To celebrate and welcome the first day of Spring this year, we decided to visit the Orchid Show on Saturday, 3^rd September at the Garden Shop Flora Farm in Boksburg.

The entrance to this amazing event was free (I like frugal & free!), and so was the one hour talk given on the basic care of orchids, which was very useful and drew an audience of close to a hundred people. All in all, the event was an absolutely stunning display of over 50 varieties of blooming orchids as well as several Ikebana flower arrangement displays.

In true spring style, the day was gorgeous and hubby and I probably spent a good 3 hours there, although I’m pretty sure I could have stayed even longer! I was in absolute awe at the lovely orchids on display. There were so many stunning blooms wherever you looked!

I came back home with several hundred photographs and a Lady Slipper orchid (one of my lovely birthday presents this year!). I love orchids. I got my first Moth orchid (Phalaenopsis) a few years ago and it was love at first sight although a slow learning curve thereafter of how to care for it properly even though it’s the least demanding orchid to take care of!

Each year now, I get one or two new orchids as a present (my hubby knows how much I love my orchids!). And each year it’s been an absolute pleasure watching my orchids grow their beautiful stems over a period of a few months leading up to spring so that they are ready to start opening their flowers in August/September.

Although I’m not an orchid expert by any means, I manage to take care of my orchids. They are all in flower at the moment, so if you are a fellow orchid admirer, check back soon for some lovely photos!

For more exciting flower events at the Garden Shop Flora Farm in Boksburg, like their Facebook page to stay in touch.

Disclaimer: Financial compensation was not received for this post. Opinions expressed here are my own.

The post The Orchid Show appeared first on Frugal in SA.

If you know the standard prices of groceries you regularly buy, you can save yourself a nice chunk of money as you hunt for specials and do your grocery shopping each month. Knowing my prices certainly helps me! So I’ve decided to share my list of the lowest prices of grocery items on special. I keep track of each item’s regular price as well as the lowest price on special advertised for in the shops lately. This list includes prices that are valid as of October 2016.

Why is it important to keep track of prices? Well, when the items you regularly buy go on special you would need to know if it really is the lowest price available on that product of if it a reduced price only at a specific store. Quite a few of our local supermarkets run specials on the same items in the same period, and one of those deals will usually be the best deal, so it’s important to know which one it is.

Also, if you don’t know the standard price of items in shops, how can you tell if the advertised amount on special is a good deal or not? I’m sure that many of you have learnt this the hard way, as I have! In fact, I am still learning and I still make a mistake sometimes – just the other day I returned a bottle of shampoo to a shop as it was R10.00 more expensive than in another shop, almost right next door!

Buying in bulk can be misleading. Often, the prices are cheaper per item, yes, that’s true. At other times, the price is cheaper by 20c or 50c which makes you wonder if you are really going to save much by spending money in fuel and driving or paying for public transport to get to a certain shop.

And quite often retailers will advertise buying a certain item in bulk at a certain price when you can actually buy the single item cheaper in another shop! Yes, I know, I am one of those people who walks around the stores doing my end-of-month grocery shopping with a calculator in my hand as I calculate the price per unit of advertised items in bulk but that’s the only way I can check if I am really getting the cheapest deal available!

Whenever I can get items that we regularly buy and use at their lowest price, that’s when I will buy a few, or more if my budget allows it, to add to my stockpile. I’m especially a fan of stockpiling non-perishable items when I can get them at rock-bottom prices and I will usually wait for the specials to come, and stock up as needed, so that I don’t have to buy these items at their regular prices. I will also stash cuts of meat or vegetables in our freezer when I see them at the lowest price possible.

Here is my list of the lowest prices of grocery and household items on special. These prices are up-to-date as of October 2016.

