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I can’t believe how much I detest shopping for groceries. The only reason why I do, is because unfortunately my body needs food to survive. If I had my way, I would not eat and therefore would be able to save significant amounts of money each day to be able to spend it on what I actually want to spend it on. Am I venting? Well yes, it looks like you may have caught me in a moment of weakness where I have just returned from grocery shopping and my wallet is feeling significantly lighter. In this financial recession where money is so difficult to come by, coming back from weekly grocery shopping disheartens me somewhat. In fact the thought of having to shop for the groceries depresses me. Do any of you feel like that? Bottom line, many families are now struggling to make ends meet and to be able to put food on the table.
However in recent times, I have discovered a few key notions that companies are engaging to not only help the customer but also help their own back pocket (basically a win/win situation for these businesses). There is no point pricing products out of the reach of the masses because in the end they will suffer themselves when they need to report on earnings. The 2 concepts which I am referring to are coupons and free samples.
Coupons: This has become a multi-million dollar concept with companies willing to offer discounts or freebies in attracting new patrons whilst trying to keep current patrons loyal. There are a number of sites that offer coupons across a large range of categories.
One of the best websites that offers coupons on a daily basis is coupons.com. Check it out. From $1 off and upwards to sometimes offering substantial savings, coupons combined with sales at large stores like CVS and Walmart can often mean free stuff. It is considered part and parcel of these cutting edge and ruthless times. In fact coupons are being used through social media like Facebook and Twitter by a number of major businesses. By creating a buzz around their company, businesses are trying to gain relatively cheap promotion using Facebook groups and fan pages. If you don’t use coupons when shopping for your groceries, then I suggest you begin using them to save yourself some serious coin.
Free Samples: This is the other concept that has grown in status over the past couple of years and definitely more during the recent financial economic crisis. By providing miniature samples of their goods, businesses are able promote their products at a relatively cheap price than advertising on television or radio. By releasing new products to the community via freebies also allows for feedback and whether or not they need to tinker with the product or marketing. By surfing the Internet, there are a range of free stuff sites available including FreeStuff4Free.com which allows you to trial products without any obligations, often saving you money and trips to the stores as the samples are posted to you.
Engage with these 2 concepts and start saving now!
Tags: cheabies, Coupons, free samples, free stuff, freebies
Posted in Budgeting · February 26th, 2010 · Comments (0)
Though we may have seen the worst of the recession pass us by, we can never be too thrifty and save money where possible. I have decided to jot down a couple of tips on how to save money when shopping for groceries.
Don’t shop whilst hungry – This is a big no no. Shopping whilst hungry only tempts you to make impulse choices and purchases leaving you with a larger grocery bill than you should have. You may believe that it only happens once in a while but when you add it all up over the year, you will have spent in excess of at least $1000. Don’t believe me? Check it and see!
Know your prices – I consider this to be one of the most important points. It’s like if you were going into business, you would need to know the market and your competitors and what they charge and what services they are offering. Previously I used to bring a notebook into the supermarket to write down the prices of groceries from so I could get a approximate estimate of what prices of specific goods should be. Now that I’ve done it on a consistent basis for a couple of months, I now know what the prices of things should be. It’s important to know the prices beforehand because you have to know what something costs to determine whether or not you are getting a good deal.
Use coupons from the newspaper and Net – Using coupons to save on groceries will save you a dramatic amount of money. So many people get turned off with the perception of cutting out coupons from a newspaper or think it’s a waste of time. I am telling now, if you are not already couponing, you need to start now. If you do not receive the Sunday paper there are always free coupons online from sites such as FreeStuff4free.com. Many coupons are covered from a range of categories as well as a wide range of free samples. Otherwise Coupons.com is another simple to use site with plenty of savings.
Consider generics and store brands – Branding and promotion of brands cost money. Where does that money come from? Well from you, the consumer. Businesses increase their prices to cover the cost of the branding strategy. Basically what you need to know is that quite often generic brands are actually at least equal if not better than brand products. If you don’t believe me, do a blind test and see if you can actually tell the difference. I’m betting that for 99% of the population, you won’t be able to. Generics and store brands are frequently made in the same factory as the name brands, with only a different label. You may not appear to be keeping up appearances but the functionality of the is what is important and not what brand you are using.
Independently each point on its own will save you cash however if all 4 are used in conjunction with each other, the amount increases exponentially as each point is extrinsically linked.
Hopefully this will help save some of your cash so that you can spend it elsewhere useful like towards your mortgage.
More about FreeStuff4Free
FreeStuff4Free.com is a website that specialises in finding free stuff, free samples and freebies. This site is visually compelling and easier to navigate than text based free sites. The site is updated daily and dead links removed regularly. There are no scams and all freebies are 100% legitimate.
Tags: cheabies, Coupons, free samples, free stuff, freebies
Posted in Budgeting · February 6th, 2010 · Comments (0)