ML Interest Tag: save-up

16 Ways to Shop Smart & Save Money on Groceries

by Kaitlyn Kirby

With rising food prices, there’s no doubt you’ve been trying to think of ways to shop smart when you head to the grocery store. If you’re determined to lower your bottom line, you’ll be glad to know there are plenty of ways to keep your wallet just as full as your cart—from using coupons to downloading grocery savings apps and more. Keep scrolling to find our savvy list of hacks on how to shop smart the next time you’re cruising the aisles.

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Shop online and do drive-thru pick-up. You might balk at the fee some grocery stores charge to bring the groceries to your car but consider the money you'll save by not wandering the aisles with kids who'll no doubt beg for every snack in sight?

Plan your meals.
To avoid over-buying on your next grocery run, plan your meals. Write out the days of the week and under each heading, choose what you’ll be eating and what ingredients you need so you can streamline (and save on!) your trip. Recovering Spender author and financial life coach Lauren Greutman puts things into perspective. "If we spend $25 on pizza every week, we're forking out an extra $1300 a year on takeout!"

Shop in stores where you know the layout. Quick trips to the grocery store can turn into a free-for-all if you don't know where everything is, especially when you are tired or in a hurry.

Stay away from pre-chopped veggies.
You may be tempted to reach for those containers of ready-chopped onions, celery, and carrots, but they also come with a higher price tag. According to consumerreports.org, you'll be paying almost double for that pre-prepped status. Instead, shop smart and opt for buying the entire vegetable and set aside time for chopping.

Start using the Flashfood App.
This app has partnered with grocery stores all over the country in hopes of eliminating food waste, plus, users can save up to $108 a month. How does it work? Download the app, and then search for a grocery location near you. Then you can choose and purchase discounted food items—you know, the items that have "just" reached their best buy date, and pick them up at designated Flashfood Zones in the store.

shop smart and go to the store late
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Shop during the quiet hours.
When the store is crowded with busy, tired folks and crying babies, all you want to do is get your shopping done. There's little chance of you taking the time to price compare or search for bargains. Instead, hit the aisles when fewer customers are around, and you'll feel less stressed to get a move on. Want to know what hours to avoid? The Time Use Institute states that the busiest hours of the day are 4 p.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays, and from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m or so on the weekends.

Go meatless.
If you’re shopping on a budget, consider adding Meatless Monday (or Tuesday or Wednesday) to your weekly meal rotation. You’ll save on one of the most expensive staples on your grocery list and you’re guaranteed to get in all of your greens! A study published in the Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition found that vegetarians save up to $750 a year by going meatless.

Become a coupon clipper.
We’re not saying you need to audition for the next season of Extreme Couponing, but before you head to the store, do a quick online search for any coupons that will apply to the items on your grocery list. You’ll also want to check if your grocery store has its app. Many stores like Target and Kroger have their app with additional digital coupons you can use.

Download cashback apps.
As you’re looking for coupons on the items on your grocery list, take a few minutes to download cashback apps like Ibotta and Checkout 51. These apps allow you to earn a percentage or dollar amount back on certain items after you upload a photo of your receipt. And while they may be small amounts at first (25 cents back on any item, for instance), they add up quickly!

lady buying generic labels to shop smart
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Buy generic.
You probably have a few brands that you’ve used for years, but when it comes to everyday items like salt or flour, you can make your wallet a little happier by buying generic. 

Look up or down.
Did you know that supermarkets often stock the priciest items at eye level? When you’re looking to shop smart and find the best deals, remind yourself to look on those top and bottom shelves.

Buy in bulk.
If cheese is on your list, spring for a block. Grated cheddar is almost always more expensive. And, when a family staple, like chicken noodle soup, goes on sale 10 for $10, go ahead and load up! If you don't have room in the pantry, ask a store associate if you can still get the discounted price.

Don’t shop while hungry.
Heading to the store on an empty stomach? Do your budget a favor and eat first. Grocery shopping while hungry can lead you to buy much more than you need and make impulse purchases. Like Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping says, "more than 60% of what we buy wasn’t on our list."

shop smart and send the frugal person to the store
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Send the most economic partner to the store. If one partner is more likely to use coupons, look for bargains or attempt to spend the absolute minimum amount possible, consider having that partner tackle the big shopping trips (quick weeknight trips don't count—those are anyone's game!).  

Buy frozen vegetables and fruit.
Depending on what’s in season, you can save a few bucks by buying your vegetables in the freezer section. Certain grocery stores like Trader Joe’s often have frozen veggies and fruit for under $2 so you can stock up!

