With the price of petrol, household bills and food increasing every day, it is time for us all to take a look at what we are spending review the way that we shop in order to maximise our shopping and minimise our spending as for many of us it is becoming increasingly harder to manage our money each week.
I thought I would share with you my tips for reducing your weekly shopping bill.
My first tip is to look at where you are shopping. Take say 10 or 15 standard everyday items that you usually buy and use one of the supermarket price checkers on the internet such as My Super Market and cross check the prices to find out which supermarket is cheapest. Not all supermarkets will be cheaper on all items that you buy, but this way you can get a rough idea of price comparisons. Obviously you need to weigh up travelling distances too, as it is pointless saving £10 on your shopping if you need to travel 20 miles to the supermarket, as with the increasing rise in petrol prices, this will be a false economy. If you have supermarkets that are within a close proximity to each other and not to far to travel then you can use the price checker and choose your supermarket from that.
The lower end supermarkets such as Lidl, Aldi and Netto are fast becoming more popular and now stock a fantastic range including many known brand names and are usually a great deal cheaper. They may not be as fancy as the bigger names such as Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Waitrose, but do you need a fancy shop? They cut back on costs so that they can pass this on to you, the consumer. You may find that there are not as many deals as the other supermarkets such as buy one get one free or 3 for 2 etc, but if the items are a lot less expensive in the first place, then it's a great saving for you. An item that may cost £1 in Tesco and is on buy one get one free, so you get 2 for £1, but if the item in Aldi for example is only 50p anyway, then you still get 2 for £1, and these are long term prices not short term offers.
That's not to say that buy one get one frees in the larger supermarkets should be ignored, far from it - you can get some fantastic deals, but only buy them if you usually use the products. If you don't use them it's not a saving. However, if a well known brand is £2 buy one get one free, so you pay £2 for 2 and the stores own brand is only 75p each at normal price, then you can get 2 for £1.50, so why not buy one of the own brand products, see if you like it and then you have a saving for future shopping trips.
Own brand labels are not to be laughed at either. Most supermarkets do a “value” or “basics” range and a mid price range which is still usually considerably cheaper than well known brands, and often just as tasty. Most of the time there is little difference in the taste, but a lot of difference in the price. The value ranges are more basic, but for things like kitchen roll, tin foil, clingfilm and household goods they offer the same usability but normally for a huge price reduction compared with branded goods. If you don't fancy going from branded to value, why not try a few things in the mid price range, just try a couple each time you shop. If you like them, all well and good and you know you have a future saving. If you are not keen, then you have not wasted too much money, and just don't buy them again.
If you are lucky enough to have a market close to where you live or shop, then fruit and vegetables are a great deal cheaper than in supermarkets so you can save a lot of here, and the advantage of a market is that if you go towards the end of the day, they often sell off items really cheaply.
When shopping in the well known supermarkets such as Tescos, Morrisons etc, it is worth knowing that the later on in the day you visit, the more price reductions there will be on things such as Meat, chilled products, bread and fruit and vegetables. The meat and chilled items usually start getting reduced from around 3pm and the bread more towards the evening time. It is worth stocking up on reduced meat and bread as even if they only have one day left on the shelf life, freeze them when you get home and this way you can get your bread and meat at sometimes half price or even less.
Save up any coupons and vouchers from magazines and newspapers, as some supermarkets will accept them against your shopping even if you don't have that particular item in your trolley. You need to check their policies on this though as not all supermarkets have this relaxed attitude.
Join up to any loyalty schemes that a supermarket has, as these are free to join and you will collect points for all your shopping which is converted into money back vouchers. The points add up and you can end up with some nice money off. These are great to save up for a big shop, maybe around Christmas time when money is normally tight for most people.
Just by changing the way we shop, thinking about what we are putting in our trolleys and checking prices before we buy, everyone can start to save a little on their shopping bills and with rising prices, this is something that we all need to think about.
