What are the Best Tips for Being a Frugal Shopper?

Some tips for being a frugal shopper include clipping coupons, keeping track of store sales, and regularly using frequent shopper rewards cards at various stores. It may also be helpful to buy items in bulk, particularly staple items that get used frequently, such as flour and sugar. People who have a desire to shop frugally might also consider opting for store or generic brands rather than name brand items. In most cases, the generic brands are made by the same companies that make the name brands, but these items come in different packaging and are typically much less expensive.

Being a frugal shopper at the grocery store normally means keeping up with coupons and sales. The best time to use coupons on items in the grocery store is typically when they are on sale. Items that are at a reduced price before a coupon is used might end up being as much as 80 to 90 percent off the retail price once the coupon is applied. Some people are able to get grocery items for free when coupons are used against sale prices. In addition to using coupons, using shopper rewards cards, buying generic products over name brand items, and purchasing staple items in bulk will generally lead to bigger savings for people when they grocery shop.

A person who wants to become a frugal shopper can use some of the same techniques she uses at the grocery store when she shops at other types of stores. It is typically considered best to buy any type of item when it is on sale, even if there are no coupons available to use against the sale price. For example, items associated with certain holidays, such as Christmas or Halloween, are often as much as 90 percent off the day after these holidays so that stores can clear out stock that wasn't purchased. Many stores also attempt to clear out leftover winter clothing items just before spring and leftover summer clothing just before fall. Shopping for specific items during the times of year when demand for those items is at its lowest usually ensures that a person will get the lowest price possible.

Becoming a frugal shopper might also involve checking out thrift stores and yard sales before paying full price for anything. The Internet is another potentially good resource for people trying to be more frugal. There are online auction sites and classifieds that frequently have items for sale at greatly reduced prices. The Internet may additionally be a good resource for extra coupons. There are several different websites that have coupons for consumers to print out, and in some cases these coupons can be printed out more than once, which means the discount can typically be applied to more than one item at a time. This could be useful for building up a stockpile of items, which is something that many frugal shoppers try to do so that they will have plenty of items stored up to get them through until the next time something they use goes on sale.