One way to save at the supermarket

by Ally Hunt on 26 June 2009  |  8 comments
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Genuine offers can really save you money - find out how a friend of mine saved £30 by carefully timing when she bought nappies

One thing that always surprises me is how much more expensive supermarket shopping bills for a family can be, when compared to a single person's.

Well, families eat more, of course, but so often nowadays I recoil in disbelief when given the total by the shop assistant in the supermarket. How could I possibly have spent so much? We only have two toddlers - will we need to remortgage by the time my son is a teenager?

This is one good reason why families, especially, can really benefit by shopping carefully, and taking advantage of relevant offers and savings.

Buy in bulk and save

Sainsbury's, for example, has a pretty good promotion on at the moment - it's giving a third off all baby products (except formula and clothing). So a large pack of Pampers nappies, for example, is £5.98, rather than £8.98 - a pretty good saving.

Now a canny friend of mine has really got this sussed. She headed straight over as soon as she heard, snapped up 10 packs for her daughter, spending £59.80, rather than £89.80, and thus saving a cool £30.

What's more she also used a couple of Pampers coupons she'd been sent/found in magazines which saved her another £2 - every little helps. Incredibly, as this offer comes about pretty regularly she actually can't remember the last time she bought nappies at full price!

And she's clearly not the only one - when I popped into Sainsbury's earlier today I was astounded at the bare shelves in the baby aisle.

This can clearly be a great way to save cash. If there's something that you have to buy regularly anyway (such as nappies/washing powder/dishwasher tablets etc.) and you have a bit of storage space it can be well worth stocking up if there's ever a genuine offer on - there are some serious savings to be made.

Just make sure you shop around a bit too, that way you'll know if a discount is genuine or if the price has just been manipulated to reduce your saving. Annoyingly, all too often those multi-buy savings aren't quite the bargain they first seem.