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Thrifty bride saves $7k for wedding by yellow sticker shopping
This savvy bride-to-be is using yellow sticker shopping to slash the price of her food shop to save for her dream wedding.
Mum-of-two, Clare Greaves, 37, from Leeds in the UK, has been using yellow sticker food bargains so that she can set aside more money for her dream wedding next year.
Before she began hunting for yellow sticker bargains, Clare says that she would spend over $270 (£150) each week on food shopping for her family.
However, since using her thrifty techniques, Clare has been able to reduce the price of her shop by over half the cost each week to go towards her wedding with her partner, Nick.
"I kind of stumbled across yellow sticker shopping by accident,” she said.
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"One evening after I put the kids, Sofia, eight, and Freya, two, to bed I went to the supermarkets to grabs some bits.
"This is when I spotted the yellow labelled products, so I just kept going back for more and looking for other bargains I could pick up.
"Once I started getting discounts and realised how much money I was saving, I didn't want to pay full price for things."
Clare does a regular food shop once a week where she mainly buys fresh produce and then visits different supermarkets around twice a week to pick up her yellow sticker food bargains to go with her fresh ingredients.
She says that by doing this she has gone from spending more than $270 per week on her family's food shopping to spending around $126 each week.
"In the past year I would say we have saved around $7,200 (£4,000) for the wedding thanks to yellow sticker shopping.
"With the savings we have made on food we have been able to pay the deposit for the venue and the registrar.
"We will also be able to use the money towards bridesmaid's dresses, other essential outfits, flowers and decorations.
"By the end of the year, we will have fully paid for the wedding."
Clare says that if there are some good deals on meat in the reduced section, she often stocks up and freezes it for future meals.
"It is useful to buy in bulk to shove in the freeze, as well as batch cooking meals because you are creating extra portions and will be even further reducing the price of the up and coming weeks,” she said .
"For example, I usually buy the big packs of reduced mince which costs around 70c (40p), and I cook it up into batches and freeze it. It ends up costing pennies.
"Our meals usually end up costing less than $1.80 (£1) per portion.
"One of my top tips for reducing the price of your food shop is knowing what you already have in your house before you go shopping.
"By doing this I know what I don't need to buy. There is no need to waste money and buy things for no reason.
"It's not a bargain if you end up throwing it away."
Clare recalls one of her biggest savings was during the festive period last year where she managed to bag $230 (£127) worth of shopping for just $12 (£7).
She says the family were stocked up on food for two weeks with this haul.
"We have also recently got an allotment where we plan to grow our own vegetables now the better weather is coming in, so this will increase our savings even more,” Clare said.
Clare's savviness doesn't just stop at her food shopping and she has also been securing herself some bargains for the wedding day itself.
"I have bought two dresses for my wedding which have both been really heavily discounted,” she said.
"I purchased one for $90 (£50) that should have cost $2,700 (£1,500) and the other one cost me $90 (£50) but should have been $900 (£500).
"My wedding shoes were also a bargain. I bought them from eBay for $45 (£25), but they should have been $460 (£255).
"It's all about keeping your eye out and making sure you know what you want so you don't splurge on unnecessary things."
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