Combine Errands
If you know you have an appointment in a certain area of town, save money by running all your errands in that part of town at the same time. A great example for me is church. Each week, I attend a church that is approximately 15 minutes from me. And, I also know that there are a few good stores right near there as well.
One, being Winco Foods. I don’t shop at Winco for the majority of my groceries, however, I do know that they have a few products I use cheaper than my regular grocery store. So, I go once every month or two and stock up on the supplies that are cheaper. My last visit to the store, not only did I save on gas by combining my errands, but I saved $83 by buying a few products that we use often there. $83 is a huge amount of money to be saving every month or so in groceries just with this one simple change.
Likewise near my church is Staples, so I turn in my ink at Staples once a month to collect the rewards. Another is Target. All the stores that are in that area will be visited during that time frame. The same is true with the gas station, again, in another part of town. It is near Ross and my regular grocery store, so I visit both when needed.
Combining your errands and trips will not only save you money, but also time, which is a resource we never seem to have enough of!
Rewards on Gas
I do the majority of my grocery shopping at Fred Meyer. The store is clean (unlike my previous grocery store a few years back: Walmart), the store employees are always helpful and friendly, it is not so crowded, and they have a great produce and an organics section which is superior to any other store in our area. With a little bit of planning, they are priced just as cheap and most of the time cheaper, than their competitors.
Shopping at Fred Meyer for the past few years has been great. I’ve been able to reduce my monthly grocery shopping bill without the use of coupons. Sometimes, when I have the time, I’ll go online to Fred Meyers’ site. They have coupons on their site that you load on your rewards card and automatically apply at checkout. Nothing to clip, nothing to lose (well except your rewards card). lol.
So, what does all this have to do with rewards on gas?
Glad you asked. Fred Meyer has a program where you earn fuel points for every dollar you spend in the store. So, while I already purchase groceries, and already love the store, I can also get rewarded at the fuel pump, which makes my savings EVEN MORE and blows all their competition away!
The Fred Meyer gas station is already comparative to other gas stations in cost, but I receive a good 20-30ยข off each gallon, every time I fill up.
To make the rewards stack up even more…
I use my debit card that fetches me 1% cash back on all my purchases if I run it as credit.
So, everywhere I turn, I am saving money. Every little thing I do, that is saving money, adds up, and it adds up really quickly!