If you want not to experience the cruel frustration of wasteful spending after going to the supermarket for groceries, it is enough to approach this task not as entertainment or a spontaneous impulse, but as a planned and well-thought-out event.
It is quite possible to buy everything you need and even save money. You just need to get rid of the habit of shopping spontaneously. Smart planning in this matter will benefit both your budget and your health.
Buy groceries in bulk
Those who, having received a salary, try to replenish the stock of food in the house in such a way that it will last for a fairly long time, act wisely. Products such as cereals, flour, sugar can be kept in the house for a month or two, while maintaining their quality. In addition, when buying large packages, you save a lot.
There is one more positive aspect in “wholesale” purchases: every time you enter a store, you expose yourself to the temptation to buy something “tasty” and unplanned. The risk of such expenses is especially great when you come to the supermarket with children. Consequently, the less often you visit stores, the less chance of "unplanned" expenses.
Choose simple packaging
It often happens that a product is much more expensive, not only because of its excellent quality. Often you have to overpay for a promoted "brand" and beautiful packaging - after all, manufacturers need to compensate for advertising costs!
Think back to the "Good doesn't need advertising" rule and favor items that are modestly packaged, perhaps locally sourced. Of course, it will not be superfluous to carefully study the information on the product indicated on the package. In doing so, you will be able to make sure that "modest" products are not inferior in quality to their advertised competitors, and sometimes even surpass them.
A few more rules
Even if you have taken care of the stock of food for future use, you will have to buy perishable goods such as milk, eggs, butter, cottage cheese and meat products quite often. In order not to spend too much, follow the simple rules for visiting the supermarket, and you can save yourself from unnecessary expenses.
- Going to the store, make a list of what you are going to buy - this will help you not to "spray" on possible temptations.
- Calculate how much money you plan to spend on a trip to the supermarket, and do not take more than the required amount with you.
- Do not go to the store on an empty stomach: if a person is hungry, it is much easier to "persuade" himself to buy something tasty, but possibly expensive and harmful.
- Do not take children to the store. Kids are especially susceptible to bright packaging of various harmful products, and it will be difficult for you to refuse them.
- Remember marketing tricks. Most often, shelves with the most expensive products are located at the level of your eyes, and you can see cheaper similar products by looking up or down. Try to make the rounds of the supermarket purposefully, without staying in those departments where you did not plan to buy anything.