General Groceries

• Sugar (no name brand): R27.99 for 2.5kg.
• Cake Flour: R19.99 for 2.5kg.
• Sunflower oil (non-GMO): R34.00 for 2-litre bottle.
• Eggs: R36.00 for a crate of 30 grain-fed eggs.
• Soya Mince: R9.99 for a 200gr. packet.
• Puff Pastry (Today): R8.90 for 400gr. roll.
• Frozen Pies (Makro): R8.30 per pie (when bought in bulk of 12).
• Noodles (various): R3.30 per 100gr. packet.
• Rice (Tastic): R10.00 for 1kg (bought in bulk).
• Pasta: Fatti & Moni’s R9.99 or Woolworths R10.00 for 500gr. packet

Meat

• Beef shin stewing meat: R39.99 for 1kg.
• Boerewors: R39.99 for 1kg.
• Biltong: R120.00 for 1kg.
• Minced meat: R49.99 for 1kg.
• Whole chicken: R24.99 for 1kg.
• Chicken pieces in brine: R37.99 for 2kg bag.

Dairy

• Long-life Milk (no name brand): R9.99 for 1 litre (in a 6-pack).
• Plain Yoghurt (various): R23.99 for a 1-litre tub.
• Fruit Yoghurt (various): R10.00 for 6 cups.
• Maas (no name brand): R21.00 for a 2-litre bottle.
• Margarine: Blossom R24.99 for 1kg, Canola R36.00/Flora Gold for 1kg.
• Butter: (Woolworths) R39.99 for 500gr or (Emerald’s) R34.99 for 500gr.
• Cream cheese: R17.00 for a 250gr. tub.
• Gouda or Cheddar: (Lancewood) R79.00 for 900gr.

Tinned Food

• Baked Beans (no name brand): R5.30 for 410gr. tin.
• Corn kernels (Koo): R10.99 for 410gr. tin.
• Tuna: R9.99 for 175 gr. tin.

Household cleaning supplies

• Automatic washing powder (Ariel, Sunlight or Skip): R39.99 for 2kg.
• Fabric Softener (Comfort): R25.00 for 800ml bottle.
• Window cleaner (no name): R22.00 for 750ml bottle
• Handy Andy (no name brand): R9.99 for 750 ml bottle.
• Kitchen cleaner (Handy Andy Actifizz): R19.00 per 750ml refill.
• Dishwashing liquid (no name brand): R16.00 for 1-litre bottle.
• Tile Cleaner (Glade): R16.00 for 1-litre bottle.
• Dishwasher tablets (Mr.Sheen): R72.00 for 36 tablets.
• Pine Gel (Westpack): R68.00 for a 5-litre bucket.

Toiletries

• Toothpaste (Colgate/Aquafresh): R7.00 for 100 ml tube.
• Mouthwash (Colgate): R42.00 for 500ml + 250ml bottles.
• Soap (Protex, Dettol or Pears): R7.00 or R7.30 for 200 gr.
• Cotton Buds (Dove): R9.99 for a packet of 200.
• Shampoo or Conditioner (Tres Semme): R49.99 for 900ml.
• Razors (no name brand): R6.00 for a packet of 2 disposable razors.
• Tissues (Twinsaver): R9.99 for a packet of 200.
• Toilet paper (Baby-Soft): R74.00 for 18s.

Fruits

• Bananas: R7.00 for 1kg.
• Oranges: R20.00 for a 7kg pocket.
• Apples: R6,60 for 1kg (when bough in bulk of 3kg)
• Strawberries: R10.00 for a punnet.

Vegetables

• Carrots: R10.00 for 5kg.
• Potatoes: R34.00 for a 7kg pocket.
• Cabbage: R10.00 for 2.
• Lettuce: R10.00 for 3.
• Spinach: R10.00 for 3.
• Butternut: R20.00 for 7kg.
• Mushrooms: R10.00 for a punnet.

I do hope you will find this list useful. There are, of course, once-off specials I may come across from time to time, but unfortunately, these do not repeat (though I wish they did!) and I have not included them in this list.

If you know of any prices that are lower than these though, or if there are any items that you would like to see included in this list, please do let me know by leaving me a comment below.

The post Know Your Prices appeared first on Frugal in SA.

As it was my birthday last week, I decided to bring in a few platters to share with my colleagues at lunchtime during the week. I’d included this expense in this month’s budget and I allocated R250.00 in total, for both food and drinks, to serve 15-18 people. The only way I could stay within my budget was to cook and bake and prepare all the food that I was going to take to work, myself. That’s exactly what I did.

