What’s your best tip on keeping you food shop cost down ?
Best money saving tip for your groceries
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This. Use the card that offers the best bonus points per dollar spend each week. Shop the specials at both stores. I accumulated $500 of flybys this year doing this (would have done the same for woolies but their reward scheme sucks in Tasmania) and saved a hell of a lot more, all without changing my usual weekly spending habits.
My tip is not to bother with loyalty programs.
Why? You're not doing anything different other than buying what you would normally buy
They don't give you points because they're nice, you're paying for it through their inflated prices.
@Savas: If it's on special, and cheaper than the competition, then it's fine…
They do it so they can track your buying trends, that's all, if you do it properly
@Savas: If that's true then you're paying the inflated prices without getting any benefit. Unless your solely shopping at independents.
@Savas: I agree however have a theory that goes something like this. Ppl who use loyalty programs/discounts on their shopping pay less or let's say "fair" prices. The loyalty programs though are essentially subsidised by people who don't use them and pay too much! I like to think they're mostly subsidised by millionaire baby boomers who made housing ludicrously expensive for the younger generations:)
@Savas: We're all paying for it through their inflated prices. You either wear the cost of play the game to be one of the people who benefit (if it does make sense for you to bother which is a complex calculation, time effort etc).
@Savas: It isn't just about the points. multiple cards make them think you haven't shopped there for a while so you get discounts or bonus points in a bid to get you to go back. You can choose not to collect the bonus's (even if they are included in the price) but then why the hell are you on this site if you aren't interested in leveraging discount programs and sales for a better deal?
For large numbers of users that isn't true, their behavior is changed without them being aware of it.
My tip is not to bother with loyalty programs.
Everytime you buy something from a shop which accepts AMEX with no surcharge, and you don't pay with AMEX, you're subsidising me a little bit.
Every time you buy something and don't scan your loyalty barcode / punch out your loyalty card, you're subsidising me a little bit.
Thanks for the help ;)
That being said, if you're sufficiently wealthy, there is an overhead to all this bullshit, and it all adds up. Carrying punch-cards in your wallet, scanning your loyalty card (5 seconds every time you make a purchase, probably half a day wasted over a lifetime), etc.
We do more wastage than that in our lives, that's for sure.
So if saving money is not remotely important to you why the hell are you here?
But if you spend extra you get points!
Why 2 accounts. Can you please explain? I'm interested in this.
Because they tend to offer you better rewards when they think you haven’t been shopping with them for some time.
Have 100 accounts
2 is definitely not enough. According to my experience you need at least 10 flybuys and hell more Woolies rewards (50+) to have a 30% rebate offer available at any time. Convert flybuys pts into velocity ff and sell/use for biz/first also gives you a 30%-50% boost. Don't bother too much about Qantas though.
You can also buy big bonus items such as baby formula/supplements/coffee machines (typically 1000-2000 bonus pts/item) to make up the min spending for 4 week offers with the intention to return them. Morally dubious but not exactly wrong since change of mind return is perfectly acceptable at both places and the system does not claw back any pts.
Anyway combining all available offers you should get at least 50% back in rewards points on the majority of your shops all year round. Stupid flybuys offers will even make you some profits once in a while, which is extremely rare for Woolies though.
Here is a typical lucky scenario: You have a 4 week $50 - 10000 pts promo, a $50-3000 pts email offer, a $50-1000 pts mail coupon offer, a $50-1000 pts docket. You will get 7550 pts even without buying any bonus pts items. If you happen to need 3 cans of baby formula when they have 1500-2000 pts promo, that's another 4500-6000 pts. In the end you get 10k+ pts for a $50 shop, which gives you some profit and 3 cans of free baby formula. When flybuys gets crazy the bonus pts alone will offset the item cost, which leave you a nice profit of $30-40 for just a $50 shop. Convert to velocity and you are looking at more than $50 in profit.
I've never had offers where the points is more than the cost of the item
They are extremely rare now but I got targeted a few times before. I remember the most recent one was for oral b kids toothbrushes. I still have 500+ toothbrushes left for my toddlers to chew on. They will get a new toothbrush once a couple of weeks and I definitely won't do that (as a stingy ozbargainer) if I hadn't stocked up a few cartons at a profit.
I still have 500+ toothbrushes left
They will get a new toothbrush once a couple of weeks
???
profit
I see - you're a professional landfiller. On ya.
Less the admin opportunity cost of your time.
Time cost (not tax deductible either) is a cost many people in this forum forget about. Unfortunately, it's more about accounting rather than economic costs around here.
@Shiny Mew: I find this crazy. I work normal hours, earn an average wage but I value my spare time extremely highly. I would have to be saving more than my hourly rate to penny pinch like this.
Not really, just use a dedicated gmail with some + signs and you can easily keep all the offers in one place. The only thing to keep track would be those flybuys multi-week offers, but you will need to track them anyway even with just a single flybuys account.
