How To Save Crazy Time and Money With This Shopping Rule

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Jump on board with this shopping habit and save TONS of time and money each week!

Plus, if you love this shopping hack, sign up for my FREE Master Grocery List!

 

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The Shopping Habit:

Pick ONE day per week for outside shopping and errands.

Why This Shopping Habit Saves Time:

I used to shop once each morning at a different 1 or 2 stores.  I thought it was saving me time each day by only going out for an hour to an hour and a half each morning.  Sounds pretty stupid when you add up the hours – that’s 5-7.5 hours a week on errands. That’s an entire day of work for me, spent mostly driving to and from wherever I’m going.

Now, I spend 2 to 2.5 hours at most on errands each week.

 

Why It Saves Money:

4 Ridiculously Easy & Totally Passive Ways!

1. It saves gas!
2. It saves car mileage, which saves the life of your car in the long run.
3. It saves me from wasting time walking aimlessly through stores going, “what do I need?  Let’s look through all the isles until something jumps out at me.”  Impulse purchases are probably the number one reason why I had such a bad handle on my credit card situation years ago.
4. It gives me the flexibility to be able to wait for sales and coupons.

Related: 3 Ways I’m Paying off Credit Card Debt

 

Here’s How I Do It:

Oh, the sweet, sweet magic of the PLAN.  In order for this to actually work, I can’t just waltz out of the house each Tuesday.  At pretty much the beginning of the month I know:

• where I’m going,
• on what day (usually Tuesday),
• what I need or will probably need, and
• **what I can order online with free shipping** This is the most important one, y’all.

This may seem like a lot.  However, starting any new way of doing things takes a little getting used to.  Even just picking one or two of the below ideas will help dramatically.

 

Here’s what I plan beforehand to get this Shopping Habit to work for me:

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Groceries Plan – Once Weekly

This is going to look different depending on how many people you are shopping for.  However, there is an easy way to have a grocery plan, and a really hard way.

It is SO easy to fall down the rabbit hole when you start looking for a “meal plan” or “meal prep” recipes.  My advice to you is to KEEP IT SIMPLE.  What does “a meal” actually require?  3 things:

• Protein
• Carb
• Vegetable

Those are the only 3 things you absolutely need to have for lunches and dinners.  When you find yourself frantically searching for recipes and throwing ingredients onto your shopping list you haven’t even dang heard of, take a step back.

I need proteins, carbs, and veggies.

Once you feel comfortable trying out new sauces and spices, then grab something new!  But, don’t go looking for meal prep recipes that don’t already fit into your style of cooking or flavor preference.

Once the Lunch & Dinner big-ticket items are out of the way, I can populate my list with the day-to-day things we use up:

• Bread
• Cheese
• Pickles
• Milk
• Eggs
• Chicken Nuggets
• Butter
• Fruits
• Cereal
• Chips
• Frozen pancakes & waffles, anything the family reaches for on a regular basis.

TIP: Make sure you are buying enough for the week!!!

BTW, if you are looking for some reusable shopping totes, I have these from Amazon and they make great gifts too.

A lot of cities are opting out of plastic bags, so it’s good to store a few of these in the trunk.

 

Related:  The Only Master Grocery List You’ll Ever Need

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Housewares & Toiletries Plan – Once Monthly

I got lazy with my planning towards the end of the summer and ran out of toilet paper.  Not a fun situation.

Anyway, Target and Walmart both have low free shipping thresholds.  I also have a Target credit card which gives me an automatic 5% off AND free shipping every single purchase, so I tend to order from Target more often.  It’s easy to for me to buy:

• Snacks
• cleaning supplies
• gifts
• kids clothing
• condiments
• vitamins
• toiletries, etc. Things that aren’t fragile or need to be refrigerated.

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**If you do any shopping online, you absolutely MUST sign up for a free money saving app.  You are throwing free money away if you dont use one.  

I love 2 of them:

1 – Ebates – Ebates has an app, website AND Google Chrome extension.  So wherever you are shopping from online, you can use Ebates for cash back.  Ebates works at a TON of popular stores like Macys, Walmart, Target, Ebay, Sephora, Kohls, and (sometimes) Amazon.

It’s totally free – when you sign up though my link you get extra cash back as a thank you after you make your first purchase! The cash back can be anywhere from $10 to even $40 with your first purchase! 

2 – Honey – This one is more of a “desktop” Google-Chrome extension, but it is super easy to use.  You just download the Chrome extension and whenever you shop online, Honey automatically searches the entire internet for available coupon codes.  You can save on literally any purchase from a store’s website that has active coupon codes – from Bed Bath & Beyond to Doordash.  No more signing up for every single coupon code site out there.

It’s also free! Check it out & sign up through my link.  You also get rewards points, redeemable for gift cards to your favorite stores.

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Errands Plan – Once Weekly

These are things like the bank, post office, library, visiting a relative, etc.

Nearly every neighborhood has a bank branch and post office.  Google the zip code of your grocery store or wherever you have to go, plus “Post Office” or “[Name of Your] Bank.”  This way you can zip in and out without driving too far out of your way.

You can also put your grocery store into Google Maps and search along the route.

Relative-visiting is something I like to do with the kids on the weekends.  But, if someone is asking to see me during the week, I always ask if we can go grocery shopping or to the bank or whatever, together.  I spend time with them, while checking an errand off my list.

 

TIP:  I make an effort to do as much banking online as I can.  I’ve found that my checking account monthly mobile deposit limit is annoyingly low, so towards the end of the month I may have to make one stop at the bank. 

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Conclusion

There are still times when I have to run out for something quickly, or I forgot something, but since having a plan, those times are now few and far between.  Having a plan for anything usually saves time, money, brain power, sanity and stress.   We all need a few shortcuts in our lives!

 

Let me know what your favorite Shopping Hack is in the comments below!

 

XO,

-Mina

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P.S.: Checkout my other Blog Posts & be sure to follow me on Pinterest, I have TONS more great content!!

Here are some more posts that might be helpful:

–10 Crazy-Easy Small Habits to Boost Productivity Today

–How to Really Use a Planner to Get Your Life Together

–-5 Steps to Break the Cycle of Procrastination

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