There are lots of great things you can do when you shop in order to save money on groceries. However, what follows is a discussion of some things you should avoid doing if your goal is to save money when you shop.
Avoid stocking up on items that will go bad. Your favorite stir fry sauce might be on sale, but it’s usually not a good idea to buy 10 of them when they are all close to their expiry date. You will either end up eating food that is no longer fresh, or you will end up throwing a bunch of sauce in the garbage. You lose either way, so avoid the temptation to stock up too much.
Avoid shopping when you’re hungry. If you are hungry, you will find that almost everything you see is appealing to you, and you will be more prone to making purchases that you wouldn’t ordinarily make. When you get home, you will be shaking your head wondering why you bought so much stuff you don’t even like or want.
Avoid shopping when you’re in a rush. When you are rushed, you won’t have the time to give the attention required to shopping well. You won’t read price tags properly and you won’t have time to do mental price comparisons before choosing the best option. As a result, you will end up overspending, or perhaps buying the wrong item. So, whenever possible, try to fit your shopping in during a time that you won’t be in a rush to get to a meeting or appointment.
Avoid buying things just because they’re on sale. Sometimes stores will try to entice you to buy something you really don’t need by selling it at a ridiculously low price. And sometimes it’s really easy to give in and buy the item, even though you had no inclination of buying it when you walked into the store. Once or twice, this isn’t a big deal, but if you find yourself always giving in, it will add up and you will end up with all kinds of items that you really didn’t even want or need.
I’ll admit that I am guilty of doing every single one of the things I’m suggesting that you avoid. Now that food prices are through the roof, I have been trying really hard to avoid these things in hopes that one day I will be able to stay within my grocery budget again.
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