You might think now, well, how much could she actually serve for R250.00? Food is generally expensive and I had to make sure I had enough food to serve 15-18 people generously. Had I decided to order platters or even to buy ready-made snacks or food in the shops, I definitely would have paid a lot more! But I didn’t. I spent about R220.00 for all the ingredients (both food and drinks) and probably another R30.00 in electricity costs. It took me a total of about 6 hours to prepare all the goodies as well as arrange it all on platters.

Here is what I served:

• A platter of Cucumber Sandwiches and Sandwich Spread, Carrot & Lettuce Sandwiches

• A platter of Tuna & Corn Fritters, Meatballs & Cherry Tomatoes

• Cheese & Biltong Bread Sticks

• Millie Meal & Polenta Bread

• Banana Bread and Cinnamon Swirl Bread

• Cool Drinks (4 large bottles)

Here is how I saved:

I bought all the fruit and vegetables very cheaply at Apple Tree Fresh Food Market: lettuce, cherry tomatoes and cucumber. I had a couple of carrots in the fridge already (those were part of a 5kg carrot bag which I bought for R10.00!). Instead of Biltong pieces I used Biltong powder in the cheese sticks which is cheaper but still makes for yummy cheese sticks! I used a cheaper cut of Gouda for the cheese sticks as well (I didn’t use processed cheese).

I made plain Millie Meal & Polenta Bread and didn’t add Feta cheese which would have brought the cost up. Instead of using 2 tins of tuna which the Tuna & Corn Fitters recipe called for, I used only 1 and realised that it doesn’t really alter the taste that much. I decided to make Banana bread and Cinnamon Swirl loaves as a sweet treat which altogether cost me less in both ingredients and electricity, and tasted much better, than any of the cheaper cakes you could buy at a supermarket (which I didn’t really want to do anyway).

All the recipes I used were fairly inexpensive recipes which yielded a whole lot of food. I had 2 Banana bread loaves and 2 Cinnamon Swirl loaves as well as 5 trays of Cheese & Biltong sticks, and I didn’t double up on any ingredients! Making vegetarian sandwiches was much, much cheaper too and since we had bite-sized meatballs as well Tuna & Corn Fritters, it didn’t really matter that there was no ham or any other cold meats in the sandwiches. I used only about 250gr. of minced meat to prepare the meatballs and this yielded in total about 40 bite-sized meatballs.

The end result of all my efforts? The platters were polished! Everyone enjoyed the goodies and I was happy to be able to share yummy foods and treats with my colleagues without going over my budget.

What do you think of these birthday treats? Do you have any of your favourite and inexpensive birthday treats that you like to prepare? Let me know by leaving me a comment below.

The post Birthday Party Snacks & Platters for Under R250 appeared first on Frugal in SA.

I first heard of Snap n Save mobile app sometime late last year. I downloaded and started using the mobile app a few months ago. Having read and come across so many blog posts by fellow frugal bloggers, especially in the UK and the US, about cash-back apps, I was thrilled to finally come across a similar app for us to use in South Africa.

It’s a cash-back app meaning I can get a certain amount of cash back when I buy items that are featured in the app. To download the app simply search for Snap n Save in your mobile app store and after downloading and installing, register with your cell phone number and a password. Then you’re good to go.

Browse the offers and book the ones you want. You then have 48 hours to buy the item before your booking expires. You then take a photo of your till slip and wait up to 48 hours for approval. If the photo has been uploaded correctly and all the necessary information displays accurately on their side, you get the cash back into your Snap n Save wallet. When you decide to redeem your cash you will receive a coupon and you can use it at any Pick ‘n’ Pay or Dis-Chem and a few other shops. You can read in more detail about how it works in here.

What do I like about Snap n Save?

You definitely save money on certain items. Some items display as high as 51% off. Many items, however, offer just over R1.00 or R2.00 or R3.00 or R4.00. Other items offer a saving of R5.00 or R20.00. What I’ve also seen is that they offer cash back on certain items which are on special in store already so you save double, so to speak, but those are really few and far between.

Do I use Snap n Save?

I have it installed on my phone. I check for new additions each week. It seems new items are added on Fridays and some of those items get booked very quickly, especially the ones with the higher savings amounts. I guess the app has become popular since I first came across it.

