Saving Tips For Shopping

1. Make a list before yo go grocery shopping. Estimates are that people spend as much as 40% more on impulse purchases when they shop without a list.

2. Take a minute to check your receipt before you leave the grocery store. Computerized scanners are only as accurate as the information input into them which is sometimes incorrect or a non-sale price.

3. Take the time to comparison shop. Even if the store with the lowest price is too far from your home, you can still probably get the item you want for that price. Go to your local store with the advertisement in hand. Many stores will meet the price of the same item advertised elsewhere.

4. Before you go out and buy a new item that you will only use infrequently, see if you can borrow it from a friend or neighbor.

5. Consider bartering or trading goods and services with others instead of paying cash.

6. Buy clothes at seasonal changes to to get up to 80% off the original price. Be sure, however, to only buy items you are actually going to wear. A "great deal" is a 100% loss if you never wear it.

7. Check your local newspaper classifieds for public storage auctions. Public storage companies will auction off abandoned items in order to recover their lost fees. You can often pick up great deals on a wide variety of items at these auctions.

8. Get in and out of the grocery store as quickly as possible. Surveys show that a person spends an extra 50 cents each additional minute they stay in a grocery store beyond 30 minutes.

9. Go shopping with a full stomach. Studies show that people spend about 10% more if they shop on an empty stomach compared to a full one.

10. If you are looking to make a large item purchase, shop at the end of the month or at the end of the quarter. This is usually when sales staff and vendors have to meet their quotas and they will be more likely to give a better deal in order to make quota.

11. Make sure to check the upper and lower shelves when shopping. Items stocked at eye level are usually the most expensive. Less expensive items can usually be found in the harder to see areas of the upper and lower shelves.

12. Once you find something that you want to purchase online, take some time to do an online search for a coupon or coupon code offered by the merchant. Taking a few minutes to check can possibly result in savings of 10% or more.

13. Read the fine print on store "zero-percent financing" offers. While these can be excellent deals, some programs have interest charges accrue from the date you make the purchase if you don't pay off the entire amount when the 0% time limit ends.

14. Save and file the UPC codes from the products you consistently purchase. The next time there's a contest that requires a proof of purchase, you will already have a supply on hand to reap the rewards.

15. To truly reap the benefit of using coupons, have the cashier total your bill before subtracting out your coupons. Write a check for the pre-coupon total. The cash you receive back, or your coupon savings, can then be placed in your saving account.

16. Try to consolidate your grocery shopping into one weekly run. Not only does this help on restricting impulse buying, it also saves you time and money by reducing the number of times you must travel between the store and your house each week.

17. Try to do your grocery shopping during off peak hours. This will not only save you time, but will also mean less time waiting at the cash register where all the compulsive buy items are placed.

18. Utilize your local $1.00 store for health and beauty items for prices lower than supermarkets or drugstores. You may be surprised at the variety of quality goods and food you can get there these days.

19. When purchasing big ticket items, you don't necessarily have to run all over town to get the best price. Search the newspaper sale fliers for the best price, go to your local store and simply ask, "Can you beat this price?" Often they will.

20. When shopping, buy the amount you need. Just because something is on sale doesn't mean you need to purchase a large quantity of it. Buy only what you know you will use and no more.

21. When shopping, make a list of the items you need and stick to it. Estimates of the total amount purchased by shoppers at the grocery store that are impulse buys (not what you went to the store to get) run as high as 40%.

22. Whenever possible, avoid shopping at convenience stores. You'll pay some of the largest product markups on the goods bought there - the price for the store's convenience.

23. You can save hundreds of dollars a year shopping by learning to compare price-per-ounce costs instead of going only by package price. Buy those items with the lowest price-per-ounce cost and you will be getting a better value for your money.

Buy during clearances and out of season

Me and my wife make a habit of buying out of season and on clearance...


There has been times where we have walked out of old navy, gap and others alike With coats, shirts, pants for 1/10 of original cost!!

Ex. at old navy they have some jackets clearanced and the origianl price is 90 on sale for 20.

Picked up 3 T-shirst org. 8-10 paid .99


Target also clearances item quite often especially season stuff like sporting goods I have picked up coolers for 2 bucks.. Bats for 5 bucks regulary 50 and so on.

Not to mention if you know where you are going to be shopping do search on the net for coupons as that can save you a bundle.

Going to the grocery store without a list is downright dangerous, isn't it? I'd wind up impulse buying and forgetting some things I should have bought.

I'd like to take this one step further: how many of us actually sit down and plan our menus for at least a week in advance? Based on the survey results at one of my group survey sites, a large number of people said that they usually shop once a week.

Planning your menus ahead of time for the week really helps you to shop more efficiently. You can decide what you want and see what you already have at home and what you actually need to buy in order to make dinner.

There is a book called Saving Dinner that has recipes *and* the shopping list for the meal included! Many people have praised this book and how it has helped them to save money.

So, make up your menus and shop at home first (meaning see what ingredients you already have at home to make up a meal or two --- keeps things in your cupboards from getting old!) then make your list.

Uh-oh...all this talk about food is making me hungry. Not good at this hour, LOL!

Margaret Kur