My grocery bill is steadily climbing and I am not sure what to do. I make too much for SNAP. Any tips or tricks? It’s just me in my household, so would buying in bulk be worth it?
Edit: I want to thank everyone for their responses. I have a lot to think about.
OurGroceries (app for both iOS and Android) and a partner. It’s an app that syncs in real time and does that very well. So what you do is, you make a list, you both have the app, signed into the same account. If one person pays $20 (used to be $5 per person but I guess they gotta eat too) everyone gets the ads removed. Be aware that the ads can add to the list, and reviewers have pointed out that it can happen automatically.
Anyway, you both go to different stores, and use anything from AirPods to plain old wired earbuds to keep the conversation going while you have the app open. You both navigate the store to each item on the list, and you call out the price. Whoever says the cheaper price puts it in their cart. The more roommates/participants you have, the more stores you can hit, the more you can save (assuming all three people are buying food — if one person is always shut out because their store was more expensive, that person’s time was wasted, and you should not return to that store).
That sounds like a fun game but I hardly see the need to pay $20 and use a dedicated app.
Shared notes (Joplin, iCloud, Google Doc, plenty free options) and a group call on Signal will do the same.
You don’t — before my wife and I paid ($5 each), it just had a banner ad at the bottom. The app is fully functional without paying a dime. I was just saying the ads have gotten a little more intrusive. But, if you’re dedicated to not paying, you can just use it for free.
If you’re on a rooted Android phone, you can probably block the ads with AdAway (at least, that’s what we used 15 years ago, not sure if something better has come along). If not (Android without root, or iOS) you can use NextDNS (or something similar) but yeah, you don’t have to pay.
My wife and I have been using the app for 16 years. What we paid is nothing compared to the value it’s brought us. Coming in now? Hard to justify. But it can still be used for free.
Yeah, my wife and I have been using it for about that long too. Best $5 I’ve ever spent, and would be ok spending $20 now considering how much it has improved our shopping in general.
The lists don’t have to be groceries. And are synced across every device that’s on the account. Pay once for what is likely any number of devices (if there’s a limit we haven’t yet reached it). Android and iThing interoperability.
So… $20 to be on a voice call with your friends so you can manually compare prices? I’ve got a bridge for sale if you’re interested.