7 Ways to Save on Groceries
Don’t buy everything from one grocery. For my family, I usually buy from a nearby SaveMore supermarket, a Parco supermarket, and Makro. Since I visit these places regularly, I have an idea about which items are cheaper when bought at a specific grocery.
Of course, this only makes sense if all the supermarkets you buy from aren’t out of the way. Otherwise, transportation costs might make your overall grocery expenses the same, or even more expensive, than if you shopped at the grocery nearest your home.
Go on fewer grocery trips. Since I visit 3 groceries, it might sound like I do my grocery shopping too often. The truth is, I only make 2 major grocery trips each month, and probably an additional 2 trips if I want to cook something special that I didn’t plan for. But for these additional trips, I only buy the ingredients I need. Generally, though, I prefer to plan for everything ahead of time so I can visit the grocery less often.
How will this save you money? If you go to the grocery less, there’s less temptation for you to buy unnecessary items that you weren’t planning to buy in the first place. Also, your transportation costs will be lower.
Compare and test different brands. Since I want to choose the brands that give me the best value for my money, I test different brands until I find “the one”. Sometimes “the one” turns out to be the cheapest brand or a generic product (such as the Savepak dishwashing liquid), sometimes it’s the most expensive brand, and sometimes it’s somewhere in the middle. But you can never know which brands give you the best value unless you try them out.
Buy in bulk, if it makes sense. In a previous post, I wrote about how to buy in bulk wisely (click here to read it). Usually, if you buy items in bulk you can save a bit of money – but only if you maintain your usual consumption rate of the bulk products you buy. See, some people tend to overuse items that they bought in bulk because “Marami pa naman eh”. Know your own habits and do the math to ensure that bulk purchases really save you money.
Stick to your list. It helps to have a list of items to buy before you go to the grocery, and to stick to buying only the items that are on your list. This prevents you from buying unexpected items on a whim. But if you find yourself looking at an item that isn’t in your list…
…apply the 10-second rule. This means that before you buy an item that isn’t on your list, think about it for 10 solid seconds before deciding to put it in your shopping cart. This will allow you to evaluate your purchase more thoroughly, rather than automatically chucking items in your cart without thought.
Use a rewards card. This is for those groceries that you’re often visiting. Savemore, Parco, Shopwise, and Rustan’s all offer their own rewards cards to customers. The rewards card will allow you to earn points for your purchases, which you can redeem in the future.
Do you have any tips to share about saving money on groceries? Please share them to the other readers via the comments section.
Image by Davide Guglielmo
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Help Iligan and CDO
I usually buy my shampoo and conditioner in sachets. This way, my usage is budgeted. If I buy in bottles i usually consume a lot. I’m a little guilty though as this is bad for the environment.