5 Ways to Save Money Shopping

All right, so you've got the budget in hand, and you've made it to the store, but you're still a shopaholic, and you still want to buy nice things.  Here are five things that could help you save some money. 

I'm not a couponer. I don't have the patience, but if I'm going to buy something from a specialty store, I'll always check my phone for online coupons. Then I ask the cashier if they have any coupons they can scan for me. 

This would be your TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Ross, and even on occasion I think Dollar Tree. What it is, the mother company has put out too much merchandise at the regular store. Over stock gets bought back and sent to the off-price retailers.  Personally, I love T. J. MAxx for beauty products. I can get huge bottles of good shampoo and body wash there for $10.00. If I were to try to buy the sulfate, paraben free things at normal retailers I'd pay through the nose.  Dollar Tree is another amazing place to shop. Before I go anywhere, I check dollar tree first for home wears and kitchen utensils. There's no real reason to pay a lot of money for something you can get for a dollar. 

My two personal favorites are Shopkicks and the Wal-mart savings catcher. I don't have time to sit and scan through every single circular that comes my way to look for price matching. The effort vs return isn't high enough for me. Instead, I let the savings catcher do it for me. Every time you get a Wal-Mart receipt, you scan it in the savings catcher and let it search for lower prices. Then you get that money saved up and can cash it out for a Wal-Mart gift card.  I know they don't jip you either; once I got a penny back from something.  Shopkicks isn't a money saving app so much as it is a get something for minimal effort app. With Shopkicks, you walk around stores scanning things and gathering points. Once you have so many points, you cash them in for a gift card to a place. (I'm holding out for a Starbucks or Sephora gift card.)

This saves you money gets and gets you things. For example, I have an Ulta card, for so many dollars I get so many points. I think it's 100 points = $1.00. But I can save up my points and use them to get money off purchases. I will never recommend getting in store credit cards. Those are bad juju, but the free or inexpensive rewards cards are worth a fair amount. 

Comparing prices will save you a pretty penny. So if you want to make a largish purchase then you'll want to compare prices at different retailers. Too, it can help you wait for the deals. But there is no need to pay more money for something if you can help it.