Find bargains online.
In the days of Amazon Fresh and other online retailers, you can easily find food at bargain prices—you just have to know where to look. consumereports.org suggests buying the following non-perishable items online to save your hard-earned dollars: snack bars, coffee, baby food, pasta and more.

 

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How to Have the Ultimate Family Christmas Carol Karaoke Night

by Kenzie Kramer
Partner Content

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Silent night? Not so much… in preparation for the Christmas season, take your crew’s carol singing to new levels with the Tobi 2 Interactive Karaoke Machine. Here’s how this whimsical machine can create a festive family sing-a-long and memories that’ll last a lifetime:

Prep Your Playlist

Kick off the holiday spirit by asking your family to share their favorite Christmas carols and songs in advance so you can prep your playlist. When it’s party time, connect the Tobi 2 Interactive Karaoke Machine to an external smart device using wireless Bluetooth® technology and play any song through the built-in speaker. Heads up: you’re about to ensure people of all ages are happy and entertained for hours (a win-win!).

O Come All Ye Rockstars

Grab the corded microphone and spread joy to the world (or at least throughout the living room). Reduce the volume of the vocals to let your own voice take center stage. Worried you can’t carry a tune? There’s pitch correction to enhance singing. So, no excuses!

Break Out the Sweaters

Wardrobe is an important part of any superstar's performance, including a Christmas carol karaoke night. Pull your best over-the-top holiday attire out from storage to get in the festive mood!

Rock around the Christmas Tree

There are tons of cool features to make this season extra celebratory. Kids love dancing to the LED lightshow with Tobi’s fun expressions, built-in songs and beats. And things will certainly get silly by adding different voice effects and sounds. Wind down each performance with a rousing round of applause. To keep the festivities going from anywhere in the room, use the Tobi 2 Robot Smartwatch (sold separately) as a remote control.

No, It's Not Too Early for Cookies

Those Christmas cookies you love each December? You can make them any day of the year. Or, try one of these tasty new recipes!

Save Your Favorite Tunes

Who knew grandma was a secret superstar? Or that Dad actually knew all the words to Holy Night? The Tobi 2 Interactive Karaoke Machine lets you save up to nine recordings to make a greatest hits collection for a future listening session.

Have a Dance Off

Not only can the Tobi 2 Interactive Karaoke Machine get your family singing, but you’ll be dancing all night, too. Play seven interactive games including Freeze Dance, Rap n’ Record, and Laugh Attack.

All you need are 4 AA batteries and an audience to get this party started! (Just remember to share the mic.) Merry Christmas!

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Empowering Kids to Be Smarter Spenders

By Taylor Burton

As our kids begin their second consecutive pandemic-impacted school year, the Delta Variant is threatening the chances of a “normal” school experience, parenting can feel more stressful than ever. 

With all this uncertainty, it’s important that we continue to foster meaningful conversations with our kids to help them feel secure, grounded and connected, despite feelings of fear, anxiety and confusion. One topic families may be reluctant to discuss? Money. According to a recent survey by T. Rowe Price, 69% of parents are reluctant to talk with their kids about money, and only 23% of kids reported talking with their parents about money on a regular basis. It may seem like a strange time to talk about money with everything happening in the world, but this conversation can be an important part of daily interactions with your child to help build a strong foundation during times of uncertainty. 

Demystifying money, by making it a regular topic of discussion, is crucial to helping your kids develop smart money habits later in life. And its not just talking about money, but giving kids exposure to money decisions: what to buy, what not to buy and how to make those tradeoffs is an important muscle for them to start flexing while still at home. Without a solid financial foundation, based on conversations and experience, kids will be unprepared to function as successful economic actors when they leave the nest. 

The first step for empowering kids to be smarter spenders is collaboration. Encourage your kids to ask questions by including them in spending decisions. Shopping, whether for back to school supplies or for a hobby, is a great opportunity to give your kids a budget and allow them to buy items that will directly impact their daily experience. 

The next step: Make a plan around spending. Sit down with your kids and break down their expenses into different buckets: wants vs. needs, fixed vs. variable expenses. This is a great way to help kids visualize money and gain a firmer understanding of their financial situations. After making a plan, the final steps are to set goals and prioritize. Ask your kids what short and long term purchases they want to make and use the plan from earlier to evaluate how close they are to achieving their spending and saving goals. For example, do your kids want to save up for a new gaming console? If so, they might want to take fewer trips to the ice cream shop. 