How many items have I bought and cashed back using Snap n Save?

Just a few over the last few months, and I’ll tell you why. While they offer everyday items such as bread, milk, vegetables, oil, cool drinks, alcoholic drinks, chocolates, pet food, household cleaning materials, etc. some of those brands and/or items I actually don’t buy at all and the items that I do buy, I usually get the cheaper varieties which still cost me less on special than with the cash I would get back by buying the items listed in the app at full price. This is why I only had R16.50 in my wallet and finally this month I decided to spend it instead of having that amount of money just sitting there; after all, it is money that I’d spent some time ago.

Redeeming the Snap n Save voucher at a Pick ‘n’ Pay till was easy enough, although the teller was unfamiliar with it and had to call the supervisor to assist. Other than that, I had no problems redeeming the voucher and I was happy to have at least R16.50 taken off my final bill.

All in all, I prefer the instant vouchers/coupons/specials available on the grocery items that I buy in store each month. If there were more items available on Snap n Save that I actually need and/or buy on a regular basis I’d be happy to use the cash-back app more often. I will keep checking the deals every week though – you never know what awesome deals might become available!

Disclaimer: Financial compensation was not received for this post. Opinions expressed here are my own.

The post My Take on Snap n Save appeared first on Frugal in SA.

I love Unilever Deals coupons. I have been using their coupons for several months now and I have scored some pretty good deals so far! Before I go grocery shopping nowadays I always check what coupons are available.

Unilever Deals website offers coupons for various Unilever products which you can use at Pick ‘n’ Pay, Checkers, Shoprite or Dischem. Each store often has different coupons available so it’s worth checking out all the coupons available at each store. Sometimes, the coupons are exactly the same at 2 or 3 of the stores which means that you can buy the same item at a discounted price more than once. If you’re looking to stock up on an item then this is great.

The Unilever Deals coupons change every month but they are also valid for the whole calendar month, which means you can grab the coupon and buy the item when you’re ready. Sometimes the same item is further reduced and on special in the shop in which case, you would save even more. Very often, however, this is not the case and you will be using the discount against the item’s full price which may still be a few Rand more expensive than the same item of a different brand – be prepared for that.

It’s very easy to register to use the Unilever Deals coupons. Go to the Unilever Deals website and click on the Sign Up button, enter your cell phone number and a password and you’re in. Browse the coupons available and click on Add to Basket. When you’re ready to use the coupon, click on Checkout and the Unilever Deals coupons code will be SMS-ed to your cell phone. Then simply present this SMS at the till and ask the cashier to apply the code to your purchase. If the cashier is a bit unsure of how to apply the coupon, simply request a manager on duty to assist you and they will.

I have so far not had any problems using the Unilever Deals coupons. When I first wanted to use them though I checked with the Pick ‘n’ Pay and Dischem managers on duty to see if the shop is indeed using them, which they should be, and I’ve always had a positive reply. The Unilever Deals coupons are really very easy to use and there always seem to be several thousand coupons available for each item which means a lot more people can benefit from the Unilever Deals coupons.

What I like about the Unilever Deals coupons the most is that it’s instant cash off your purchase which is great. What I also like is that they allow me to buy certain items which otherwise might just be a bit too expensive for my budget. This month, for example, I used a R20.00 Unilever coupon for a 1kg tub of Flora Gold margarine with Buttermilk. The full price of the item was R56.00 in the shops but I bought it for R36.00 using the coupon available. The discounted price was actually quite reasonable although yes, you could buy a 1kg tub of other brand margarine for a few Rand less.

The only aspect of the Unilever Deals coupons website that I don’t find particularly useful is that doesn’t show you the full price of the item – it displays only the discounted amount for each. As a result, I have to actually check how much the item costs in the shop first and then I decide whether or not I want to use a certain coupon. This means that I will usually only request the SMS coupon when I’m actually at the store.

Do you use Unilever Deals coupons? If you do, I’d love to hear about your experiences. Please leave me a comment below.

If you’ve found this post useful, I’d appreciate it if you could share it with others!

