Tips for saving at the supermarket

For almost all international students who come to different countries for study, living expenses are one of the most important things that they need to manage well. Apart from essential bills such as rent and tuition fees – which cannot be adjusted by ourselves – shopping at the supermarket is a monthly/weekly expenditure we can control and plan effectively. Here are several useful tips for students when they go shopping at the supermarket.

Make a shopping list

Among students, this step can often be considered unnecessary for shopping, yet penning down a clear and careful list is an important method that can help us limit our high shopping costs and wasting money on useless things. We should be aware that it is quite challenging to remember entirely what we need to buy when running errands and hence we frequently grab everything that we see. For that reason, take a look around your kitchen and note down what is missing before going to the supermarket.

Check out special deals

Often, there is a wide range of special promotions on at each supermarket. In particular, some shops provide daily or weekly on-sale items which offer buyers an opportunity to get cheaper but fresh products. For instance, Morrisons will sometimes display the beef or vegetable at special prices after 6pm. In addition, they also have a kind of deal like buy 1 get 1, buy 3 for 2. To keep up-to-date on promotions at these supermarkets, you also can check out their website when noting down your shopping list so you know what to expect and can plan ahead.

Don’t be tempted by a sale

It is undeniable that on-sale items or special promotions are extremely attractive and push us to buy them immediately when we see them. However, keep the shopping list in your mind and limit your budget to buying essential stuff in order to save money for further spending. Especially for students, we need to consider carefully before we pay for something non-essential to avoiding falling short of money in the future.

By Jiafu Chen, BEng Mechanical Engineering student from China.