While these steps are a great way to get kids thinking about smart money habits, tools like Till give kids hands-on spending experience by putting the power in their hands. Till is an app and debit card combo designed to encourage collaboration between parents and kids. Unlike other apps that focus on saving or investing, Till’s #1 priority is teaching kids to be smarter spenders. The reality is that we are living in a spending economy, and without developing the ability to spend effectively, kids will have a very difficult transition once they leave the nest. 

On average, each kid in the US influences family purchases of $6,000 a year. That equates to a lot of opportunities to teach them about how to spend wisely. Imagine if instead of putting some of those expenses on a credit card auto-pay, you use the opportunity to talk with your kid on a monthly basis about if it’s a worthwhile expense, and better yet, give them the exposure and the opportunity to pay the bill themselves (even if you subsidize it). Paying bills is a very real part of life that kids should have exposure to before they’re out on their own and potentially caught off guard. 

We all want our kids to grow up to be strong, educated financial actors. Taking the time to teach your kids smart money habits will benefit them for the rest of their lives. No one knows what this next year will bring, but one thing you can control is planting the seeds for your kids’ long-term financial success.

 

Taylor Burton is the co-founder of Till Financial, the first app and debit card that empowers the next generation of smarter spenders, helping families find teachable moments to learn financial literacy and demystify money management for kids. He is a proud father of two girls and lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife.

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We Found the Perfect Gifts for Your Resident Superstar

by Kenzie Kramer
Partner Content

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Lights, camera, action! Does your kiddo love captivating an audience with elaborate stories, hamming it up at family functions or belting out ballads in the car? Let their creative juices flow with the Tobi 2 Director’s Camera and the Tobi 2 Interactive Karaoke Machine. The cool features on these gadgets make it simple for your filmmaker or rockstar to tap into their creativity and curiosity. Better yet, you won’t ever hear the words, “I’m bored.” (PS: siblings may quickly find themselves as constant supporting actors and backup singers.)

Hollywood, Here We Come

The high-definition Tobi 2 Director’s Camera takes videos, selfies, and photos. A green screen and built-in backgrounds transform kids into anything they dream up—superheroes, news anchors, astronauts and so much more. Other awesome special effects include creating comic book pages, making video stickers and designing stop-motion videos. Proud parent alert: internal editing software elevates videos, movies and photos into masterpieces. No matter what story your child wants to tell, it’s possible with this cool camera. We can almost hear it now, “And the award goes to…”

Super Selfies FTW!

No newsflash here—kids are experts at sneaking into their parents’ phones and taking selfies. But with the Tobi 2 Director’s Camera, they can have their own device to make silly expressions and say cheese. The flip-out lens, selfie stick, tripod, auto timer and hilarious face filters take typical selfies up a notch. (Your phone’s photo library will thank you!)

Creative Expression, Made Simple

This digital HD camera is perfect for kids 6+. It features a large 2.4” display, a microSD slot for expanded memory, and rechargeable battery with USB cable for easy charging and downloading. Plus, it’s splashproof (because spills are inevitable with kids!). Before you know it, your kiddo will be deep in the creative process, proudly sharing mini-films that magically transformed their everyday world into a movie set.

Sing On

Is there ever a bad time for karaoke? (Ok, fine… maybe bedtime isn’t exactly ideal). The Tobi 2 Interactive Karaoke Machine can connect to an external music device using wireless Bluetooth® technology—playing any song through the built-in speaker. You can lower the volume of the vocals so kids' voices can be front and center. (There’s pitch correction for those working on carrying a tune.) Not only is the singing sensational, but there’s an LED lightshow with Tobi’s fun expressions, built-in songs and beats, voice effects and more. Save up to nine recordings to share your favorite tunes with your crew.

Dance Off

The Tobi 2 Interactive Karaoke Machine inspires superstar singing and dancing. Seven interactive games including Freeze Dance, Rap n’ Record, and Laugh Attack get kids moving and grooving. Consider this practice for when Beyoncé needs some new backup dancers…

Connect to the New Smartwatch

Both of these devices connect to the Tobi 2 Robot Smartwatch (sold separately), which can be used as a remote control to take pictures and videos with the Tobi 2 Director’s Camera or change tracks on the Tobi 2 Interactive Karaoke Machine. 

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This Service Takes the Guesswork Out of Playing to Learn

by Jamie Aderski
Partner Content

Have a new baby (or know someone who does)? There are so many decisions to make, from car seats to sleeping arrangements and feeding schedules—why not take one off your plate! We all want to give our child the best start possible and that’s why we are beyond excited about The Play Kits by Lovevery: toys delivered every few months to help them develop their skills in a stage-appropriate way!

