Shopping Tips

If you'll look at your monthly expenses, it is without a doubt that you will find shopping as a major contributor to it. Since we all want to be able to optimize the enjoyment of our hard earned money, let's talk about home economics as often as possible.

Here's our shopping advice for today:

1. Seriously devote time to “Growing it” or “Making it” yourself. You'll save a lot of money that way.
2. If you know of any consumer cooperative, join it and save money. A lot of companies have their own, military camps, schools, teachers, different government agencies, and many more exist. Find your own niche and join.
3. keep a list of the sale schedule of different stores.
4. Shop before you run out of supplies. Never let a shortage situation ever hit you. When you're out of stock, you'll be forced to buy at any price just to be able to survive the day.
5. Always keep in mind the word “Discipline”. Make a list of what needs to be bought and determine a budget.
6. When thinking of buying fruits, choose the ones that are in season.
7. If it's the grocery that you're about to visit, prepare the incoming weeks menu taking into consideration the items that you have and what's on sale.
8. Check your stock and cross out from your list the items that you have. Do not replace the crossed out items in your list. Using such a method, you are able to generate savings even before leaving the house.
9. When you are in the store and the total cost ends up being higher than your budget, remove the least vital items from your cart until your expenses have become equal or lower than your original budget.
10. When shopping, don't buy anything in addition to your list. Deviate only to change what you have in your cart with a lesser expensive item. Remember, no additions.
11. Consider buying in bulk if it will mean lower unit prices.
12. A long time before you need to actually buy an item, start searching for the best store to buy it from. There are consumer forums where you can post queries and people can offer suggestions. Very often, your questions have already been asked by somebody else and answered. Use the search function of your forum to search for answers.
13. Hunt for discount coupons. Call the store and ask if they have one and if they do, ask how you can avail of it. Another way is through the use the internet's search engines. Type your keywords such as “item name or brand + discounts + coupons + sale + location” and hit the enter key. You'll be surprised at the results.
14. When thinking of an item to buy, figure out if you can postpone the purchase until the stores' annual midyear/season/end of season sales.
15. I know that this fits into the previous item but the huge savings from this tip prompted me to put this in a separate area. When thinking of an item to buy, ask thyself if it can wait til after Christmas. Please take note that store prices sharply drops after Christmas. I started to notice this when I was too busy to do my Christmas shopping and only did it after Dec 25^th. I was able to get huge discounts for items that were very much in season.
16. Just because there is a “SALE” sign doesn't mean that the prices are lower. Be well informed of the prices and exercise good judgment.
17. Avail of store discount cards and credit cards that offer rebates from purchases in your favorite stores.
18. Really serious about saving money? If possible, leave the kids at home.

Check this site for more tips that will follow.