The Early Bird Gets the Best Bargains
The following is a guest post.
Sometimes I miss being able to sleep until 11 like I could when I was in my mid-20s. Now that I have three kids I can’t sleep past 7 so I might as well take advantage of my body clock to head on out and snap up the best grocery deals. Here are five money-saving tips to take advantage of bargains at the grocery and drug stores — for early birds only.
Deeply discounted meats get snapped up early. Check in with the meat counter at your grocery store to find out when they set out the “quick sale” meats. These meats generally must be sold or frozen within one or two days and are deeply discounted. I hit the grocery store at 8 a.m. last Saturday and picked up two family packs of ground beef that were marked at $.99/lb. That’s 50% less than the price I usually pay for the family pack.
Shop early in the week for the best selection. For week-long sales at grocery stores and drug stores make sure to shop as early in the week of the sale as you can (e.g., if a sale starts on Wednesday, try to shop on Wednesday or Thursday). The most heavily discounted items get scooped up quickly and often don’t get re-stocked.
Shop early in the morning for shorter check-out lines. Not only will you get in and out of the supermarket faster, but you’ll be less likely to have other shoppers in line behind you and can pay closer attention as your items and coupons get scanned. Be sure to let the cashier know right away about any errors you notice.
Wake up and hand over your loyalty card first. I used to like to hand over my store card once all of my items were scanned to watch all the discounts get taken off at once. It makes more sense though to have your card out and scan your card early on so you can watch the discounts get applied to each item as it is scanned.
Look out for the weekly coupon previews. Go online to sites like Hot Coupon World and A Full Cup that often post on Tuesdays and Wednesdays the coupons that are expected to appear in the Sunday coupon inserts. This way you can get a head start on your grocery list based on the coupons you know you’ll have in hand.
Erin Gifford is a deal seeker and a coupon lover who writes at Coupon Cravings. She has three kids and enjoys saving money and watching her grocery budget shrink a little bit more each week.
Tags: coupons, food, groceries, save, saving moneyRelated Stories
POSTED IN: food, money saving idea
3 opinions for The Early Bird Gets the Best Bargains
Jennifer
Jul 21, 2008 at 10:01 am
These are some great tips!
Alyssa @ Keeping the Kingdom First
Jul 21, 2008 at 12:50 pm
If only I were a morning person! This is so true. I do most of my shopping at night, without the kids, so I probably miss out on a lot of deals.
Excellent post, Erin!
Erin @ Coupon Cravings
Jul 21, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Thanks so much for the opportunity to write this post, Karen! It was a lot of fun! :)
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