• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Kinney Chaos

Experience the Ordinary

  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • About Us
  • Travel Tips
    • Restaurant Review
    • Experience Review
  • Lifestyle
    • Quotes
    • Money Saving Tips
  • Mindset
You are here: Home / Archives for ways to save

ways to save

10 Ways to Dramatically Lower the Grocery Bill

November 13, 2018 By Joni Kinney Leave a Comment

Like most families, one of our most significant monthly budget line items is our groceries. Trying to balance necessities and what we want is always a challenge when money is tight. It only makes sense that we try to lower the grocery bill.

If you are like us then talking about budgets and expenses is scary. To try and help make things easier for you we’ve created some FREE resources just for you! We really hope you enjoy our Free Budget and Expense Tracking printables.

10 Ways to Dramatically Lower the Grocery Bill

  1. Check unit Prices
  2. Buy in Bulk
  3. Buy Generic brands
  4. Only Pay with Cash
  5. Buy seasonal fruit
  6. Shop Online
  7. Shop the store sales
  8. Meal plan
  9. Shop Alone
  10. Eat Before

Check unit Prices

A lot of times buying the biggest box of cereal makes sense. (If you eat a lot of cereal). Purchasing those big boxes or largest item is typically the cheapest method to getting the best bang for your buck.

However, if there is a sale on a smaller box, the unit price may be lower for that smaller box. The unit price is the price per serving. Check the unit prices and try to get them lower, sometimes you will fix buying two smaller size items is a better deal than one large box.

Buy in Bulk

Buying large quantities of something you use often is typically the best deal. If you can purchase a case of green beans, you may get a discount. Check those unit prices and try to buy in bulk whenever you can to stack those savings and help you lower your grocery bills.

Buy Generic brands

Let’s face it; most store brands are just as good as name brands. You can typically save yourself some money just by swapping out that name brand for the store brand. Now even I will admit there are some things we don’t buy generic because it isn’t quite the same. However, you need to consider swapping out whenever possible.

Only Pay with Cash

Paying for your groceries with cash ensures you stick to your budget. Ideally, you have set aside a specific amount to use and can stay within that budget. Not taking credit cards or paying with other methods makes you less likely to grab those items you think you needed but had not planned on purchasing.

Buy seasonal fruit

We love fruit because we make a lot of smoothies. Let’s face it though; fruit is expensive. You can help curb these costs by only purchasing in-season fruit. There are different times when berries are on sale vs. melons. Take advantage of those differences to add variety and get a better deal on your grocery bills.

Shop Online

Many local and online stores such as Amazon will allow you to make grocery purchases online. Shopping online is great because you can stack savings, but also because you are then not tempted to make those last minute and not necessary purchases.

Shop the store sales

Every local store including Walmart, Aldi‘s or Save A Lot has store sales. Strategize before you head out to pick up your weekly groceries where you will go and which store you will purchase from.

Meal plan

Meal planning to help you save money on your grocery bill helps you to know what you need. This will help you maximize your savings as you visit local stores and purchase the in-store sale items.

Shop Alone

Taking kids and husbands to the store can be expensive. Leave them home and shop alone. This way you can stick to your strategies and make your purchases without extra pressure from the littles.

Eat Before

There is nothing worse than grocery shopping when you are hungry. Additionally, this is hard on the grocery bill once you get to the register. When we are hungry, we tend to feel as if we need items we had not planned on purchasing. You are way more likely to test your willpower if you enter that store hungry than you are if you just ate a fulfilling meal.

Filed Under: Money Saving Tips Tagged With: groceries, grocery bill, life hacks, money saving, money savings tips, saving money, ways to save

Five Percent Off All Target Purchases

March 7, 2018 By Jason Kinney 1 Comment

If our family isn’t getting stuff from Amazon, Cheyenne and I are picking up stuff from Target.  About two years ago I looked into the Target Red Card option on recommendations from some of the travel hacking websites. Doing this would give us five percent off all target purchases. Since we are shopping there anyway this seemed like a smart idea.

2 Card Options for getting Five Percent Off all Target Purchases

You can either go for the standard credit card, or the option I prefer of a debit card.  The debit card option connects to your checking account.  They give you a card, that can only be used at Target and all purchases are five percent off.  Several days after the purchase, Target does an electronic bank transfer from your checking account to cover your purchase.  You do not need to maintain a secondary account.  You do not need to worry about making a monthly payment.  It is just like using your debit card.

Gift Cards

One of the nice things with this Target Red Debit Card and earning five percent off all target purchases is that you can use it on gift cards too.  When we first started looking at taking Cheyenne to Disney, this was the easiest way to save money on park tickets and the Disney Resort.  You are able to purchase Disney Gift Cards and get five percent off the cost.  That means you spend $95.00 for a $100.00 gift card.
It isn’t just Disney gift cards.  Over the years we have picked up Subway, Starbucks, Ebay and iTunes gift cards. This is just another way we have earned five percent off all target purchases.  Even with my Vegas vacations I have purchased cards for Denny’s (late night diner meals on the Strip) and Southwest Airlines to pay the taxes on the flights.  They sell Delta cards as airline options and I have picked up some of the Southwest cards for friends just to get them five percent off their flights to help drop their costs on their trips.

Other Money Saving Tips at Target

Even if you aren’t saving five percent off all target purchases make sure you are taking advantage of other perks. Any time you can save money on items from toilet paper to Red Vines licorice, its a win and will add up over time. Another perk to take advantage of is the Target app.  If you scan the items as you put them in your cart, it will search if Target has a coupon or deal for the item.  We have saved over $300 each year for the last two years just using this app.
Sometimes it isn’t just about traveling, but how to save money to allow you to splurge when you are on those trips.  This debit card option is a no-brainer for anyone that shops at Target.
If you shop on Amazon check out our article on ways to save money on those purchases too! If you have other ideas on Money Saving tips leave a comment or contact us!
Help us share how to save money by sharing this post with your friends or on Pinterest!
Want to learn how to save 5% on all Target purchases? Read our article and then share with others! #target #moneysavings #travelhacking #moneytips #savingonadime #helpsaving

Filed Under: Money Saving Tips, Travel Tips Tagged With: money savings tips, target, travel hacking, ways to save

Footer

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 · Kinney Chaos