How to save up to $20 a year on groceries: life hacks from a former Walmart employee

The former Walmart employee and mother of three shares how she saves thousands of dollars a year by honing her coupon and discount hunting skills. The publication told about it The Sun.

Photo: IStock

Peggy, 31, from Missouri, first noticed coupons and promotions in 2020.

She was battling postpartum depression at the time and was aware of the need to save money as she became a housewife. Until 2020, Peggy held various roles at Walmart:

“The pandemic hit and I was seven months pregnant. After giving birth, she was going to return, but she became pregnant again.

In 2022, she launched her TikTok channel Savings With Peggy (@savingswithpeggy), where he shares his purchases at stores such as Walmart, Aldi, and Dollar Tree.

Peggy takes her three children (a 10-year-old, a XNUMX-year-old and a XNUMX-year-old) when she goes to the store to do her weekly shopping and create videos for TikTok.

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The methods she regularly shares now help her family save between $15 and $000 a year.

While the situation changes each time depending on what she needs to stock up on, Peggy calculates that she now spends an average of $75 a week shopping for her family of five.

Another store, another strategy

Peggy tailors her discount search based on the store she's shopping at and presenting on her TikTok.

For example, when shopping at Aldi or Walmart, she simply walks down the aisles looking for the items she needs on sale.

Also at Walmart, she checks prices on a barcode scanning app that reveals hidden discounts.

Peggy explained that you don't need a Walmart+ membership to scan product barcodes to see if there's a big discount on them.

But for Aldi, she will definitely shop on Wednesday, when Aldi Finds sales begin. Peggy regularly finds Aldi discounts of 50 percent or more.

These include a variety of items, including $90 cabinets that sell for $45, and a broom that sells for $3 instead of $6.

She takes a different approach to other stores.

“Dollar General, CVS and Walgreens all have advance information about upcoming deals,” she said. “So I can watch their ads and have coupons ready before I go to the store.”

Use the right app

Regardless of the store, Peggy loves to use third-party apps that offer cashback.

Her current favorite is the Ibotta app.

“Ibotta is definitely number one. It is the easiest to use and gives you the most discounts,” she said.

Instead of a regular coupon, Ibotta will refund you for items you preselected before purchase.

As soon as you buy an item and send a photo of the receipt, Ibotta deposits money into the account.

And once your account exceeds $20, you can transfer the funds to your bank account.

Ibotta is free and can be used on Android and iOS.

Above all, Peggy is a fan of the Shopkick app.

Shopkick gives you rewards called kicks that can be redeemed for gift cards and then used at your favorite stores.

In addition, Peggy combined Ibotta and Shopkick deals on the same item to increase her savings.

Certain products - certain stores

When it comes to the specific item you need, all stores, even discounted ones, are not the same.

“The top XNUMX diaper, laundry detergent, and paper products that are in the top three most searched for coupon products are CVS and Walgreens,” Peggy said.

Although prices at these stores are usually higher than at Walmart, she says, participating in membership programs will give you big savings.

Peggy even recommends spending an extra month on CVS's premium membership, CarePass.

“No matter how much you pay, you get an extra $10 every month,” she explained. — Membership costs $5 per month. But if I buy something there once a week, spending $5 to earn $10 is no big deal.”

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General strategy

While many of Peggy's strategies involve research and applications, she still gets a significant amount of discounts the old fashioned way.

“Most of this is word of mouth. I found so many other coupons just because I was looking for them,” the housewife explained.

In her experience of finding sales, Peggy always takes the price tag on the shelf with a grain of salt.

“Many stores will list a different price on the shelf than the product actually costs,” she explained.

And finally, one more piece of advice from Peggy: “Always be kind to people. It will help you a lot."

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