4 Smart Shopping Tricks for Military Families

Guest Post

Many people are living in a belief that military families enjoy many benefits that regular families don’t, and that those benefits are helping them manage their money much better.

Being a military wife myself, I can second that we do enjoy some benefits that come in handy when trying to save a buck or two of your family budget. There are many businesses offering a discount if you’re coming from a military family. However, while having a medical insurance does help for example, in no way does it play a pivotal role when making decisions on how, where and when to shop for groceries, clothing or electronics.

Truth is, military families (such as mine) tend to be much more disciplined and aware of the necessities of saving money. Does having a service member around help alleviate this mindset throughout the entire family? Not sure.

One way or another, here are some of the neatest smart shopping tricks we’re using to lower the expenses while shopping for life necessities.

Always do Research

I don’t remember the last time I actually bought something without checking the availability of that particular product on discount sites like Ebates. Even when I bought flowers that I sent to my Mom a couple of months earlier, I checked it up Ebates.

There is no shame in using discount sites like this one. It can actually save you tons of money looking long term.

Plan Ahead

Beauties and horrors of impulsive shopping and buying are not familiar to me. When it comes to planning for a family holiday, the same rules apply.

In our family, holidays and trips are always planned way ahead (mostly because my military hubby has very strictly scheduled leaves).

Booking for our flights and accommodation way up ahead helped us save piles of money up to this point. Also, when you do know where you will be going and when, you have enough time to research things to do and visit while you’re in the area. And, if there’s something that’s of interest to you, why not try to book a group ticket online for a lower price?

Second-Hand Clothing is Your Friend

Having two kids around growing at a very fast pace taught me that buying brand new expensive clothing from fancy shops and boutiques is a pure waste of money. God bless them but they will surely outgrow them in just a few months, so no point in doing that.

Luckily, there are many thrift shops on base. Not only that they have lots of fine clothes for reasonable money but they are mostly run by military spouses such as myself, and the money is staying inside the community, so it’s somewhat of a win-win situation after all.

Utilizing Commissaries

Ever heard of a commissary? Yep, that’s that famous substitute for a usual grocery store with tax-free groceries for military families. On top of that, if you’re persistent enough and you know how to handle and utilize reward cards or to clip coupons – you’ll likely to pay much much lower for your groceries. Check out other money saving tips on My Four and More.