Why save money? Not so that you stress out about budgets and coupons, but so that you’re free to NOT stress about money as much. Less money on groceries and household supplies=more money in your emergency fund.
21 Ways to Save Money on Groceries and Household Supplies
1. Don’t go shopping.
I know that sounds obvious and ridiculous, but I’m not kidding. Perhaps a better way to phrase that would be, “Only buy what you need.” The absolute best way to save money is to not even go on that trip with your friends to the mall to find good deals. If you buy something you don’t need, no matter how good a deal you found, you didn’t save money.
2. Sign up for an account with iBotta. If you sign up using this link, you will get your first $10 as soon as you redeem your first rebate. (Click HERE.)
You have to be careful while using iBotta, because sometimes it will tempt you to buy a more expensive choice than you originally would’ve made “because I’ll get $2.00 back!” However, I’ve saved almost $80 with iBotta just in the last few months, making purchases I would’ve made anyway. (A big saver was when Huggies was offering $4.00 back at the same time Baby J only fit Huggies diapers.) Sometimes you have to watch a video to get the rebate, but most of the time you just answer one easy question and it’s on your account, ready for you to scan your receipt. I have iBotta set up to pay me through PayPal, which I then send to my bank account.
My favorite iBotta coupons/rebates are the “any item” ones. They often give you 25 cents for any grocery item, just to keep you active on the app!
In addition to iBotta, try similar apps available for saving money just to see how good they are for your area/the groceries you usually buy.
Some ideas that come to mind are SavingStar (which wasn’t a good fit for me), Checkout51 (which only occasionally has rebates for things I use), and ShopKick, which gives you points, or “kicks,” when you enter stores and/or scan items inside the store.
3. Sign up for Ebates.
Ebates is another rebates site that actually works. I’ve not made as much money on Ebates as on iBotta, but David has used it a lot and gotten a number of their “Big Fat Checks.” Yes, they actually send you a check for the amount if you make over $5.01 in rebates! No $20 minimum like in iBotta.
Are you already using Priceline to get cheaper deals on airfare? Start your search on Ebates, and you’ll get even more cash back! (This week it’s 15%.)
4. Switch from steak to chicken.
David loves steak–so he eats it in restaurants with his boss or when he goes home to his parents for a visit. But we’ve agreed that unless I find an amazing deal on steak, we will probably not buy it unless it’s a very special occasion–like our house mortgage is paid off. (And once the mortgage is paid, we will have a lot more room in our budget!) The same is true about many other expensive cuts of meat or habits like buying snacks at the gas station. (Don’t if you can avoid it.) Right now we’ll make a lot of choices at this level so we can give more, host more people, and save for the future.
5. Double up rebates and coupons.
For example, with the Huggies diapers I also used a coupon for $4.00 off (in conjunction with the $4.00 of from iBotta). I then entered my receipt in the Huggies website to get points for more diapers in the future. Or when I bought a set of new sheets on Overstock, I first went through either Ebates or Groupon. Overstock has already discounted the sheets, and Ebates gave me money back. (Or, with Groupon, which you can sign up for here, you look for a coupon.)
6. Look on Groupon before you buy gifts or household supplies.
We found a great deal on some gold stud earrings we bought for my sister-in-law. David has also used a Groupon to save money on an oil change (which he does himself now that we have a house/garage he can work in). It’s always a good idea just to check. (Sign up and start saving money!)
7. Don’t pay for something twice.
For example, we love to listen to music, but lately we haven’t spent money on music because we have Amazon Alexa. (I love to use Alexa’s library to play nursery rhymes in Spanish for Baby J!) David basically got Alexa for free with all his fancy rebates, and now we use her all the time. We can also use Spotify to find free music (although, having been a bluegrass musician, I definitely believe in supporting local musicians by buying their music!).
8. Think creatively about gifts.
You have several friends who would all love stationery? Consider buying a large package of cards, dividing them with a ribbon tied around each pack, and having birthday gifts/just because gifts all ready. I recently did that with a gorgeous set of cards. (Here is are a couple examples: In Bloom 72 pack; Chalkboard Inspiration 36 pack)Make your own brownie mixes or cookie dough mixes in Mason jars and add a cute tag. Give the gift of time–a coupon for babysitting, for example.
