I'm being super careful about grocery spending as usual, but realise that my shopping patterns have changed significantly since moving to Ferndown. When we left Kirby Muxloe I was usually shopping in Aldi every week or so, topping up with stuff from the larger Sainsbury's [particularly teabags and coffee]
Here I find myself mostly at Lidl, with fresh produce at least once a month from Wimborne Market, usually followed by a quick foray into nearby Waitrose. My Fairtrade teabags are now bought in the Co-op and milk from the M&S FoodHall round the corner. And just occasionally I'll wander round Ferndown Tesco.
I was recently given a Love To Shop £20 giftcard as a reward for doing some market research. This has been used exclusively in M&S, for bread and milk [and the occasional treat, like croissants, or cashew butter] But the rules are a bit complicated - you can only spend up to the value of the card. That means I now have a card worth just 1p and I don't think I can find anything that cheap in M&S. Tesco just sent me a £4 off a £30 spend voucher 
Unexpectedly, Always sent me 3 vouchers for FREE sanpro worth £13. I didn't need the sanpro but purchased it anyway, along with £17 worth of carefully chosen Tesco groceries. I ended up paying £13 at the checkout [and put the sanpro in the Foodbank's Blessings Bin at church] 
My last trip to Waitrose resulted in a basket of yellow stickered items costing around £6. I wanted a coffee**, and treated myself to a pretty 'Grandma' mug for £2. A newspaper tipped the total just over the £10 mark. At which point I paid up - my coffee was free, and I got the newspaper and the carpark called costs refunded. This all adds up to £60 of purchases, which have cost me around £20. I feel very satisfied with this. 
Then - because my tablet died and John Lewis did the best deal on replacements - I got extra JL loyalty points, so a £5 JL/Waitrose voucher has just arrived. That can be used on my next Wimborne trip, and the Savvy Shopper Saga will continue [When are Channel 4 going to ask me to make a programme about money saving? I'm just as smart as some of the women they have on there!]
**Waitrose are moving over to a policy of only giving free coffee if you have your own mug, I usually take my thermal cup on a Friday, but I'd forgotten - and I didn't want a single use non recyclable one.
I'm keeping the giftcard in my purse, just in case I find a 1p bargain!
You ARE savvy! I do like stocking up when there is some sort of deal! I really stocked up in Holland and Barratts during their penny sale on natural shower gel and deodorant and had a 50% off voucher for Groupon so I took advantage of it!
ReplyDeleteBoth the Uk and the US seem to get much better offers, coupons & discounts than we do in Canada - I am always very envious. I collect Loyalty points from one particular Grocery chain (although you can collect at a number of shops under their umbrella) and I do well but it's always a matter of matching your weekly offers with that week's flyers and trying to find the best deal. I probably accumulated over $200 last year so shouldn't complain - but I do have to check my receipts carefully - in the last week I've had to get them to add 1500 points that hadn't shown up!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely keep the giftcard in your purse - you never know! :)
ReplyDelete