8 Ways to Save Money While Shopping With the Girls

Save Money While Shopping by Making a List

Before you go out shopping, I think a great way to limit your spending is to make a list and stick to it. That way, you don’t find yourself suddenly throwing all kinds of unnecessary items in your cart. If I’m out with my girls, I make a list of items I need so I don’t end up making a spur-of-the-moment purchase I may regret later. There are even some cool apps out there that have list-making functionalities that can help to keep me on track.

Save Money While Shopping for Groceries

If you’re anything like me, you spend most of your time making utilitarian shopping trips for things like household goods and groceries, and, let’s face it, those are the trips you almost always make alone. As social as I am—and trust me, I’m very social—I’ve just never found a good way to turn shopping for groceries into an activity that I can do with my girls. However, I have found a way to get paid for shopping for groceries, which gives me more of a budget to go shopping for more fun items with my girls. Thanks to shopping rewards apps, I get paid to do the “boring” shopping to have more money to spend during the fun shopping trips.

Save Money While Shopping by Getting Rewards for Coffee

Another change in my life as I’ve gotten just a little bit older is that coffee has become increasingly important. I used to only have it every once in a while, but now I just have so much to do. Sometimes I’ll brew it at home, but I have to admit I’m also a pretty shameless Starbucks coffee addict. With that in mind, a great way I’ve found to save money while shopping with the girls is to also find ways to save on my Starbucks habit.

The reasoning behind this is actually two-fold: saving on Starbucks lets me buy more coffee so I have more energy for shopping and saving, and more of my money is freed up in my budget. A great thing about Starbucks is they give their loyal customers plenty of great ways to earn Starbucks gift cards, ranging from the Starbucks Rewards Loyalty Program to the Starbucks Rewards Visa Card and partnerships with third-party shopping apps.

Save Money While Shopping by Knowing Your Limits

This is another tip that might seem a bit obvious, but in my experience it’s also one of those that’s easy to ignore or forget. Give yourself a spending limit before you even leave the house. One of the great joys of going shopping with my girls is being able to spend more time than usual browsing and also being able to give each other advice on what we should or shouldn’t purchase. If we’ve all set limits, we encourage each other to stay within that limit. We’re a crew who likes to leave the store with no regrets.

Save Money While Shopping by Watching Videos Before You Go

With apps that pay you to watch videos, you can use your smartphone to watch videos—most of which are ads—the app chooses for you. In exchange, you’ll be rewarded with a small payment. It might seem like just a little bit of money at first, but, trust me, over time it really starts to add up. The best part is using these apps doesn’t cut into your shopping time. I like to use them when I’m waiting in line, throughout the course of my day, while I’m eating my breakfast, or at night while I’m unwinding. There are tons of apps that pay you to watch videos, so don’t limit yourself to the first one you come across!

Save Money While Shopping by Using Coupon Apps

Do you remember when the best way to save money while you were out shopping was to clip paper coupons and bring them with you in your purse? With new technology, that system still exists, but it’s gotten a significant upgrade. Coupon apps are a great way to recreate the experience of using actual paper coupons. Sometimes this means using the apps to scan paper coupons and sometimes it means selecting from a list of electronic coupons that discount your items in the checkout line.

Save Money While Shopping by Using Loyal Shopper Programs

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to buying certain things—such as groceries, household goods, and coffee—I often find myself frequenting the same stores. The list of stores I’m likely to frequent include Starbucks, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. You probably find yourself going to one or all of those stores on a regular basis, too.

Well, if that’s the case, did you know you could be getting rewards for being a loyal shopper? That’s right! All of the stores I named have apps and other programs designed to incentivize return visits, whether it’s the Walmart Savings Catcher App or the Starbucks Rewards Loyalty Program. That’s why my strong advice is to make sure you participate in some or all of these programs. They’ve been created to reward loyal shoppers like you!

Save Money While Shopping by Using Shopkick

Out of all the ways to save money while shopping with your girls on our list today, this one just so happens to be my favorite. It’s a shopping app called Shopkick and how it works is Shopkick rewards you with points for behaviors you do every time you go out shopping, whether it’s by yourself or with your girls. Shopkick rewards you for things like walking into stores, going down aisles browsing products, and making purchases.

And, I love Shopkick even more because it offers me more ways to earn points than by physically going into a store. There are actually tons of ways that Shopkickers can earn rewards right from the app; right from the comfort of your own home. These include kicks for watching videos and instant surprise kicks from going on Easter egg hunts in the app. Users can also get amazing deals where you can earn big points and rewards by shopping on your phone at stores like Amazon, Walmart, and more! It’s a super versatile app, and I absolutely love it.