My husband and I have big goals in the financial realm for 2014. As you may have seen in my 100 Little Things post, we are hoping to pay off our van, credit card and student loan. It’s daunting, but we can’t wait to be debt-free and have that weight gone!
One of the easy ways to trim the budget a bit is through our groceries. I am embarrassed to admit that we were previously so wasteful with our money: eating out way too much, throwing away too much expired and rotten food…it was bad. With the new year came a new commitment and so far, so good! Getting rid of the bad habits is a good, good thing.
Today, I thought I’d share three apps I use on my phone that have helped me save some money in the grocery department. At first, it doesn’t seem like much, but every little bit helps and it does add up!
1. Cartwheel: We have a Super Target nearby and I’m there at least once a week. The Cartwheel App is so great! There are tons of offers for 5-10% (sometimes more!) off different products and they update regularly.
There are two features that I find especially helpful:
A. When I prepare beforehand: The search bar is so helpful when I am making a grocery list at home. I type in the items I plan to buy and see if there are any corresponding offers to put in my Cartwheel “cart”.
B. At the store: If I don’t have a chance to prepare before I get to the store, I use the UPC scanning option to check each item that goes in my cart.
When you get to checkout, you simply show your cashier the barcode, they scan it and done! So easy! I’ve been using the app for a few months now and I’ve already saved about $70. Every little bit adds up!
2. Ibotta: This is a fairly new one for me, but I like it! Basically, it is an app where you can earn cash back for purchasing participating products. This video from the Krazy Coupon Lady is really helpful and explains it better than I can. I often don’t purchase a lot of the items they offer, but I keep checking back just in case. I also like that when you reach a certain amount ($5, I think?), you can cash out right to your Paypal account.
3. emeals: Oh man, has this one changed my life! Back in December, I purchased a year-long membership to emeals to help me with meal planning. It has been worth every penny. We have eaten delicious, healthy meals every night since! The mobile app that accompanies the plan is amazing. My favorite part is the grocery list. I follow along as I run through the store and I love how you can check each item off as you put it in your cart. Makes grocery shopping so easy! I also like that it keeps me on track. If it’s not on the list, it doesn’t go in my cart. It’s a great reminder to stick to the plan and avoid the impulse buys.
What tips do you use to save money on your groceries? Do you coupon? I’d love to know your secrets!
When grocery shopping, I always check the ads to see what's on sale, and if there's something I use a lot of, I stock up like crazy so it's on hand when I need it another day. Otherwise, I try to meal plan and only get things that I'll need for those specific meals.
The best way that I save money on food is to not eat out/order out. We got into a bad habit of picking up coffee/breakfast on the way to work and just not doing that saves us so much money!! This past summer we paid off our student loan debt (the last debt we had, besides a mortgage, after paying off our cars and a family loan) and it felt AMAZING!!! But then we got this feeling of "now we have extra money to spend" and did a few too many home projects for our budget. So in 2014, we are committed to saving and not spending!