What are some good apps and or hacks to save money specifically on groceries and household items?
I'm about to take a year unpaid and I'm generally pretty frugal. An area where I could improve would be to take advantage of things like coupons or rebate apps or shopping the circulars. I'm seeking any advice or habits that people have found that actually make a meaningful difference in budgeting for things like gas, food, and household supplies.
Apps/Hacks/Routines for groceries?
byu/frenchfriez4lifee inFrugal
Posted by frenchfriez4lifee
7 Comments
Shop far ahead of your needs. This week’s grocery shop should be for at least two weeks from now, preferably for next month. And on each shopping trip you should buy 2-3 things that help you “future-proof” your cooking against shortages or sudden inflation.
That way, you always have choices and can choose foods that are nutritious and in budget.
Depending on why you will be unpaid for a year, you can save a lot of money by going back to cleaning basics, using white vinegar and baking soda for 90% of your cleaning.
Flipp is a nice flyer clipping app, good for price matching. Too Good to Go is a food waste reduction app good for getting discounted hauls from baked goods to floral arrangements
Always buy products on sale. Sales rotate every 3 to 4 weeks, so if you can, buy enough on sale to last 3 to 4 weeks. You’ll save at least 25% just doing this. Look at the weekly flyer before you shop to plan.
Buy frozen vegs or fresh ones and freeze them to avoid wastage.
Walk or use a bike or bus for transportation, as much as you can. The cheapest way to save on gas is to not buy it.
Volunteering at an event is usually a good way to get free food/entertainment. Music festivals and 5k/10k bike or running races have been good for that in my experience.
Reuse & recycle will be your bffs. No paper towels, use cloth rags, old tshirts & wash them. Save food scraps. Don’t food that’ll definitely go bad before you’ll eat it.
Repair your clothes – learn to sew hems, buttons, and repair holes etc.
Don’t use a dryer, line or hang dry everything you can when you can. Live with the daylight to avoid electric when you can.
Shop discount. Look up dollar tree dinners online, or other low cost meal plan creators.
If you are lucky enough to have a Whole Foods in your area and you have the time to figure out the game, the Too Good To Go app is fantastic.
Also, Flash Foods app for Meijer stores.
You can’t be a picky eater though
Most grocery stores have weekly ads that are available online; some stores have free membership/rewards programs and/or apps with digital store coupons, manufacturers’ coupons, and personalized deals. Our weekly routine is to check out the weekly ads; pick the store with the best overall prices for what we need; meal plan for the week based on the proteins and produce that are on sale; and make a shopping list. The store that we usually shop at has a rewards program, website and app, so we are able to easily clip digital coupons and also get personalized deals on items we regularly buy. Inflation has prompted us to cook based on sales, rather than trying to have a rotation of meals.
When there is a particularly good sale, we stock up a bit especially on items that freeze well like meats, cheeses, and butter. A few weeks before we will run out of household goods like paper towels, toilet paper, cleaner or laundry detergent, we start watching the ads to make sure to get it on sale before running out.