Money-Saving Monday- Walmart Price Matching

I am ever on a quest to learn to save money and use what money we do have in the most effective way. I may not do this EVERY Monday, but I want to pass along some tips and tricks for you. I have learned most of my money-saving ideas from the other people and some of them I now can not live without! So, I am going to pass along to you.

Over the past year, couponing has become a huge deal for me. Check out THIS POST on an effective way to organize coupons and THIS POST on one way to make your grocery list.

Over the summer we moved to a new part of town and bought a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood. I have never been happier with my home.....and I had better be as we aren't planning on buying another home until the kids are out of the house.....and maybe not even then :)

Anyway, we moved right down the street from a "Walmart Neighborhood Market." I had never heard of such a place so I went it to find that it is not a Walmart at all.......or a Super Walmart......It is a Walmart grocery store! That excited me very much.......because of Walmart's price-compare policy.

According to the Walmart website, Walmart will price match ANY local competitor's prices.......this does not simply mean other grocery stores. Competitors also include drug stores like Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS, along with stores that sell household and clothing items like Target!

Now I realize that Walmart Neighborhood Markets are not around a lot and likely you will not have them......but you can still do a lot of grocery shopping at super Walmarts and even some regular Walmarts. If you do not have a Neighborhood Market, you might want to buy fresh produce at bigger chain grocery stores or farmers markets, but other than that you can do a majority of monthly grocery shopping there!

So, how do you do it to get the best deals? I have the answer.....super easy!

1. From the Sunday paper (huge investment that you need to buy) pull out all of the ads for neighborhood stores, along with the coupons. Clip the coupons and organize them in the way that you have chosen......like me or however you have found that is easiest for you.

2. With a marker, go through all the ads and circle deals that look good. You will find in looking through the circulars that the stores are very competitively priced. For example: If Coke products are on sale in one store, there will likely be 2 or 3 other stores that they are also on sale. You will quickly be able to tell which is the best deal to get the lowest price.

3. With all the ads circled, you now begin to make your list. If you have never made an organized grocery list before, you might want to start with something like THIS. Divide your list into sections of the grocery store (ie. Meats, fresh foods, center aisles, Misc items etc.) and start writing down the best deals that you found in the ads. In parenthesis, write the price, the exact product item and size and the store it came from). You will also bring the ads to the store with you, but it is better to have everything on 1 master list.

4. Pull all the coupons from your file that correspond with your deals. The best way to save money is to use the best deal from a competitor and pair it with a coupon!

5. Begin to shop! When you get to Walmart, find the item on your list and compare it to the price that you have written down. SOMETIMES, Walmart's already low prices with beat the lowest competitors prices. If so, get the cheaper Walmart price. But, if you have written down a better deal, use a highlighter and highlight it so it is ready to go at the cash register.

Some tips and tricks to price matching:

Tip #1 is to BE ORGANIZED. Depending on your cashier, you may have to show them the actual ads that have the prices listed. Other cashiers you simply have to tell them the price and they will put it in. But, until you get to know who is who, you need to be organized with your list!

One way to be organized on your shopping trips is to get a cart and put a Walmart basket inside the cart. Any of the items on your list that you will price match, you put in the basket (or 2.....sometimes I have so many things it overflows into 2 baskets!). Then you simply put the basket on the register and tell them you are going to price match first before the rest of your items.

Another way to stay organized is to actually label the price matched items on your list. I put the lower price in parenthesis along with the name of the store I got the deal from. That way if I need to pull out the ad to show the cashier, I can do it quickly without having to search through 5 ads!

Tip #2: Go to the Walmart.com website and read their policy about price matching so you are well-versed in it. Sometimes you will know more about the price matching policy than the cashiers, sadly enough. For example: You can not do "Buy 1 get 1 free" things for other stores, or prices using their rewards cards.....but you CAN use their lowest sale prices if a price is listed.

I hate to say this, but sometimes cashiers get pretty snotty about doing price compares. It is more work for them and I am fairly certain they do not like it when we have a whole cart full of food they have to ring up for different prices. It helps to be organized and calm and know what the website states :)

In the same vein, some cashiers are GREAT about price matching. I have had some even give me some deals on products that I have missed. They know that a competitor is selling a product for less and they will ring it up for me at the lower price. They have told me how much they appreciate my organization!

Tip #3: Make sure you are getting the EXACT product listed in the ads. Otherwise, they will not honor that.

This all may seem overwhelming......but if you go step by step, it is truly pretty easy. I have save countless dollars on my grocery trips! I know I can always learn more and do a better job, but this does get to be like a game for me :) So let me know if you do this Walmart price compare! I love hearing people's success stories!