Don’t let Great Savings slip away from your finger tips.
Helpful Tips to avoid over-spending

Be a Smart Shopper

A smart shopper always knows how to take advantage of every single opportunity to stretch their dollars. Each year, billions of coupons are being distributed in the country. The sad thing is; quite a few of them are being well utilized. Being a smart shopper takes time and effort. Even for a sweepstake, you still need to spend time to fill out the form. But it is all worth doing when you think of how much money you can save.

Money saving strategies:

Register you membership Collecting coupons, buying on-sale items, and sending in rebates are a few popular strategies to help you save money. In additions to these, being a member of the stores is an excellent way to save your money. Supermarkets usually reward their loyal members by giving deeper discounts. Whenever you check out, the cashier will sweep your membership card to input your purchase pattern in their system. According to your purchase preferences, the store may give you special offers on the items you regularly purchase. Even though the membership programs intend to reward their customers for their loyalty, you don’t have to stick to only one supermarket. Efforts are paid for those shoppers who are willing to compare prices and saving the most from different stores.

Take advantage of your credit card rebate program

If you have a credit card, it is worth tracking whether your credit card company has any promotional program that you are not registered for. Besides cash rebate on purchases, many credit card companies offer better percentage of rebates on groceries and gas. Call your credit card company to join any favorable program. Remember, the credit card companies don’t want to lose a valuable customer like you. You don’t have to hesitate to ask.

Enter a sweepstakes

You can enter an in-store or online sweepstakes, which often requires nothing for the entry. Sweepstakes for diapers, children food and toys are very popular. Winner of a year round’s diapers can save a parent hundreds of dollars. Sometimes, stores also give out freebies to their customers. The more you shop, the more chance you come across freebies giving.

Organize your coupon

You can make clipping coupons your regular habit. When you are shopping, remember to pick up coupons from the supermarket circulars and the in-store coupon dispensers. Sometimes, coupons are attached to the packaging too. Newspaper inserts and magazines are the other excellent sources to build up your coupon collection. You can even search online and make a printout if printed coupon is acceptable. Nowadays, online shopping has become more popular. Thousands of websites providing online coupons and coupon codes are available for online customers. It is a good idea to organize your coupons. Keeping a coupon file to group all coupons by types or by stores will save your time when you have a designated store or item to buy. If you are grouping coupons by stores, calculate the total dollars you can save foreach store and go for the one you can get the highest savings. Marketers like to play tricks to make shoppers spend more. Stores always rearrange merchandise on their shelves to attract your attention to new products. Most supermarkets place the higher-priced items at eye level, making you overlook those less priced. For instance, precut fruits and precooked dishes are more expensive and set in the front aisles. Candies and toys are displayed at eye catching area to lure the children to buy. Here are some tips to help avoid spending more than you need.

When you are going shopping……

Do make a list beforehand (remind youself what you really need to buy)

Do pay attention to checkout scanners / manual input for pricing errors. Watch register’s display.

Do take a sale circular with you. Bring it to the checkout in case you need to check the price.

Do use your coupons during discount days to earn the highest savings.

Do compare prices at all areas of the store for the same products. Usually most highly priced items are displayed in the eye catching area. The lowest priced are usually found in the case.

Do buy less-priced store brands when similar qualities are not the main criteria.Do shop on Sunday morning for more perishable high-end bargains like stuffed breast of veal and stuffed salmon.

Do buy produce on sale at the height of their season.

Don’t toss the receipt, which may have valuable savings on the back for your next shopping.

Don’t be lazy to look for rebate offers. A little time spent is worth as much as 50% of the price value. Be patient to wait for the refund. It can take more than two months.

Don’t shop at rush hours, ie. from 4 to 7 pm, and on busy days such as Thanksgivingeve, Christmas eve and the day before or after a major storm.

Don’t forget to ask for a raincheck, especially
when it is free!