Our Frugal Shopping Habits To Save Money

My wife still goes to school and is on track to graduate next year. With her not working, we tried to really live a frugal life on a single income.

We have done a lot of cost cutting moves the past few years such as moving closer to work, sharing only one car, saving money on our travel, cutting back on going out for lunch, and cutting back on a few of our entertainment expenses.

Some of our friends ask on how we are able to live on a single income. The easy answer is we watch what we purchase and we always try to cut as much as we can. We do not subscribe to cable, I watch sports on regular TV and online (ESPN.com) while my wife watches some of her Filipino shows as well online.

One of the key things why we make it is our frugal hopping habits. We are not penny pinchers as sometimes we spent a lot on a few items if we have to as long as there are value in it. But for the most part, this is what we do:

Shopping at Costco

For most frugal people, having a warehouse club membership (such as BJ’s, Sam’s and Costco membership) really helps in cutting down cost and saving money through wholesale purchasing. I have been a member of this club way back in 1995 back when it was still called Price Club in our area.

So throughout the years, we have saved a lot due to the huge discounts that Costco offers. We also take advantage of the coupons, instant rebate, and manufacturers rebate whenever it’s available. So sometimes we time our purchase if we know a particular item will soon have a coupon (for example tires). Most of the items that we buy are household and personal effects such as deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, sopa, detergents, vitamins, paper towels, toilet paper, etc. These are the ones that you can save money by buying in bulk without worrying about the expiration date. From time to time, we would also buy produce, electronics and gift cards.

In addition, we also use the gift cards from Costco for personal use such as Lucille’s BBQ, Starbucks, Edwards and Regal Movies, etc.

Shopping at Target or Wal-mart

There are some items that we do not find at Costco so we go to either Target or Walmart.  For example, my wife buys some of her cosmetic stuff at target since they are not available at Costco. Other times, it just did not make sense to purchase in bulk so we go to this stores to by the little ones that we do not consume a lot. Items that normally expires such as medicines, we by them at Target at a smaller size. As an example, we bought a huge aspirin bottle at Costco that we only used a little bit and then expired. So we decided to just buy it at Target or the nearest pharmacy store.

Shopping for Gifts During The Holiday

While most people wait until Black Friday to shop for gifts, my wife and I are quite the opposite. We normally complete our Christmas gifts even before Black Friday arrive. This way, we are not so stressed out on trying to deal with the huge crowd. There are numerous holidays throughout the year that also presents huge sales so we always make it a habit to go out during those times to buy gifts mostly for birthdays and Christmas.

Shopping At Outlet Stores

Shopping at outlet stores usually go in conjunction to the holiday sale. We don’t go to it often but when it comes to the holiday, we would visit it to see if we can get additional savings. We buy items both for personal use or save them as a gift. One of the benefits in living here in Southern California is the presence of this outlet stores. The closes one in our area (10 miles) is the Citadel outlet but they don’t have that many selection of brand name stores. On certain occasions, we would actually drive at least 60 miles and visit the other outlet stores such as the Camarillo in Oxnard, Cabazon in San Bernardino and Carlsbad in San Diego areas.

Shopping at Local Ethnic Stores

There are a lot of ethnic stores in our area and a couple of the advantages are the items that you can’t find elsewhere and the the cost is may be cheaper than those leading non-ethnic stores.

99 Ranch store, Seafood city, Island Pacific are Asian supermarkets where we buy most of our produce, meat and seafood products. What I like about these stores are when we buy fish, the supermarket staff  can clean and cook it for us for free. For example, at an Asian restaurant, one order of fried tilapia (the big one) cost about $7.00 to $10.00 while we can purchase that same fish (cleaned and fried) for at least half that cost.

The perfect example is when we bought a whole lobster during Labor day at 99 Ranch Market: the lobster cost only $5.99 per pound (regular price at $12.00). The store also offers free steam service so we have it steamed before we go home. I just have to pay for the lobster first since the store is just trying to make sure that you will really purchase it. Usually, when you purchase it fresh there is no sales tax levied but since it is cooked, we have to pay an additional sales tax similar to purchasing food at a restaurant. So that one whole huge lobster (5 lbs) only cost us around $30.00 and it lasted for two days. Yes, it is a very expensive meal by our standard but sometimes it is good to splurge once in a while. On the contrary, this is still much cheaper as compared to eating out at a restaurant and paying the same amount of money for a small piece of the lobster.