A LITTLE-KNOWN trick means you can TRIPLE the value of your supermarket loyalty points next time you’re on a trolley dash.
Rising inflation means the price of everything on the shop shelves is going up – so every little really does help amid a cost of living crisis.
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The average family is thought to be forking out around £271 more a year on their food bill.
One way to slash a considerable amount off your bill is by cosying up to the supermarket giants and joining “the club” by signing up to a reward scheme.
The best way to bag a bargain at Tesco, for example, is to equip yourself with a Clubcard.
It’s free to get one and you can have a virtual version or a physical card if you prefer – just sign up online and you can start cashing-in on discounts right away.
Exclusive Clubcard prices line the shelves alongside the regular full price of items, but only those signed up to the scheme get to pay the cheaper cost on the label.
For example, a bag of Bassetts Jelly Babies is usually £1.50, though it’s only £1 for Clubcard holders – saving them over 30%.
But you also collect points when you do add things to your basket.
You get one point for every £1 spent in store and online, and one for every £2 spent on fuel.
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Then, one point is worth 1p off a future shop in Tesco – so you can earn money-off vouchers after you’ve racked up enough.
But Tesco shoppers can get MORE bang for their buck if they use the points in a slightly different way.
With certain reward partners, such as Hungry Horse pub or Cineworld, Tesco shoppers can claim THREE times as much.
That means every 50p you have in vouchers turns into £1.50 instead.
Instead of using the vouchers on your next weekly shop, you can use them – where they’ll be worth more – on eating out or on entertainment, like subscription services.
You might even be able to cash them in for home essentials like mobile contracts, or breakdown cover, and more.
At Pizza Express, for example, you can use your points to get money-off your meal.
If you’d managed to rack up just over 300 Tesco Clubcard points, giving you a little more than £3 in vouchers, you could equip yourself with almost £10 off your dinner out.
To claim, you just have to exchange your Tesco points – you can do that online or on your app – and they will be automatically tripled for the reward partner you’ve chosen.
Then when you’re in the restaurant you just show your new voucher code to staff to get the money off.
The same goes for any of the rewards you might redeem – Tesco is teamed up with RAC, Disney+, and its own Tesco Mobile, to name a few, where you can use the tripled points in all the same ways.
One shopper managed to get £60 worth of rewards with only £20 Tesco Clubcard points.
How else can I slash my supermarket spends?
If you’re not using the loyalty points to directly shave money off your bill at the checkout, then you might need to turn to other methods to keep costs low.
Yellow stickers
When food is nearing its use by date, supermarkets often slash prices to shift stock – and these discounted goods usually have yellow stickers on them.
Sometimes you can get up to 75% off – a big saving on your weekly shop.
The food is still good to eat and you may even be able to freeze it to make it last EVEN longer.
Food waste apps
In a similar move, picking up your foodie bits from food waste apps can help you save money.
Families can waste hundreds of pounds per year chucking away food that has gone out of date.
Apps like Too Good To Go, or Olio, mean you can buy food and treats from shops including Morrisons, Greggs and Pret at a big discount.
Bend down
Supermarkets tends to put more expensive brands at eye-level, so one way to slash your spends is to bend down.
All the budget bits are on the bottom shelf where they’re less visible, and likely to go quietly unnoticed.
Shop around
A loyalty scheme might trick you into ALWAYS shopping at one store.
But if prices are cheaper elsewhere anyway, you might not make a saving even with your own discounts applied.
Shop around as you might find a better offer from a rival.
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