Are you that guy who had like 200 woolworths accounts and got banned?
Nop, I have ard 150 Woolies accounts but not a single one was banned, most of them opened during that epic 5000 bonus pts promo.
I don't really keep any pts in my Woolies accounts (unlike flybuys because I need to wait for velocity transfer bonus) so I won't be too bothered even if some of them were banned. Just pop open some new ones.
All the downvotes but this a professional at work!
How is this downvoted?
Saved to my best of ozbargain folder.
Maybe because of the morally dubious part? I don't normally do that anyway unless I really have difficulty to keep up with a multi-week offer.
Mate, I don't wanna spend my life managing this.
Although the bonus points can stack,I did not have any time that have more than 3 offers stack together ever.
So there is no way to get 10k points just in a single $50 shop tbh.
I have more than 10 cards plus lots more for my other family members.
That was more about the good old days (1 year back). Now docket offers are extremely rare and most bonus pt items are redeemable once only. Even mail/app coupons are not as frequent as they used to be. That said I still get to combine 4wk offers, email offers and sometimes app coupons. If you buy a few bonus pt items then u still have a good rebate.
Btw to go over $50 rebate on a $50 shop you will definitely need multiple bonus pt items.
I have 10 for each Coles & woolies……
Prepare a shopping list and only buy the items on the list.
This is my approach with Woolies, except I shop online and collect it (Delivery times don't work for me). I'd estimate I save 15-30% a week on my shop as a result of not picking up random things as I wander the aisles.
My partner and I do a meal plan for the week after eating dinner, as we find we make better healthier meal choices, and use this as the base for the shopping list.
The only exception to the strict list is I start with the 50% off specials and will normally pick my list items off the sale list -some weeks I brush with Macleans, other weeks with Colgate - whatever. At 50% off, it's worth it. Every now and then I'll find something worth stocking up on like washing powder or toilet paper and might grab an extra one or two.
toothpaste - all smiles or dentitex
washing powder - Coles Ultra Front or Woolworths Clean Front
toilet paper - coles/aldi/ww 2 ply
cheapest and never on saleYou enjoy woodworking too @TarquinOliverNimrod?
That 2 ply is great for finishing a new project before you paint it.
:)
shop at various places (eg; bananas at the coles near me is normally at the $4, but Aldi has them for $1.49)
Sometimes this works, but often I find the fruit/veg to be of poor quality at Aldi.
I think the best value is Aldi.
You don't need to look for discounts or look how to collect points because everything is already cheaper than Woolies or Coles.
Yes, Colesworth sometimes have a special that is cheaper even than Aldi, but these happen rare enough for me to not bother.
If you do shop at Woolies, the 5% discount Woolies eGift Card from Cashrewards is a must!
Also, never buy anything full price at Colewsorth - everything goes half-price every few weeks. If you can be bothered, you can notice the pattern when specific products go half-price.
I agree about Aldi. Partner however is not happy with the limited range and the kids are fussy. I think Aldi is fine. By the way the Aldi's Joy yoghurt 6 pack is my favourite,
Don't give em the option. They'll get over it/used to it.
Even better, get them off sugar filled products like flavored yogurt. Instead, buy 1kg Greek yoghurt tubs that are substantially cheaper and if you have to, add a few blueberries and strawberries. Cheaper and much much healthier.
Same. Used to shop hop but not worth the effort and I worked out to be false economy. Just go to aldi with a weekly/fortnightly meal plan and list. Saving a fortune compared to ColesWorth. Chasing points and 5% discounts are all psychological marketing/loyalty BS.
Edit: btw knoppers are my favourite
@tightbottom What are Knoppers?
Lol. Woolworths must be tracking my posts 😁.
Just got this email
BOOST YOUR SAVINGS WITH
4500 bonus points
Just spend $90* or more in as many shops as you like each week for the next 2 weeks in store at Woolworths!
Time to unsubscribe.
Woolworths must be tracking my posts
Same!
$90??????? wow.
Great post. I wish we had ALDI in Tassie :(
Not always true about pricing. For example, Jalna yoghurt never be in half price in the big two. Aldi sells one or two flavour ones for $4.99. I always buy them at $5(RRP $7+) in the big two with additional discount or targeted offer.
You could miss a lot of good things by focusing on half price coz some good products were/will be never half priced.
Definitely Aldi. Problem is they are always far from where you live.
Never buy anything Coke or Pepsi branded full price at Coles/Woolworths, it's almost always on special. I see people buy 30pk coke when 24 is on special and to me it makes no sense at all. The cost of those extra 6 cans is quite high.
Problem with Aldi is that customer service is almost impossible to secure to find items, and people and staff are rarely polite enough to let someone who is only purchasing 1-2 items in front of the queue.
At my store the cashier looks down the line and pulls up anyone who wants 1-2 things. People are also really friendly and will offer.
