Helpful hints - Money saving ideas
At the supermarket
Groceries often account for one of our largest weekly expenses, and this makes the supermarket an ideal place to make savings. The top selling supermarket items include soft drinks, cigarettes and confectionery. If you can cut back on these, and trim your grocery bill by just $20 each week, you will have saved over $1,000 in just one year.
Retailers invest a lot of time and money into store layout to entice you to spend more. Here are some insights into how they do it – and how to avoid the trap of overspending:
- Everyday items, like milk, are often located at the back of the store. You need to pass through aisles of other items (hopefully adding these to your shopping basket) before you reach them. To avoid impulse buying, head straight to what you want and move on to the check out.
- ‘Complementation’ is when complementary items like coffee and biscuits are located together. To avoid buying more, prepare a shopping list and stick to it.
- The end-of-aisle racks in supermarkets often give the impression of offering bargains. This is not always the case. The cheapest goods are often found on the top or bottom shelves.
- ‘Generic’ or house brands are usually cheaper than named brands. For regular household items, like sugar and flour, there is often little difference in quality, and the savings can be substantial. Research suggests you could cut your weekly grocery bill by up to 40% simply by replacing branded items with generic equivalents.
- Watch price scanners at the checkout and check your receipt. If you are overcharged on the shelf price, you are entitled to a refund.
