 It’s a chore that we all must do, shop for groceries. It seems the cost of groceries only goes up and our budgets keep getting stretched thin. The good news is there are several ways that you can combat those increases in your grocery budget.
Shop Sales If you can, check out the sales at two to three stores each week. By shopping sales and not just purchasing from one store, you can save up to 50% off your groceries. For Example, you can shop sales at Shop Rite and Stop & Shop and get other staples at Aldi or Walmart where the price point is less if there are no sales in your regular stores for those items. Grocery Apps Almost every Grocery Store has an app these days, and it’s a good idea to take a look at them before you shop. They offer e-coupons that you can load onto your card for items you probably are already either buying or contemplating buying. You simply add the coupon and it will automatically come off your grocery total at checkout. Cash Back Apps Using cash back apps such as Ibotta, Fetch or the Coupons App can help you get additional cash back on items you already purchasing. Some apps, such as Ibotta and Fetch, sometimes have offers where they will give you 100% of the cost of an item back when you purchase an item. This is a great way to try something new, I mean, its free, why not? It is important when using Ibotta or Coupons App that you load the coupons first, so that you will get the cash back. Fetch you simply must scan your receipt and you get points no matter what you buy. You get extra points for purchasing items that are participating and even bonus points on items that they are offering bonuses on. If you are not using these apps yet, make sure you use the links in the Apps for Savings page to get bonuses for signing up! Cash Back Rewards Cards Using the right Credit Card can get you additional cash back on every purchase, and sometimes even more at grocery stores. This quarter Discover is giving 5% back on Grocery Stores. When you sign up they even match your cash back for the year, which means double cash back! Combining all these options will have you saving a bundle on your weekly grocery bill. Remember to keep following Lucky Half Dollar on our website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram for more great tips on saving, investing and travel!
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 When you take a new job, one of the things you most likely aren’t thinking about is your 401K from your previous employer. You should, though. Many employers start passing on fees that they would have previously covered when you were an employee. You also have more say on what happens to your investments by either moving them into your new 401K plan, or better yet, opening a Traditional IRA Account.
I had four 401K accounts and a TSP account from my time in the military as well as past employers. Each one had a few thousand dollars in it, but not only did I not have much control, some were charging fees and it was hard to keep up with all the individual rules that each plan came with. I decided to open a Traditional IRA account and I reached out to all my past employers’ providers and requested a transfer to my IRA. There are two types of IRA’s, Traditional, which you contribute to pre-tax and Roth, which you contribute to after taxes. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages, however since the money I had in the 401Ks and TSP were pre-tax money, it made sense to keep that money pre tax, so I wouldn’t have a hefty tax bill on it. Once the funds were deposited into my new Traditional IRA, I began to customize my stakes, mostly buying 10 shares of different strong, dividend paying stocks. This let me have full control of how I invested my retirement fund. If you are not have that much experience in investing this way, you can follow my Daily Trades Blog, where I share all my trades on both the Long Term retirement arena but also my short term bets in my brokerage account. You can also choose Mutual Funds that have different targets, such as Targeted Retirement Funds, which will slowly move your risk out of high-risk assets into lower risk assets as you get closer to retirement age. Another method is also looking into ETF’s. ETF’s or Exchange Traded Funds allow you to purchase Mutual Fund like products over the counter. I will go over these products in a different article. There are many strategies to investing, but in my Traditional IRA, I take a growth approach with some safer options. These are stocks that pay dividends, which means they pay you even if they aren’t moving much. My initial investments are in 10 share increments. When they double in value, I sell half the shares, keep the money in the IRA Cash account and save it when either I have a stock that has gone down 10% (in which case under most situations I buy an additional share) or I find a new dividend paying stock that looks attractive and I want to add to my portfolio. When the shares double and I’ve sold half, that means my initial investment is out of the stock and I’m riding on profits. I continue to sell half every time that the investment increases another 100%. It is important to find an account that does not have monthly fees or commissioned trades, as many brokerage firms now offer commission free trades and no monthly fees. This will allow you to make your moves and maintain your account at practically no cost to you. Remember the point of going this route isn’t just to take control of your retirement, but also to reduce or eliminate the fees that can come along with accounts.  Planning a trip is fun and exciting but the price can put a damper on that fun. Luckily there are many ways to travel without hitting the wallet too hard. Here are some of my tricks on how I save money when traveling.
Plan Ahead The old saying plan ahead is great advice here when its possible to do so. I try and start planning ahead 4-6 months ahead of time when possible on my trips. I book my car rental with the best available price that does not require prepayment. I then check once a month or so up to the trip to see if the prices go down. Many times the prices will drop significantly as you get closer if they have a lot of inventory, the opposite happens when they are short, the prices can sky rocket. Using this strategy for car rentals helps protect you from those sky high prices that may come, but also allows you to adjust to the lower costs should the inventory be elevated. I used the same strategy when it comes to hotels, but with a few other options placed in. I tend to stay at Marriott branded hotels, for multiple reasons, one, I know they have a standard where I should get a clean room, two, I accumulate points which i can use for free hotel stays (I also get bonus points from using my Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card) and three, between getting bonus night credits for having the credit card and for staying at Marriott's, I have gained platinum status which grants things like free breakfast, concierge lounge access and more. When booking I look at the pricing vs points structure. If the room costs $100 a night, ill book it and pay for it on my Marriott Card. If its $400 a night and only needs 20,000 points, ill book it on points since it maximizes the savings and the point value. I also check the pricing once a month or so and adjust the reservation or change hotels if another in the area has significantly dropped in cost. Typically on a 4-night trip, I use points or my free night certificate from the credit card on half the nights and pay for the other half. When flying I always look at credit cards that let me fly free and better yet, let you choose a companion to fly free. Southwest offers promotions that offer you enough points for a few free flights and typically at the beginning of the year even offer a companion pass for a year. I try and apply when they offer that companion pass so myself and my fiancé can fly free for a few trips a year. When booking in points, I still go back and see if the pricing goes down monthly, often it will if they are not booking many passengers, and you can save a lot of points by rebooking the reservation and cancelling the original. They do not charge fees when making these changes using points (Southwest at least). Eat where the locals eat When you find the places the locals eat, not only will you find some great food, but you will find it at great prices. The big chains and tourist traps will take you for all your worth and give you mediocre food at best. I always ask for suggestions, from the hotel or others I may run into. I have found some of my favorite restaurants this way. Maximizing Credit Card Rewards I use multiple credit cards on my every day purchases and do the same when traveling. It is important to pay off these cards monthly and only use them for purchases you are going to make anyway. This will prevent any additional charges and let you maximize great cash back or point offers which help in both traveling and daily life. I use the Discover Card for their rotating 5% cash back category, what ever the 5% category is, I use that card every time. I have another card that gives me 3.75% back in a category of my choice, 2.5% back at Grocery Stores and 1.25% back on everything else. I choose a category that is not the Discover 5% back category for the quarter to be my 3.75% back. I also use deals on my Marriott and Southwest cards when they offer the 10x point offers. I also have a card that gives 1.5% back on everything for any other purchases that do not qualify for any of the larger cash back options. While this may sound like a lot of work, I typically get back between $60-$100 a month in credit card rewards on top of everything else. Use some of these tricks and you will save big on your next trip. Have some more great ideas? Comment below! Safe Travels! Eliminating confusion, making it easier to follow, I have combined my blogs into one! I will be moving all my old articles into this blog and creating all new ones from here on out on this page. Let me know what you think by commenting below!
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