Disclaimer: Financial compensation was not received for this post. Opinions expressed here are my own.

The post Why I Love Unilever Deals Coupons appeared first on Frugal in SA.

Just two days after we returned home from Botswana, I received a surprise delivery – a sample box from the Home Tester’s Club!

Well, I kind of knew the box might be coming, although I wasn’t 100% sure. I was super excited though when I realised that it was actually going to be delivered! This was the very first time I’d received a sample box from the Home Tester’s Club too.

It was a new laundry product which was just the most perfect sample for me because a) I love doing laundry and b) I love trying out new laundry products, whenever I can. I didn’t know until the very last minute though, and until I actually opened the box, which laundry product was going to be included inside, and this was it:

OMO Auto with Freshness laundry liquid.

I received 6 x 1.5 litre bottles – 1 bottle for me and 1 bottle for each one of my 5 friends who had accepted to share the campaign with me. They were all so chuffed when I gave them their samples. As for me, I simply couldn’t wait to stuff the next load of laundry into the washing machine to try out the new product.

And I absolutely loved it. The scent is heavenly. The laundry liquid is fairly thick and it didn’t just run straight into the drum before the machine even drew all the water it needed for the cycle. During the wash it foamed nicely on just 30 C° and, as I’m sure you know, not all laundry detergents do that on a cold wash. The label on the back of the bottle also suggests washing with OMO Auto with Freshness laundry liquid at 30 C°.

I prefer to wash most of our lightly soiled laundry (except towels and linen) on either 30 C° or 40 C° as this prolongs the lifespan of clothes, especially cotton, and also saves a bit on electricity. To prevent the build-up of bacteria in your washing machine if you’re regularly running cold water washes, doing a service wash cycle without any clothes in the machine once a month is generally recommended.

I haven’t seen OMO Auto with Freshness laundry liquid on supermarket shelves yet so I’m not quite sure how much it costs. The label on the back of the bottle says it is equal to 2kg of laundry washing powder which should last for some time. The packaging also suggests using less than a full cap of laundry liquid for lightly soiled garments, which is what I did, and doing this could make the product go even further.

All in all I was pleased with how our first load of laundry washed with OMO Auto with Freshness laundry liquid. I could smell the Freshness of the bouquet while it was washing and the scent lingered on the garments long after the washing was done.

Have you tried the OMO Auto with Freshness laundry liquid yet?

Disclaimer: Financial compensation was not received for this post. A sample product was gifted by the Home Tester’s Club. Opinions expressed here are my own.

The post OMO Auto with Freshness Laundry Liquid: Product Review appeared first on Frugal in SA.

Last week we travelled to Botswana by car. It was a 4-hour road trip from Johannesburg with about another half an hour going through the border posts. We travelled during the day so that we would avoid rush-hour traffic leaving the city and so that we could enjoy the countryside. Driving through North-West province towards the border with Botswana, life simply seemed to slow down for a little while. The air was so much cleaner than what we’re used to in the city. There were fewer cars than on Gauteng roads, and we enjoyed sunny weather along the way too. It was a peaceful and happy road trip with lots to see.

Packing food, water and cool drinks for our road trip took quite a bit of thought and planning ahead of time though. I had a fairly reasonable but small budget in mind. I also wanted us to be as prepared as possible so that we wouldn’t have to spend money along the way: convenience stores at petrol stations tend to be pricey on the most basic of foods and drinks. We also wanted to reduce the number of times we would have to eat out because the meals were quite expensive. Just to give you a feel for the prices: the hotel where we stayed at didn’t include breakfast in their rates, and that would have cost us between 60-80 Pula per day for two people (R112.00 – R168.00), which is quite a lot.

