Many of us college students are given (or borrow) money to go to
college. This means I have next to no
money to spend but still have to feed myself each month. There are a few tricks I use to stick to my
budget through a combination pre-planning, couponing and smart shopping.
Rule #1 is NEVER EVER shop hungry! Always shop on a full stomach or you will
end up purchasing more groceries than you need.
Use your grocery store ads and price
matching. Each week the grocery
stores publish their sale flyers via print or web. To save time, only look at the front and back
page of the flyer as that is where the majority major sales will be. Circle the items and write them on the top of
the flyer along with the prices so you remember which store had what on sale. Walmart Supercenter has a price-matching
guarantee in their store item to item or store brand to store brand. Hand the flyer to the cashier (or show them
the ad on your phone) and tell them you are price matching. The cashier will ring up the sale price from
the other store saving you money.
The Walmart Savings Catcher app
is a necessity! If you do shop at
Walmart, sometimes you don’t catch everything that is on sale. Sign up for a Walmart.com savings catcher
account. You can use it on the computer
or as an app on your phone. Each week
when you shop, scan or log your receipt numbers. Walmart will scan the competitor’s ads for
you and will credit your savings until you cash it in as a gift card. To date after 5 months, I have earned over
$30 back! Be careful though, Savings
Catcher will not work for meats, fresh fruits or vegetables. You will still need to price match those at
the register to get the best deals.
Grocery store shopper/loyalty cards
are a necessity. Most grocery stores
have a loyalty card which you need to get the sale prices. Make sure to get one. This is only a savings card, not a credit or
debit card. Stores like Kroger, Hy-Vee and others offer cents off your purchase
of gas when you spend a certain amount in their store. Kroger also offers a daily 3 cents off each
time you use your shopper card to fill up your tank.
Use gift cards to YOUR advantage. When you purchase a gift card
(restaurant, Amazon shopping, etc) at a store like Kroger, you get extra points
you can use toward the gas discount.
Make sure to buy gift cards for stores you were already planning on
visiting.
Grocery store printable coupons
are a wonderful find! Kroger,
Walmart, Target and others have coupons on their website you can print off for
use in the store. In the case of Kroger,
you can add them as a digital coupon to your shopper card. I am sure that other stores throughout the USA
do the same thing. That can score you $2-$10
savings per shopping trip alone!
Everything’s a Dollar! Savings are abundant at the Dollar
Tree! Cards, frozen foods, snacks,
etc. All for only a $1!
Meal planning, the shopping list
and budgets, oh my. Plan your meals
and your grocery list ahead of shopping.
Stick to your list. Create a
budget and stick to it. Use Microsoft
Excel or another software package to track your spending (including cash) each
month. It takes a few minutes but then
you know exactly how much you have to spend. Carry cash to spend only what you
planned.
Fabulous internet shopping
savings through promo codes. Never
purchase without one (or attempting to find one). Retailmenot.com and Groupon.com are reputable
sources for these codes. Make sure to
use a Target Red Card for 5% automatic savings as well as free shipping.
Shop for used or pre-owned items
to save money. Use ebay and other
auction sites to purchase used items instead of new, saving dollars along the
way.
To encourage you in your savings quest, here is my savings example at
the grocery store. I price matched my
meats and veggies saving approximately $5.
Using some store website coupons, I saved another $4. I used my cash-back credit card (2% cash
reward) earning another $0.80. Net
savings on a $40 grocery store bill was $9.80.
Not bad for 15-20 minutes of prep time before shopping!
I am a student at the University of Wisconsin – La
Crosse. This post “15 minutes will save
you lots of money each week!” is student-to-student advice on how to stretch
your money. This is a part of the
DealSpotr Couponing in College Scholarship Contest. Go to https://dealspotr.com/scholarship
to find more tips, tricks and scholarship application information. Enjoy your savings and be sure to let me know
how it worked for you!
