Task #3 - Price Matching

If you are just now joining us, I have given task 1 and task 2 for saving money when buying groceries. Today we talk about task 3 - price matching. This may seem a bit daunting, but start small and you'll get the hang of it in no time!

Both Wal-Mart and Target with match a competitor's lower advertised price. There are some big differences, though. At Target, you have to pay for the item, take the item, your receipt, and the ad whose price you are matching to the service desk and they will refund your money. None of those are true at Wal-Mart.

Here is Wal-Mart's price matching policy. In a nutshell, you don't have to carry the ads in with you, though you should have a list. The item has to be identical. They do honor:
Buy One for $_______, get one free
Any advertised price
Prices "with card"

This even includes 10/$10 items and you DON'T have to buy ten items to get the advertised price. It applies to any item in the store. This is especially helpful when buying school supplies.

Stores will often have what is called loss leaders. These are items that they take a loss on to get you to come in and spend money at their store. You should stock up on these and only have to make one trip by price matching at Wal-Mart.

Here is how I keep this all organized. I look at the Sunday ads on the week that I am going shopping. I make a list of the items I am going to price match with the store name, the item and quantity required, and the advertised price. I do this on my Cozi calendar on my Kindle so I can add other needed items and also rearrange this list by where I can find it in the store.

I take my list to Wal-Mart, load up the cart and head for the check out. I put all of my non-price match items on the belt first. I leave a gap on the belt and load up my price match items. I warn the cashier where the price match begins. As the cashier scans each item, I tell her the price and store (though this is not required). That is it!

Happy price matching!