So we buckled up and packed up two fairly large cooler bags with us with lots of ice blocks that kept our food cold for about 48 hours. On the day, I made sandwiches for us (which lasted us for 2 whole days, for both lunch and dinner) and packed those in resealable bags, and I also prepared a very large thermos with coffee. I then packed a variety of fairly inexpensive items for breakfast, light lunch or dinner and snacks:

Breakfast

• Jungle Oat-so-easy in a cup
• Baker’s Breakfast biscuits
• Rusks
• Energy bars

Light Lunch or Dinner

• Crackers & cheese
• Cherry tomatoes
• Knorr Cup-a-soup
• Knorr Cup-a-snack
• 2-minute Noodles
• Salt, pepper

Snacks

• Carrots (peeled & washed)
• Pears
• Apples
• Nuts
• Chocolate slab

We also took a few cool drinks with us as well as enough water to last us the few days that we were away, and by the time we got back home – it was all gone! Driving in the car can get a bit hot, you’re always munching on something or the other (at least we were!) so one tends to get more thirsty than usual. If you are buying bottled water, it’s a good idea to buy two or three 1-litre bottles and the rest possibly in 5-litre bottles, which is cheaper, and just refill the smaller ones for a day or two.

If you are filling up your own glass bottles, which is even cheaper and gentler on the environment, make sure you take enough with you. Buying water bottles in convenience stores, petrol stations or even at a hotel will cost you a whole lot more. Just to give you a comparison, a 1-litre bottle of water cost 20 Pula at a hotel in Botswana which is about R28.00, and for less than that I actually bought a 5-litre bottle of water at our local supermarket before our road trip!

Most of the foods we took with us were non-perishable foods so they lasted us for the few days that we were there. I spent R400.00 for all our food and drinks (including bottled water) which is a lot less than what it would have cost us eating out along the way and during our stay. The Food Lover’s Market energy bars cost only R3.50 and the 5-litre bottled water I found on special for R24.00 at our local Spar. I also packed some 3-in-1 coffee sachets for us as well our own food utensils, soup bowls and small dinner plates, a couple of dish cloths, a small container of dish-washing liquid and our own kettle (call me crazy but I just didn’t know if one would be provided or not…) All in all, we were well prepared!

Which non-perishable food items do you pack when you’re traveling long distance?

The post Road Trip Food On a Budget appeared first on Frugal in SA.

I’ve been meaning to do a bit of clothes shopping at a couple of charity stores for several weeks now but every weekend seems to have been taken up by this, that or the next round of chores. Finally this weekend, we got round to it. It was such a lovely day to be out and about yesterday, and not too cold for the month of May either. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed my shop! I had a small budget in mind for a few specific items of clothing, and I kept to it. I also allocated R50.00 for a bit of ‘fun money’ this month and I spent that too. I took cash with me, of course, so it was fairly easy to stick to my budget.

We went to 2 different charity stores and we were there for about 3 hours altogether, browsing through all the items. Yes, there’s quite a lot to wade through and you never know what you’re going to find hiding in some corner somewhere! I often find very gently used items of clothing from higher end stores, but pay only a fraction of the price that those would cost brand new. And I don’t mind the fact that the items are used. It’s easy on my budget and I’m also very happy to know that the money I spend there will go to a good cause.

We first visited the SAINTs Animal Charity Shop in Northriding. They support a number of animal welfare organisations and this is definitely one of my favourite charity shops. They had a book sale drive today as well, with a huge, huge selection of books – fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, cookbooks, etc. You can also buy books from their shop through their Facebook page SAINTs Buy the Book.

The other store we went to is Junkie Charity Store in 7^th Street, Mellville. This was our first time visiting. The shop supports several hospices, homes and animal welfare organisations. They have a huge selection of clothing, shoes, knitted blankets, kitchenware, books and various other knick-knacks.

I spent altogether just over R200.00 at the 2 stores and I came home with several items of clothing, 7 items to be exact, a few books and a new (gently used) food bowl for one of our smallest dogs (this wasn’t a planned purchase but it was just too cute to resist!).

I was very pleased with all the clothes I’d found – all are items from higher end stores, all cotton and still fairly new, which means I’ll get lots of wear out of all of those. To give you an example, I found a pair of Woolies jeans for only R30.00 and a pair of tracksuit bottoms from Milady’s for only R36.00.

One of the books I found cost only R5.00 and it’s an older Maeve Binchy novel which I haven’t read, a hardcover and in very good condition. What a bargain! One of the other books I picked up has been on my wish-list for a long time. It costs between R221.00 and R338.00 on Takealot.com brand new and I picked it up second hand, in excellent condition and also in hardcover, for only R20.00. I was absolutely chuffed.

