how to make savings (Supermarkets/Foodhalls - Tips & Comparison)

Member Name: sandra_dee

Product:	Supermarkets/Foodhalls - Tips & Comparison
Date:	09/03/03 (188 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Saving money, more shopping less money

Disadvantages: time

I wanted to write an article about supermarkets but I am very aware that I work for one and don’t want people to see this as a biased review. So this is written as a consumer not as an employee and these things can apply to whichever supermarket you shop in.

My advice is on how to save money and get the most shopping for you money.

I will start by saying I know some people live on a very tight budget and may not always be able to do the things I am going to suggest but some you will, and therefore save money.

The saving are made with the things that are on offer Buy One Get One Free or as it is know in the business BOGOF. 3 for the price of 2. Two for so much etc etc

I will use things that have been on offer in my supermarket, as I know the offers and the prices.

Examples: -

Lemonade 65p each BOGOF.

There are two ways to do this, if you normally buy two bottles.

You can use the BOGOF and get two bottles for 65p. SAVING 65p
Or
You can still buy the two bottles you normally would and get two free SAVING £1.30

Hide the two extra you have (I have become a pro at this as children are very good at sniffing these things out) and next time you don’t have to buy any.

I find that if you are a brand shopper (you have to have a specific brand) this doesn’t work as well but in most supermarkets there are offers ever week on staple things that we all buy.

I am not a brand shopper but I still want quality.

In my house I say if it’s not on offer you wont find it in my house.

Every week there are offer on basic shopping items: -
Tea, coffee, washing powder, fabric conditioner, cheese, bacon, meat, pop, biscuits, crisps, tinned products, cereal, baby care, alcohol, frozen products, paper products, toiletries and even pet food.

Another thing that shopper often don’t do is to check if the product they are bu
ying is on offer in a different size.

This week we have a 300g packet of biscuits on BOGOF you would not believe how many people arrive at the checkouts with the bigger 400g packet which is not on offer. Buy the 300g, get one free total 600g or leave with the 400g one, pay more and get less.

This also happen with, for example people buying big multipacks of crisps 24pk £2.89 but if they checked out the other sizes they would see that the 6pks are on BOGOF.

6pk of own brand crisps 85p

Buy 4 x 6pks own brand crisps BOGOF saving £1.70 or £1.19 compared to the 24pk
Or
Buy 8 x 6pk own brand crisps (again hide half for next time) Saving £3.40

Compared to the original £2.89 you were going to pay. You either have the same amount of crisps for less money or twice as many for only 51p more than the original £2.89 of the 24pk.

There are certain products that I HAVE to buy but feel they are expensive for what they are.

Recently a 4pk of recycled toilet paper was on BOGOF (£1.69). What I do is buy as many as I can afford. I bought 8pks (4 + 4 free). Saving an amazing £6.76.

Another product that is one of my bugbears is sanitary products, (this obviously doesn’t apply if you’re a man) but as women we have no choice but to buy them. I was pleasantly surprised to find them on BOGOF (£1.19) so I bought 10 boxes (5+5 free) saving £5.95

With both of the above products I now don’t need to buy them for sometime and hopefully by the time my stocks are starting to run low, there will be another offer.

Doing these things may take up extra time, checking it all out, but the savings you make far outweigh the time you loose. Take those extra 10mins to read the signs work out the savings and you’ll be amazed at what it adds up to.

My shopping bill last week was £63.54 and my offers added up to £16.71 giving me £80.25 of shopping.
In anybody’s book
that’s a good saving.

Two other things that help to keep your bill down are: -

1. Never shop when your hungry, you always add things to you trolley to munch on the way home.
2. If possible and I know its not always, don’t shop with children. You end up with lots of things you didn’t want. Sweets, chocolate etc. Now I have to say I end up with lots of these things in my trolley but I have no idea how they get there, they must just throw themselves in as a push my trolley past. Lol honest.



Thanks for taking the time to read.

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