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I’ll have to disagree with #7 on this list, as I often see better prices at the grocery store on some personal care items \u00a0than at the drug store that I work at. \u00a0 The rest are really common sense–obviously name brand cereals will cost more than the generic brand, that’s true about almost everything, but try telling your kid you’re buying Safeway Rabbity Colored Balls instead of Trix and good luck with that. \u00a0 It’s always been interesting to me how customers will come in with tons of coupons trying to save money, but then will turn around and buy single-serve portions of snacks (#6) because they’re too lazy to buy a big bag (better deal!) and put them in sandwich bags. \u00a0 Or maybe they’re just afraid they’ll eat the entire bag if they buy a big one…<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s no secret that grocery stores make money by marking up the items they sell\u2014but the amount of mark-up varies a ton from product to product. \u201cItems that are highly perishable, and so might get thrown away before they\u2019re bought, tend to get a higher mark-up,\u201d says Andrea Woroch, a consumer savings expert.<\/em><\/p>\n Coupons are one way to combat high prices, if you’re careful<\/a> (check out the free app Coupon Sherpa<\/a> for an easy way to digitally clip and organize coupons). But for some items, a coupon probably won\u2019t cut it. Woroch recommends shoppers skip these items entirely at the grocery store.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe price of cereal has been rising for years,\u201d says Woroch, and if you stick to your name-brand cereal you\u2019ll feel the pinch in your wallet even more. That\u2019s because all of the advertising and marketing costs that go into convincing consumers that one brand tastes better than another get passed along to shoppers.<\/em><\/p>\n If you compare the ingredient list of generic and name-brand versions of the same cereal, you\u2019ll probably find the same ingredients\u2014in the exact same order. Make the switch to the cheaper box, and you can save 50 percent or more, according to Woroch. \u201cAnd most stores offer a money-back guarantee on their own brands, so if you do taste a difference you can get a refund,\u201d she says.<\/em><\/p>\n Mark-up on grocery-store spices is nearly 100 percent, and they rarely go on sale, says Woroch. Instead of getting gouged on cinnamon and cloves, buy them at the drugstore or natural foods store, where they tend to be cheaper. A jar of bay leaves, for instance, might cost north of $3.50 at the grocery store but less than 50 cents for the same amount from the bulk bin at a natural foods store. \u201cIf you don\u2019t mind putting them in your own container, you can save big!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n You probably already know that all of those packages of cubed squash, diced mushrooms, and sliced watermelon cost more than buying the whole produce. But did you know that the mark-up is typically 40 percent or more? “For a task that takes less than five minutes, you\u2019re paying a big difference,\u201d says Woroch.<\/em><\/p>\n Like prepackaged produce, the convenience of buying pre-formed hamburger patties or assembled steak kebabs is going to cost you\u2014anywhere from 60 to 300 percent(!) more than buying the meat in its whole form. But there\u2019s a (cheaper) middle ground between buying a giant hunk of meat and the pricey prepped version: Ask your butcher to grind or cube a cut for you, to make your work at home faster.<\/em><\/p>\n These are a classic impulse buy, which is why they often line the check-out lanes at supermarkets, where you\u2019re less likely to take the time and comparison shop<\/a>. But you can save 50 percent or more by buying them at a big-box store, like Target or Walmart, or stocking up at a warehouse store, like Costco. Batteries don\u2019t have a shelf life, so buying in bulk shouldn\u2019t give you pause.<\/em><\/p>\n Single-serve portions of chips and pretzels typically run 30 percent more per ounce than a big bag of the same product, according to Woroch. If you like the grab-and-go convenience of the smaller sizes, she suggests buying the bigger bag and then doling it into small bags as soon as you\u2019re home, so your pantry is stocked with DIY snack-size containers.<\/em><\/p>\n Drugstores typically offer better deals\u2014and more frequent sales\u2014than grocery stores, when it comes to personal care products, says Woroch. That means tossing deodorant or shampoo into your grocery cart could cost you an unnecessary 30 percent more.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ll have to disagree with #7 on this list, as I often see better prices at the grocery store on some personal care items \u00a0than at the drug store that I work at. \u00a0 The rest are really common sense–obviously name brand cereals will cost more than the generic brand, that’s true about almost everything, Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retail-trends"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1850"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1886,"href":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850\/revisions\/1886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. NAME-BRAND CEREAL\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n
2. SPICES\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n
3. PREPACKAGED PRODUCE\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n
4. PREPPED MEATS\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n
5. BATTERIES \u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n
6. SMALL SNACKS\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n
7. PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS \u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n