Is Saving Money When Shopping Possible?
When your average person thinks about saving the images that flash are those of a bank, or if you want something cute a piggy bank. On the other hand when you think about shopping it can mean one of two things (depending on your character and financial smarts) less money in your wallet or a shiny new object you either need or want. Many people (probably not included in our reader list) don’t consider saving money when shopping nor plan ahead to do so.
Something new and or trending which can save you money is group shopping. The idea behind this is take advantage of greater discounts because you buy in bulk. (This can also be known as wholesale shopping if you worked in retail before)
For one warehouse stores give discounts for bulk shoppers.
And two you can manipulate a store owner to give you a bigger discount because you are buying more than one item.
Saving Money When shopping: Is Group Shopping Effective?
The question is how effective group shopping is to save money and where the savings come in compared to some of those old school shopping tips.
- Save on shipping cost.
One area where buying as a group or in bulk is most effective is when you shop online. Instead of paying for the shipping of each item individually you can have one single receipt and pay one shipping cost. This is not to mention the discount you already got from bulk buying. - Lesser price.
This holds especially true for online shopping websites which offer huge discounts. Depending on the product, they can offer up to 70 percent discount. The opportunities for saving money when shopping on these kinds of sites are much bigger because these retailers don’t have to pay for space and other taxes compared to offline stores.
Something you need to keep in mind with group shopping is although you can save some money there are some traps you can fall into. Retailers can manipulate buyers to have a false sense of urgency to buy the product. For example they will advertise an item for a lesser price this week if the required number of buyers is met. After the campaign is successful they will repeat the same strategy the next week. Marketing and sales gimmicks like this can be common strategies to help you part with your money.
Saving money when shopping can go above and beyond the idea of group shopping. Those common sense things people talk about but forget when hitting the shopping aisles as your shopping hungry, in a hurry or last minute or your simply operating on autopilot and not thinking.
Tips to Saving Money When Shopping
Your common sense tips to Shopping
- Have a budget.
Shopping without a budget always puts you in danger of over spending. With a budget it’s about setting aside an amount to be used for shopping and letting that work for you (or you making it work)
- Make a list.
This step can be a bit boring, but this is one of the best saving methods. This process does not only involve listing what you need to buy but also includes going through the list and eliminate other things that you don’t necessarily need at the moment. More often than not you will find out that you don’t need to buy your month’s supply of beans yet! One more thing you can tick off your list until it’s on special.
- Choose the products.
Labels you don’t recognize or packaging that’s not fancy can have the same nutritional value as are cheaper than their brightly labelled branded counterparts. So do fruits and vegetables that are in season compared to out of season. Plan your recipes with an eye on what types of ingredients are included and priced cheaper this time of year.
- Focus on your list and avoid distraction.
Here’s an interesting fact. Saving money requires understanding a bit of consumer psychology and store marketing. Have you ever wondered why although products in specific aisles, there are similar products placed all over the store? Boxes and stacks hanging out on aisles and end caps.
Stores and supermarkets merchandise to your flaws… placing them there on purpose because they know that when you shop your distracted by such displays and tempted as their out of place of the normal. Focus on your list and avoid being tempted is better than any group shopping technique.
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***Photo thanks to Kenteegardin***
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