Surviving Inflation

 I've never had a lot of money, when I was a kid things were tight and still as an adult I seem to always be just getting by. So out of necessity I have learned ways to save money where I can. Someone asked me recently how we're managing inflation. God always provides and I thought I'd share the ways that have helped us save!

    The spending category we have the most control over is food so let's start there.

    Starting with the basics, we try to get most of our staple items from Wegmans as they have the best prices on those. Store brand milk, eggs, bread, meat, cheese etc. We have an extra refrigerator in the garage and shelves where we can store the extras until we need them. I do my best to keep a few extras of the things we use the most. This means stocking up when something goes on sale. When we can, we like to stock up on chicken through Raeford Farms. During the pandemic when restaurants were closed, they sold to the public in bulk and it was so popular they have kept it going. We also have a BJ's membership where we can buy bulk and get our gas cheaper! Sam's Club also offer this. 

One last note about Wegmans - you can create your shopping list on the app to show how much your total will be and it even shows which aisle to find that item on!

 When I buy bulk meat I freeze in ziplock bags by the pound. I set an alert on my phone that reminds me to get meat out of the freezer for dinner to go off each morning. We try to keep a few frozen foods that are quick and easy to prepare on hand as well to keep us from eating out. We all love the mandarin chicken from Trader Joe's, they also have tons of frozen meal options. Aldi has some great frozen foods as well..

    Speaking of Aldi.. Who doesn't love Aldi?? I do love to meander down the Aisle of Shame but when I don't have time I will use Instacart to get a pickup order. Ordering online shows you your total before checkout and can help you stay within your budget. To place a pickup order it's only $1.99 and they often send coupon codes! I have gotten Aldi delivered for free with promotions they've done! Click on my link to get $10 off your first order :) I like to get the kids school snacks here, like a big bag of pretzels and put them in baggies. This saves a ton of money verses buying them individually packaged.

We also shop Walmart when Aldi doesn't have what we need. It's free to place an online pickup order, I will say I wait for my order way longer at Walmart than at Aldi but they have a much bigger selection. We shop mainly store brand as much as we can but I will check Ibotta and Fetch for money/points back on items that we have to buy name brand! 

If I'm going into a store I'll try and remember to open Shopkicker, you can earn points just for walking in the door and scanning items on the list and even more for buying things on the list.

I don't use this one as much because we rarely go out to eat or shop anywhere but Amazon or Walmart, but I have found it to be super easy! Dosh connects to your card, you just go into the app and activate the deals! Then your money back will accumulate in the app. Usually I can get 2% back on Food Lion, it's not much but we have the "every penny counts" mentality!

Tying some of these together is InboxDollars, there are multiple ways to earn money back here but you can also buy gift cards and get money back. I have not shopped through them but there are also ways to shop through them for cash back. If you buy an Instacart gift card through inbox dollars, get 2% cash back from it and then use that gift card to pay for your groceries but get $ back because your card is linked to Ibotta and they have money back on something you bought it starts to add up! 

A more popular way to earn money back is through Rakuten, You can really stack here. Shop through Rakuten on Instacart but use the gift card you bought as a payment method. 

We also use other receipt scanning apps to earn points and money back! This is one of the easiest things to do if you remember to save your receipts! I am trying them all, some earn slower than others, but if I'm already snapping pics of my receipts, might as well do it on multiple apps and get credit for them! I wrote about which ones we like on my Disney blog.

You can also participate in research surveys, we like L & E Research. If you sign up, please use my name as a referral! 

Our family uses these small earnings to squirrel away for Disney, one of our favorite things that certainly does not fit into our normal budget. 

Let's take it back to highschool and consumer math, remember learning about loss leaders? If you take advantage of those without getting side tracked, they can be super helpful! For example, we shopped a deal for buy 1 get 2 at Harris Teeter. We don't usually shop there because they're more expensive, but they do have good loss leader sales from time to time. Carlie C's does buy 2 get 3 on coke and pepsi products. We will stock up on these from time to time. 

That concept is super helpful in general, buying things on sale or with coupons rather than when they're needed. We can't do that with everything but it helps when you can! 

We also do Amazon Subscribe & Save, it's easy to make changes to and you can typically get household essentials a bit cheaper that way! If you have Medicaid, SNAP or are a student, you're eligible for a reduced Amazon Prime membership fee as well!

I know buying used items is not for everyone, but it has saved us a lot of money! Facebook marketplace, thrift shops, consignment stores and sales. We also do a lot on our Buy Nothing Project facebook group! These groups are all over the country and are a wonderful way to aquire items for free as well as pass on items you may no longer need or want. What a blessing!

These are the ways our family saves money! I hope this may be helpful and encouraging to you as well! I'd love to hear how you save as well!