If your weekend errands took you to the grocery store, you might still be slightly shaken by your total at checkout.
With rising prices there is no shortage seen anytime soon inflation On the rise and experts are predicting further recession.
In June, data from Food Banks Canada showed that 23 percent of Canadians reported eating “less than they needed” due to rising inflation.
“This summer will be one of the toughest food banks in Canada experience in our 41-year history,” said Kirsten Beardsley, CEO of Food Bank Canada.
“Most food banks in every region of Canada are already stretched to their limits, as demand is expected to remain high in the summer months as more and more Canadians struggle to cope with rising inflation.”
Read more: Atlantic Canadians taking more cuts as interest rates rise, data shows
Prices are still climbing, is it even possible to save now?
Ruth Ann Swanberg, once known as the Moncton Coupon Lady, says it’s not only possible, but necessary.
“Nowadays the budget is not big enough to afford the way we used to shop,” she says.
Swanberg has expanded its brand beyond just couponing, but still has a tip or two to share on cutting costs.
She says some old staples have gone the way of dinosaurs.
“Price matching is missing in many of the stores it used to be,” she says.
“As far as shopping, it was a really common practice to go through flyers and say, ‘Okay, I’m going to go to this store for this and go to that store for it’. .. It is no longer possible with the price of gas or transport to go between the shops.”
Swanberg says coupons have made a comeback after being sidelined through the COVID-19 pandemic, and the popular points program is worth checking out.
Read more: Inflation rises further in June amid ‘reopening effect’, economists estimate
She also says that there is a growing recent phenomenon of smartphone applications offering cashback discounts on certain products.
Apps like Checkout 51 and Caddle offer weekly product-specific deals that can get you some of the money you spent back after purchase.
Shoppers just need to sign up, check offers, save their receipts, and scan them into the app after a purchase to get a small amount back.
Once you reach the company limit to “cash out,” you can get that money back via direct deposit or check.
Swanberg says these apps are only getting better.
“I’ve noticed lately that some of them are becoming more useful,” she says.
“There are actually brands of milk on Cadel right now, which is one of the apps, Northumberland Milk, Sour Cream, Coffee Cream. There are cashback offers on this. You usually never see offers on dairy products, so they’re worth a look.”
She says the app tracks your purchases the same way some loyalty programs do, so you should be comfortable sharing a little bit of your data.
She also acknowledges that the process may seem a little daunting at first, but saving a dollar this week is still a savings.
“It adds up,” she says.
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