A Sainsbury's shopper who slashed the cost of her weekly shop from £49.58 to £3.58 has shared her tips for saving money on groceries. Leia Winch began looking for ways to cut costs as much as possible after finding herself £8,000 in debt - and now she has offered her advice to anyone else looking to reduce their shopping bills.
Her first tip was an obvious one: look for yellow sticker items, but that is just the beginning. Leia managed to drastically reduce the cost of her weekly shop at Sainsbury's in other ways too, as reported by Manchester Evening News.
She said she had used supermarket loyalty schemes to collect points, which she then transferred into coupons or vouchers. By doing this, combined with looking for discounted items, Leia said she was able to make huge savings.
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She told the Sun: "I managed to get the weekly shop from Sainsbury's for just £3.58 reduced from £48.58, as I used some of the points I’d saved up and converted them to vouchers, and got a lot of reduced foods including meats, ready meals, and vegetables."
Leia also shops around when supermarkets are offering deals - recently managing to do a small food shop in Co-op for just £4.28 instead of the usual price of £22.40. She also recommended using cashback sites, where you can often get reimbursed a set amount or a percentage off your shopping afterwards.
Lastly, Leia advised taking part in online surveys that offer money or free items for participating. She said the surveys can vary but usually take five to 10 minutes and typically pay out 25p-40p, or sometimes more.
The savvy shopper said: "With the cashback apps and survey sites, I tend to get a lot of free items, like four bottles of shampoo from Boots, or big bags of dog food, which I gave to friends and family. I’ve also managed to get four free jars of coffee, which actually costs £5.50 per tin in store."
Leia stressed that a frugal approach doesn't have to mean sacrificing things you enjoy - she takes advantage of takeaway deals and two-for-one cinema offers, for example. And she says she hopes to buy the flat she currently rents with her partner with the money she saves.
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