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We all love a good bargain, especially when it comes with the same or added benefits of the purchase made but with a lighter dent on your wallet. It can be a tedious job especially when you have to buy groceries and other necessities but with a daily finance cap. But this isn’t a very difficult problem to solve when you have a good plan of action and know how to maintain your money efficiently. If you’re looking for some tips to go by, you are at the right place. Here are 8 useful steps you can use on a daily basis. Let’s go through them one by one:
1. Setting Up A Budget
This is the first and major step to shopping smart. Tracking where all the money is being spent is an important start to this plan. Any frivolous or unnecessary expenditure should be avoided.
2. Knowing The Best Price Of A Product
Consider this, you go into a bookstore and you see a book that you want to purchase. But it’s very likely that the price in that store and the price of that same book in an e-commerce website is going to have major differences. Ideally you would want to check for the product you want to purchase in different stores, compare the prices and go with the cheapest option. You’re basically getting the same thing for a lowered price.
3. Avoiding Credit Cards
Credit cards feel like a leisurely thing to use, until the bill arrives. The money spent earlier, compounded with the interest, can take the bill to insanely high levels which might take a lifetime to repay and can even throw someone in a massive debt. Credit cards should be only used during times of crisis and it should be made sure that the bill is repaid on a timely basis.
4. Bulk buying and making use of coupons
Some stores prefer to give discounts to customers who buy products in bulk and also because of the “potential daily customer” factor that comes along with it. So, while buying groceries or other stuff, get your friends or other acquaintances so that you can reap that benefit as well.
Some places also hand out coupons to their customers once in a while. Keeping good care of the coupons might save you some extra bucks the next time you go into the same store to buy anything else.
5. Stick to a budget
As you shop, you can keep adding up your grocery bill to stay on budget. The advantage of this is that you only stick to your shopping list and leave out the items you can easily live without.
6. Download apps that help you track your finances
With the boom of the IT industry recently, there are a lot of applications available that remind you to wisely use your hard earned money on products and help track your purchases. They are one Google search away and can benefit you greatly in creating and maintaining a financial plan.
7. Sign up for rewards and loyalty programs
Sign up for discount cards at grocery stores and drugstores in your area. Using these programs regularly can help you save money at checkout or possibly help you earn rewards while making future purchases.
8. Buying second-hand and shopping out of season
We all love purchasing brand new products but it isn’t always necessary. Sometimes refurbished products can be bought that work just the same as their newly bought counterparts. What’s more is that it can also save you a good amount of money that you can use elsewhere.
On a similar note, one of the best ways to save money and shop smart when it comes to buying clothes is to shop out of season. What that means is in January, when retailers are gearing up for Spring/Summer products, you shop for the Winter collections.
The clearance of all the winter clothes out in January makes room for the Spring/Summer clothes which are naturally going to be in more demand at that time. The prices are slashed for clearance items so you’ll be buying clothes for much less than their original market value.
That’s it for our shopping smart guide, folks! Hope some of these tips come in handy and help you save a couple of bucks when purchasing items.
