How Would You Like To Save 10 Percent Plus At The Supermarket?

When my wife and I say we want to save money, we mean it. We take examples of saving money from anywhere we can. This one we have never read, however to say you can save a lot is an understatement. While it’s not the easiest way to add dollars to the bank account it does work. Plus this one had been right under our nose for years but we didn’t pick up on it.

Every Saturday, like a lot of Australians, we hit the supermarket. One week we do a big shop and the next week we do a smaller one to cover the things we have run out of. We go together to spend time with each other, get some exercise and argue about what brands we like or don’t like.

Then one day it struck me. We are both going to the shopping centre which has two supermarkets. What about if we split up and took two grocery lists of the same products. My wife goes to one and I go to the other one. We do our shopping for everything on the list separately, getting and looking for the best prices. Then call each other and run through the items one by one and put back whichever item has the more expensive price!

So we tried it. Wow, what an eye opener! Do you know we saved 18.97 percent from our two picks? This means, over the course of the year we could save around this 18.97 percent off our total shopping bill.

And there is little downside to this:
We are both using the same car, no extra fuel.
When we call each others mobiles to check prices, we are both on the same network, so the phone call’s free.
We both use debit cards and hit credit on the machine so the transaction is free.
The only downside is we don’t get to spend any time together at the supermarket.
But the savings are well worth it.

Imagine saving 18.97% percent on your yearly shopping bill. Spend $3000 and your saving would be $570. Spend $5000 and your saving would be $949. Spend $15,000 and your saving would be $2846.

However, this is not as easy as it seems. Working out the total saving can be confusing.You need to come up with a special list not to get confused. We did it by using an Excel spreadsheet, however any bit of paper will do. Here are the list of six headings you will need to fill out for each product you place in your trolley.

The headings are:
List (name of the item)
Quantity (how many we need)
Aisle (which aisle it comes from, this is handy if your product is not the cheapest and you have to put it back, you don’t want to be running around the supermarket looking for the right spot)
Price (The total cost of the item)
Measurement (For example litres, kilograms, or grams of the item)
Per measurement (This is now advertised on shopping tickets by law, how much per litre, how much per gram even how much per 100 sheets of toilet paper. As this is by law, the reading from your partner’s per measurement should be the same in their supermarket)

Here is an example of mine filled out:

You do this list set out like this to stay organised. Now once we have finished picking up the shopping and the list is completed, we call each other. Renee would have an identical list but with different prices and information.

Then the conversation will go like this:

Renee: “OK what do you have for canned chopped tomatoes?”
Adam : “$2.00 per kilo.”
Renee: “OK, I have $1.80 per kilo.Right you put yours back. What do you have for tomato sauce? I have 0.48 cents per 100 mls.”
Adam: “Well, I have 0.35 cents per 100 mls. You put yours back.”

This conversation continues until you have ticked off all the ones you will put back. But because you have written the aisle number next to each product, it’s easy to find where they go.

Now pay for your products and meet your partner at a designated meeting area. You could go one step further when you get home by adding up the difference between the winning prices and losing ones and seeing how much you saved to the last dollar. Or you could just feel great by knowing you get the best possible deal each and every time you go shopping.

We plan to carry this on throughout the year and see how much we can save. We will report back to you this time next year with our findings.