It’s that time of the week again – time to get down to some grocery shopping.
You go to the shop with every intention of getting only what is needed and staying within budget.
By the time you return home, however, your car boot is bursting at the seams and your wallet is significantly lighter.
Yet again, you’ve been caught unawares by the grocery bogeyman!
Not to fret, though, for some simple tips and tricks can get you back on track in no time.
First, let’s look at the top 4 mistakes to avoid when you go grocery shopping.
Article Chapters
Buying Too Much/Buying Too Little
Grocery stores try every trick in the book to get you to buy more with the seemingly attractive “combo deals”.
Combo deals, bulk buys, the 10-for-10 deals are all meant to get us to pack our shopping carts to the brim.
Most of us, whether we like it or not, do fall for these tricks.
It is only at the checkout line that we might realize that we’ve gone beyond the limit we’d set before leaving home.
On the flip side, we might rush about trying to avoid all the tempting offers.
More often than not, we end up not getting everything we need.
This could mean multiple trips to the supermarket – that’s added fuel cost, not to mention the increasing stress.
Solution
Make a list and stick to it.
No matter how tempting the spaghetti-and-sauce combo bulk offer looks, stick to your list!
You’ll be a happy person when you walk into your home.
Shopping at Eye Level
Premium products are nearly always placed at your eye level.
Companies pay for this placement strategy because they know that most of the time you are seldom going to bend down or look up to pick out good quality products from lesser-known brands even if they have affordable prices.
It is also the reason that all the flashy boxes of chocolates and cereals are placed at the eye level of children; parents can be assured of a mid-aisle tantrum, if nothing else.
Solution
Look at the shelves above and below your eye level.
You can always find good deals there.
Also, if you can’t get a babysitter, make a deal with your children that they can pick out only one thing for themselves and no more.
Impulse Buying
This is one of the biggest factors that destroys the grocery budget.
This typically happens when you feel that you are doing rather well today and the shopping is going to plan, so why not squeeze in a tub of ice-cream as a reward?
Or perhaps the Buy 1 Get 1 chocolate box deal in the checkout section?
Perhaps some exotic fruits? Just say no.
Solution
Stick to your shopping list!
Not Using Coupons and Reward Points
Many of us probably don’t remember about coupons that we received when we shopped previously.
Some of us don’t realise that most stores also award reward points to you if you are a regular shopper there.
These reward points translate to a certain amount of money and need to be redeemed within a period of time.
Both these options can help you save something on your shopping budget.
Solution
If you maintain digital budgets, include a coupon and rewards section to your spreadsheet.
Remember to ask about reward points at the checkout counter.
The easiest and surest method of avoiding any of these mistakes is to shop online.
More than 60% people in the UK are now doing their grocery shopping online.
Stores that specialise in specific groceries like Kerala grocery are providing grocery online so that their customers don’t have to make long trips during these times.
The reasons why online grocery shopping is helpful in avoiding the 4 mistakes of grocery shopping listed above are:
- You can see exactly how much you are putting in your online shopping cart. You can simply delete the extras from the cart before paying for the rest of the items. Unlike a physical shopping cart, where you just go with whatever you’ve put in because you want to avoid embarrassment at checkout, an online cart is easy to manage.
- There is no eye-level shopping. You can see everything under various categories by scrolling up and down the webpages. It gives you freedom to try out smaller brands which might be giving better prices. For example, Kerala grocery online UK will list all brands that provide Kerala grocery items. You are free to choose whichever suits your budget without having to look up or down.
- Impulse buying is avoided because you can see the exact subtotal every time you add something to your online cart. You will know to the exact pence when you go over the budget.
- Rewards and coupons are transparently displayed in online grocery websites and many are automatically applied. In any case, the website will alert you before checkout.
Avoid the mistakes of grocery shopping or switch to online grocery shopping to make grocery shopping a comfortable, rewarding experience for yourself.