1. Put wisdom at the forefront of your shopping goals. Pre-plan what you will purchase. Make a comprehensive shopping list of what you are going to buy before you go to the store. Don’t purchase anything that is not on your list. Don’t bring too much money with you. If you have a hard time with credit cards, don’t bring one.
2. Don’t limit yourself to shopping at a single store. Shop around to compare prices. Stores may have drastically different prices on the same item. One store might have a generic version of the item considerably cheaper. Often this generic item is made by the same company that makes the brand item. This tip can be particularly useful if you make repeat purchases of the item.
3. Watch for overstocking of seasonal items. You can often go into stores at the end of a season and find 50% to 80% off clearance prices. For example, swimming clothes in climates that have cold winters can often be bought at a great price in September. Jackets in places with warm summers are usually a great deal in April.
4. Get to know your local stores and their prices. Some stores may be cheaper on some items and other stores may be cheaper on others. Once you are familiar with your local stores and their pricing practices, you can save gas by knowing which items to buy at each store ahead of time. This will help you plan the most direct routes through stores to save you on time and gas. This is especially true if you do your shopping on the way home from work or other trips. Knowing your local stores’ prices is crucial to making quick, inexpensive shopping trips.
5. Don’t neglect your local dollar stores. Not everything in a dollar store is a one dollar item. Many of the things in dollar stores are discontinued products or overstock. It is not uncommon to find savings of 80% to 95% on a trip to a dollar store. Just be careful to only buy items you put on your list, as even $1 items can add up to a lot of dollars.
6. While dollar stores are great places to find deals on items that would normally cost $3 to $20, there may be other discount stores around that offer bigger discounts on high priced items. Get to know these stores and what they carry. Often they will be specialty stores like a hardware discounter or electronics megastore. Some of these stores have a few great specials each week and everything else may be regular price. When you have a major purchase to make, it may pay off to be patient and wait for one of these stores to have a sale on the item you’re looking to purchase.