Yep definitely depends on the area but my area is the same many people are super courteous and friendly when it comes to things like offering people with smaller amount of groceries to pass through and general passage of way for others.
It is night and day living where I am compared to much much closer to Sydney City.
It depends on the area. Quite often in Newcastle, people will let you jump ahead, if they have a large trolley.
Best value in Sydney is Eastwood or Sydney Markets if you are close by.
Close your eyes and buy….Otherwise Aldi if you can find what you are looking for. Avoid Aldi fruits and veggies, almost always poor quality.
Carefully check your receipts from coles and woolies. If an item scans at higher than the shelf price at the checkout, that item is free.
A pamphlet is available at the service desk explaining their "scanner policy".I often find mistakes :)
It's free if you self check out anyway. :D
I know right, who pays for groceries these days?
do you pay double if it scans lower than shelf price?
Is this the law or company policy? Source?
Company choice to join "scanning code of practice". Big W etc are not members. Just coles, woolies and maybe some iga.
P.s. Best find was a $20 pan which still had $15 price ticket from last week's special. Free Tefal pan! (Buy it first, then go back to "returns" counter to be safe otherwise they may try to wriggle out of giving it free)
Only buy items on sale, if not on sale, buy it next week or weeks after if you can wait, or shop at different supermarkets :)
same. I never buy things full price from them.
also, stockpile half-price ambient goods (shelf in laundry cupboard)
Market shopping ideally on weekdays. I have noticed sometimes weekend market prices can be higher than usual.
We have a Woolies 2 minutes away. I buy the egift cards. Also, because the area is new and there are a few other supermarkets around the local woolies is always reducing stuff - I mean, 50c Snitzles, $2/kg Tabbouleh, $3/kg mince. It's great. I go every other day, pick up dinner for the next two days. We average about $16 per day on all our groceries, so just over $110 per week. For a family of three, that's not too bad.
the reduced price stuff for new Woolies is because of inaccurate foresting so it will change slowly
Get the 50% off Coles/woolies app. shows you who has what cheap each week.
Which app is this?
Half Price (Available on Android)
The best way to save money is to only buy when the item you want is discounted, stick to what you need not what you want, and shop at different supermarkets, dont stick to one only. Also find a good butcher and grocer, you dont have to always goto supermarkets, but generally they are cheaper on average.
Then comes the argument quality vs value, but thats entirely up to you to decide.
make sure you eat before you go shopping, that way you wont buy impulse items on an empty/hungry stomach and assist in losing weight aswell.
this is so true! Everytime I shop after gym, I find myself buying a lot of things and also food that I won't eat on normal days :S
Definitely good tip always go grocery shopping after meal
What i do is writing down what i m gonna cook on which day. Then i make my list based on it and would go for an online order at coles or woolies as it avoid me doing some "impulse buy". If i have to go instore i avoid taking kids and my other half as i know they will grab everything from the shelves.
Having a lot of tupperwares is quite handy. I realized that day where i cook too much i can just freeze the food in small portions (ready to eat for days i m too lazy so i avoid fast food and takeaway).
Also avoiding sugary drinks, treat or food will stop you from being always hungry.Don't buy the crap fast/easy/nutritionless/prepared foods
I've noticed that Aldi will have a staff member go through the meat and dairy section in the morning to reduce items that are getting close to their use by date. I freeze the meat then defrost cook & eat when needed.
Also, if you go to Colesworth first thing in the morning, or after 9pm, you can generally snag cheap pre-prepared salad mixes.
I've been doing this for years, and my (non leftover) lunch bill on some days is as low as $1.50 per day
Shop at night: bread and vegs get reduced, so is roast chicken, and meats. Don't be scared buying short dated meat if you can freeze them.
If you can't wait for an item to go on sale, buy the "homebrand" equivalent. Coles green handwash is the best I've used. Square crackers, toilet paper and milk are others.
Don't mind buying caged eggs. Leave the outrage for others.
I great example are carrots, once they start flopping a bit supermarkets discount them heavily. All you have to do is slice the outer skin- the insides are still fresh and yummy.
Leave the outrage for others.
and the animal cruelty to you
+1 for caged eggs
Don't mind buying caged eggs. Leave the outrage for others.
HAHAHA. This is probably why you have 7 neg votes :D
All of this plus discounted gift cards
be aware of genuine specials and then stock up/bulk buy when you see them..
In February woolworths had a deal for Annalisa Peeled Tomatoes 400g X 24 - $12
50 cents each - Now, even if you buy the cheapest canned tomatoes, then it will cost you an additional 15cents each.
I grabbed 3 cases (72 cans)
or when Coles had an introductory home delivery bonus deal/stackable coupon /half price/flybuy bonus deal for toilet paper worked out to be ~18 (?)cents per roll
or when Woolworths had Kleenex aloe Vera 2 roll packs for 50cents. I bought 88(196 rolls).
Get two Flybuys and two Woolies Rewards accounts.