5 Smart Shopping Hacks For Your Home

Although shopping can be fun, as well as necessary, never pay full retail price with these 5 smart shopper tricks. Groceries, clothing, organizational tools, cleaning products, and supplies for school or work are necessary items that must be bought on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.

Shopping can also be for fun things like décor additions to the home, gifts for friends or family, or exciting new toys for the kids. There are plentiful ways to save money while shopping in person or online for any number of items.

Below are a few simple ways to save money and shop smarter.

Shopping with Coupons

The age-old trope of a mother sitting at the kitchen table cutting coupons out of the newspaper may seem like a waste of time, but coupons can actually save tons of money on groceries and supplies for the home.

The trick with coupons is to never use a coupon for an item that wouldn’t have been on the shopping list already. A great way to save money is to make a master list of items typically purchased for the home weekly, monthly, or less frequently, and to look through the coupons for a match.

A coupon for iced tea does not mean that the next shopping trip should include a trip down the beverages aisle unless iced tea was something the shopper intended to buy in the first place. Coupons can be a great little money saver, but only if they are used in conjunction with purposeful shopping.

BOGO and Other Sales

One of the biggest money savers, especially on clothes and food, are sales.

Like with coupons, sales are meant to draw in customers who typically wouldn’t spend money on these items without the promise of savings. This is why, again, shopping deals should be done within the mindset of: is this item something I would have bought regularly without the deal?

Checking up on needed clothing items or favorite stores can help with knowing what the deals are and when items needed are cheaper or discounted. The first step to shopping sales is to make a list of items needed. Step two is to compare the shopping list with current sales and discounts. If any match up, utilize that sale to save money on a necessary item.

Grocery stores and retail stores often have a section devoted solely to heavily discounted items, or buy one get one (BOGO) items. Checking this section frequently, or making it a habit of beginning the shopping trip in that section, can lead to large savings on food and other items over time.

Sign up for a Store Card

Individuals may benefit greatly from purchasing or signing up for a free card or membership with a store that they frequent. These store cards can save a large amount of money over time by offering discounts or rewards for purchases.

Signing up for these memberships or cards at clothing stores especially is a great way to make clothes shopping more affordable and to add some spice to the wardrobe without having to shovel out a ton of cash every time a shopping trip happens. Often times stores will offer a tiny card addition to the key ring, so it is impossible to forget this item when heading out on a shopping trip. And even if the card is lost or stolen, often times stores will be able to find the membership information online so that members are always able to reap the rewards of their membership.

Buy in Bulk

Stores that allow the purchase of groceries or other items in bulk to cut down on net price have been incredibly popular in the past few years as shoppers attempt to cut down on their yearly food budget by spending a little more up front.

Buying all the cereal that will be consumed in one’s household for the next six months is a larger investment than just picking up a box at the local grocery store, but shopping like this for the entire grocery budget can actually save hundreds of dollars every year.

Shopping in bulk is a short-term investment with massive long-term financial gains. It can even be done with non-boxed items. Frozen vegetables can be bought in bulk, as well as beverages, coffee, and even non-food disposable items like plastic spoons or toilet paper. These bulk purchases are especially great because not only do they save money, but they also save time required to make it to the store and restock these items every few weeks.

Plan for the Bigger Ticket Items and Wait for the Sale

If you know that in the next year, you hope to make a big-ticket item purchase – maybe a home appliance, a car, even something like a swimming pool, etc. – start looking before you “need” it.

Keep an eye out on dealerships and businesses selling those items and snag them when they offer major blow-out sales, holiday sales, or going-out-of-business sales.

This does mean that instead of necessarily timing it based on when you have the cash in hand, you are timing it based on the sale. So, for some higher priced items, this may mean you don’t have the cash necessary. But taking advantage of the sale would still help you save money, so look into a personal loan or bank card. Synchrony Bank information can make it easy to find a personal loan perfect for this type of savings opportunity.

I hope you enjoyed these hacks on how you can shop smarter for your home.  I would love to hear some of the ways you shop for your home. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below.

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