If you are looking for gently used items of clothing, or even some knick-knacks for your home that you’d prefer not to get brand new, consider visiting these charity shops and supporting them. I’m pretty sure you’ll find a couple of nice items to take home from both of these stores.

Happy frugal shopping!

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Returning a faulty appliance to a shop is probably something most us have done at some point, especially if the appliance is still under warranty and we have the receipt as proof of our purchase. But how many of us actually bother to return a perishable item to the supermarket? I used to be quite nonchalant about not returning an item of food, thinking that it wouldn’t really make much of a difference plus I didn’t want to waste fuel driving to the shop just to do that.

But, I have since learnt that returning perishables could be worth our time, and money and I now always keep our supermarket receipts for a little while, just in case something needs to be returned within a week or two of purchase. I still don’t drive to the shop just to return an item but rather stop on my way home from work or while out and about over the weekends instead. Just this past week we returned three different items to three different shops and on all three occasions I was really glad we did that! Otherwise, each one of those items would have been money wasted instead of money well spent.

The first item we returned was a packet of frozen, cut chips. When we bought it, nothing seemed amiss, but when we opened the packet, wanting to use it, the chips inside were grey. Now that’s certainly not a colour you’d want your chips to be! And the packet hadn’t even gone past the expiry date. We returned the packet to the supermarket the very first chance we got. They were very apologetic about the whole thing and not only did they replace the packet of chips for us but they gave us an extra one for free. So that was a score.

Another item which I returned this week was a bottle of shampoo. It was not a brand I’d tried before and the only reason I bought it in the first place was because it was cheaper than most of the others on the shelf and I thought I’d give it a try. However, things did not go so well on the first wash although I still can’t quite explain what was actually wrong with the shampoo. Probably nothing yet it felt like gooey mush on my hair and I struggled to rinse it out it was so sticky! Needless to say I was neither very happy nor very impressed! I returned the bottle with my till slip and I was given a voucher (my choice) with no questions asked. I simply used my voucher to buy a different bottle of shampoo and I walked out of the shop quite satisfied with how it all turned out.

The third item I returned was a packet of sugar. I actually don’t know when it started seeping through a hole in the bottom i.e. either it was already damaged and I hadn’t noticed as I picked it off the shelf or it somehow got damaged while it was being packed at the till. I’m not sure how much of the sugar was lost, probably not a whole lot, but I just wasn’t sure how safe this open packet of sugar was precisely because it had a hole at the bottom. Back at the supermarket, it was easy enough getting a replacement packet with my proof of purchase.

Did all of this take a bit of time and effort? Yes. Am I glad I returned all these items? Definitely! I budget very carefully every single month and there’s not much room in my grocery budget for waste. Had I not returned these items, that’s what they would have turned out to be – money wasted.

Do you ever return perishable items to supermarkets?

The post Returning Goods to a Supermarket appeared first on Frugal in SA.

With food prices and other household costs expected to rise early this year, it looks like we’re going to have to brace ourselves and start paying a bit more according to this news report The price of everything is going up in SA. Here are 4 posts that will save you money in the coming months.

Frugal with Food: Grocery Shopping 

Food is the 3^rd highest household expenditure in South Africa. Do you budget for it? Do you sometimes go over your limit? Here are some great tips that will help you reduce the amount of money you spend on groceries each month.

Frugal Shopping: Coupons, Specials & Rewards

We all love shopping! Here are a few ideas that will help you save while you shop around. With economists predicting a tough year ahead for us, it’s good to make use of all the saver options available.

The Little Guide to Cheap and Free Books 

Do you love to read? Do you sometimes cringe at how much books cost these days? If you answered yes to both of those questions then this guide to cheap and free books is for you! As I’m always on the lookout for cheap and free books, I will be updating this post, so check back with us soon again.

7 Simple Habits: Frugal with Water

Does your water bill at the end of the month seem a bit high? Here are a few ideas that will help you bring that cost right down to a minimum. That’s where you want it to be.

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Happy Frugal Living!

The post 4 Posts That Will Save You Money in 2016 appeared first on Frugal in SA.