Experts design The Play Kits by Lovevery for your baby’s developing brain. They deliver each Play Kit for your child’s exact learning stage, so they have the right toys at the right time. Read on to learn why these kits are so popular with parents, family and caregivers just like you!

Explore the Play Kits & save up to 10% when you prepay for a Play Kits Subscription Program.


How Does It Work?

So simple, it can be summed up in one sentence: Every 2–3 months, Lovevery delivers a Play Kit to your home that’s matched to your child’s development stage and what they’re hungry to learn at this very moment.

 

What Makes These Playthings So Perfect

The Play Kits are filled with playthings and activities designed by experts who link brain science and Montessori philosophy. Each Play Kit includes The Play Guide, packed with expert tips, ways to play and DIY at-home activities. Even better: their social media and blog deliver loads more science-backed and stage-based fun which means no guessing what’s good for your kiddo!

Explore the Play Kits & save up to 10% when you prepay for a Play Kits Subscription Program.

Quality That’s Modern + Minimal

Toys don’t need to clutter up your space. Lovevery toys are designed to make every detail to be engaging, which means zero space wasted and less clean up for you. They believe that simple is better and prioritize Montessori-inspired elements. Their play essentials are designed to look at home in your home. Plus, their durable play products stand up to plenty of play. Their playthings are even made with sustainably harvested wood, organic cotton, and baby-safe plastics!

 

Play That Grows With Them

We all know that learning a new skill takes time. Lovevery intentionally packages its Play Kits to bring your child new play experiences that build specific skills as they grow. These innovative and creative playthings are tailored to your child’s stage—providing challenge, confidence and belly-laughs. No throw-away toys here: As your child grows, you’ll see them revisit and repurpose playthings for new, open-ended and more advanced play.

Explore the Play Kits & save up to 10% when you prepay for a Play Kits Subscription Program.

The Magic of Montessori

Watch your child take the lead on their learning as they connect with playthings that are rooted in the real world. Lovevery’s Montessori influence brings you seemingly simple toys that capture your child’s curiosity while they’re learning. Their products help your child connect with play, connect with you and connect with the world around them. 

 

Explore the Play Kits & save up to 10% when you prepay for a Play Kits Subscription Program.

 

 

 —Jamie Aderski 

 

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Amazon’s Bestselling Kids Tablet Is on Sale For $60

by Kenzie Kramer
Partner Content

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Amazon is offering a deal that parents and kids will love: Big savings on Amazon Kids Edition tablets. These just-for-kids tablets are packed with features that your little one will be smitten with, and have a price tag that you’ll adore!

Save up to $60 on an Amazon Kids Edition tablet now!

Keep reading to see how these all-in-one tablets check all the boxes that both you and your kiddo are looking for. 

A Price You'll Love

Amazon Kids Edition tablets come in three different sizes: Seven, eight and ten inches. Now through February 20, the Fire 7 Kids Edition tablet is on sale for just $59.99. The Fire HD 8 Kids Edition tablet is only $89.99, and the Fire HD 10 Kids Edition tablet—Amazon’s largest and fastest kids tablet—is on sale for $144.99! 

Endless Room to Explore

Thanks to the help of Amazon Kids+, the Amazon Kids Edition tablets give kids access to over 20,000 age-appropriate apps, games, books, videos and more. With the help age filters that you set, your kids can find content from names they recognize (like PBS Kids, Disney and Nickelodeon) and discover new games and characters—including Amazon original content like Ryan’s World and Super Spy Ryan! There’s even thousand of books, games, apps and videos in Spanish.

Ready to Learn—Anytime, Anywhere

It's not all fun and games: Amazon Kids Edition tablets can also help families as they navigate virtual learning with the help of educational apps and games, plus thousands of books on Amazon Kids+. If your kiddo has virtual classes, you even have the option to give them access to the Zoom app! 

Save up to $60 on an Amazon Kids Edition tablet now!

Customizable Parental Controls

There's no one-size-fits-all solution to screentime, which is why Kids Edition tablets come fully equipped with customizable parental controls, which allow you to create a tablet that fits your family's needs. You can set a limit on screentime for each day, a scheduled shutdown time to make bedtime way easier or educational goals that block access to entertainment content until the goal is met! The parental controls also let you set age-filters for the content your kids see, which you can update as they grow. 

Totally Kid-Proof Plus All-Around Protection

Drops have nothing on the tough case that comes on the Kids Edition tablets! The kid-proof case can withstand just about anything, but in case something does happen, each tablet has a two-year worry-free guarantee––if it breaks, just return it and Amazon will replace for free!

Get your little valentine a gift they’ll love with an Amazon Kids Edition tablet!

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