you do this, you’ll be able to save a lot of money on your grocery bill.
