Save money on your shopping thanks to optimization

Finding good deals or saving money while shopping has become an almost impossible mission in the minds of families in recent months. With inflation, the household purse is damaged. Some parents try to reduce their expenses, by buying less or buying differently. And if the solution to reconcile your shopping budget without depriving yourself wasfood optimization ? Kenza Hamed Perdereau, 31 and mother of two young children, embarked on the adventure during the health crisis after watching a report on the subject. His first goal was to save money on his nappies budget, which at the time represented more than 100 euros per month. Today, thanks to optimization, the diaper packs she buys cost her zero euros, she has divided her shopping budget by three and sometimes even earns money on certain products. She even decided to create a Facebook support group “The economy is life. Optimization and Good Plans”, which has more than 12,000 members. With us, she shares her tips and her opinion on this practice.

Optimization is the idea of ​​getting as close as possible to zero euros when shopping

What is food optimization?

“Optimization, quite simply, is the idea of ​​getting as close as possible to zero euros when shopping, and sometimes even getting paid by buying products. To do this, we accumulate reductions that we will have in stores (immediate reductions deducted at the cash desk, jackpots on the loyalty card), with reduction coupons that we will print (or that we will receive at home or that we will find directly on the shelves) and once the purchases have been made, you can also take advantage of refund offers on mobile sites or applications”, Kenza explains to us.

Dietary optimization requires a certain preparation. The first step is to make your shopping list in advance according to current promotions and discounts. “Personally, I go to the Anti-crisis.fr website, on which there are all the catalogs of the supermarkets and the details of all the optimizations to be made. It’s very simple, when we see a product we click on it and we are told if there are any reduction coupons to print and which sites can reimburse us and we know in the end how much we will get. “ In total, Kenza takes nearly 1 hour each week to prepare her shopping and print her vouchers.compared to 2 to 3 hours the first few times.

Once the list is ready, the young mother goes to the store and now she wastes no more time: “I know which department to go to and which product of which brand to buy. This way I do my shopping more quickly”, she confides. After checking out giving away all the discounts, the optimization doesn’t stop there. Back home, Kenza will be able to get a refund for part of her purchases directly on the dedicated apps., “as Shopmium“. And again, it’s child’s play. “I take out my phone, I go to the app, I scan the barcode of the item in question, I take a picture of my receipt and in 48 hours, it depends on the apps, I get reimbursed directly on my bank account. It may happen to have to send letters but in general it is on games and toys for children, especially during the Christmas period, because there are what are called ORD operations (refund offers in deferred)”, explains the expert.

Sites and applications to use:

• Anti-crise.fr website
• Omie & Cie website
• Shopmium app
• Too Good To Go App
• Phoenix app

Is it accessible to everyone?

Optimization is accessible to everyone and it is relatively easy. “I work full time, my husband too, I have two children and I manage to practice it. You have to free up some time to do it but I think that in view of the savings we make it’s worth it”, Kenza says.

Is the optimization only done on certain products?

Many people think that optimization means buying industrial products that are not good or of poor quality when it is not. “We can do optimization on almost everything. On the other hand, we are limited on food products. Since a law in 2020, reductions on these products in stores are capped at 34%, unless it is anti-waste. It is less complicated on the other hand to make optimization on non-food products such as washing powder, shower gel, toilet paper. I don’t pay them at all and generally I even make a profit on these products”, emphasizes the young mother before adding: “Jlike toalso consume good local products preferably, and for that I use the Omie & Cie website which brings together organic producers who make promotions to be optimized.” Optimization thus allows you to detach yourself from your favorite brands that you may have in order to discover new ones.

Are supermarkets preferred?

As soon as we optimize discount stores such as Lidl, Normal, Aldi are far from being the cheapest. “When you optimize, it is better to go to big supermarkets. I am no longer attached to a supermarket, I go where the offer is the most interesting during the week“, says the specialist.

What other tips can you put in place to save money?

Apart from optimization, on a daily basis Kenza has implemented other tricks to feed his family without spending too much money. She anticipates the needs of her small tribe. “I’m not going to wait until I need a product to buy it. In general, when you need it, there are not always promotions, which means that you will pay for the item at full price. The idea is therefore to anticipate certain expenses, without creating a mini supermarket at home. For diapers, for example, when there are very interesting promotions I will buy a few packs in advance and store them until ‘as they serve me’, shares the young mother with us. So bet on items that are easy to keep and that you always need. Another of his tricks is to use anti-waste appsas Too Good To Go Where Phoenix. On these platforms, there are shops and convenience stores that offer surprise baskets to consumers at discounted prices. Inside these baskets, you can have breads, fruits and vegetables or fresh products, according to the food losses of the day of the stores.

Thanks to Kenza Hamed Perdereau for answering our questions.