A small corner of my family’s (parents’) garden in 2014.
9. Grow a garden!
I have to admit, between mole trouble and frost this year, I don’t think our tiny garden has saved us money yet. But when all the tomatoes start ripening–“free” fresh pico de gallo for us! And BLTs…my mouth is watering already! A large garden helped my parents feed their kids on an extremely tight budget.
10. Coupon cutting.
This is an area where I need to improve! My best coupons come from my mother-in-law. And when Baby J was first born, I had a friend who busily cut out diaper coupons from a bunch of different companies and mailed them to me. What a sweet idea! Every once in a while, I visit the Krazy Coupon Lady website (in spite of the fact that deviant spellings drive me crazy) and get inspired!
11. Shop at thrift stores.
Now that thrift stores are the hip place to shop for “vintage” clothing and items, many of their prices have gone up to the level of brand-new items at stores like Ross or TJ Maxx. However, you can still find some good prices, especially in off-the-main-road stores. My cousin/best friend, Heather, and I thrift-shopped our way through Arkansas and Mississippi to the Florida beach one spring vacation (yes, we looked up the thrift stores ahead of time) and found some great deals. (OK, so maybe we didn’t each need a pair of those cool silver feather earrings–but they were only two bucks!) Thrift stores are not the place to find groceries, but they’re a great source for clothing, couches, lamps, and a multitude of household needs and wants.
12. Get rid of your television.
You might suffer some withdrawals for a while, but you won’t regret your decision to tank the tube. Not only will you save the money usually spent on your cable bill, but you’ll stop seeing the commercials telling you to go out this instant and buy OUR AMAZING YUMMY NUMMY CEREAL!
13. Get the Walmart Savings Catcher app and start saving!
We try to scan almost all of our receipts from Walmart in the savings catcher app and regularly get back money. It’s very easy to redeem your money at the checkout counter.
14. Make a grocery list before you leave the house. Also, don’t shop when you’re hungry! 🙂
If you have an organized list, you’ll be less likely to make impulse purchases. And I know it sounds funny to say don’t shop when you’re hungry, but I’m wayyy more likely to walk out with a box of doughnuts I don’t need if I didn’t make a list ahead of time.
15. Host friends at home instead of going to a restaurant.
I talked about the budget-friendliness of having people in your home in an earlier post that gives you menu ideas for inexpensive meals for friends. (Read it HERE.) Not only are you saving money, you’re building relationships. Showing hospitality can be hard, but it’s so much fun!
16. Shop at yard sales.
Yard saling / garage saling (depends on where you live!) is the thing to do in the summer on those early mornings! I hit them up for a number of household supplies when we first moved into our house. Of course, with a young baby, it’s now much more difficult for me to leave the house early enough to get good deals. But I also don’t need that much stuff right now!
17. Download local grocery store apps.
Again, I was better about doing this pre-baby. (Because now it’s harder to hop from store to store!) But at certain times of the year, the normally more-expensive-than-Walmart stores have amazing sales! Those sales are sometimes only available to their “preferred customers.” Just sign up for the free stuff. All the free stuff. 🙂
18. Learn how to cook expensive pre-made things yourself.
Freezer meals and pre-packaged meals (except for the ones that really taste pretty terrible) aren’t just pricey; they’re usually full of preservatives and ingredients that your body really doesn’t need. Look up recipes online, and if you need frozen meals, divide up large casseroles into smaller packages yourself. (Here’s my post on freezer meals I made before Baby J was born.) When I want to learn how to make something new, I stalk recipe sites online or check recipe books out of the local library.
19. Sign up for TopCashBack.
I haven’t used TCB as much for household supplies as I’d like to, but we made a couple of purchases over $20 last year and ended up getting more than the whole amount back through TopCashBack. Sign up here.
20. Check online for coupons/free shipping before buying from any new store.
You can usually find some type of coupon, even if it’s outdated! (You have to check expiration dates!)
21. Be consistent.
It’s easy to just download the app and then do nothing. I really want to encourage you, though, to go ahead and try iBotta out while you make your grocery shopping list (enjoy your $10 welcome bonus!), or Ebates next time you need to buy sheets, or Groupon before your next activity with friends or oil change. Once you’ve seen that first few dollars start racking up on the side, you might become addicted to saving money.