I’m a former Walmart employee – I save up to $20,000 a year on shopping using five easy tricks and you can too

A FORMER Walmart employee and savvy mom of three has revealed how she saves thousands of dollars each year after improving her coupon finding skills.

Peggy, 31, from Missouri, first started looking for coupons and deals in 2020.

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At the time, she was struggling with postpartum depression and aware of the need to save money as she became a stay-at-home mom with her husband Jimmie.

She previously held various roles at Walmart until everything changed in 2020.

Peggy told The US Sun: “The pandemic hit and I was seven months pregnant. And then I was about to go back inside and got pregnant again.

“It has seriously helped me, the conundrum of putting all the business together, to keep me busy and out of the house.”

In 2022, she also launched her TikTok channel, Savings With Peggy (@savingswithpeggy), where she shares her shopping tricks at stores like Walmart, Aldi, and Dollar Tree.

Peggy brings her three kids, ages one, two and ten, when she goes to the store for both weekly shopping and creating TikToks.

The techniques she regularly shares now help her family save an estimated $15,000 to $20,000 a year.

While each week depends on what she needs to stock up on, Peggy estimates she now spends an average of $75 a week on groceries for her family of five.

DIFFERENT SHOP, DIFFERENT STRATEGY

Peggy tailors her bargain hunting to the store she’s shopping at and featuring on her TikTok.

For example, when shopping at Aldi or Walmart, she simply walks up and down the aisles looking for items she needs on sale.

For Walmart, she will also scan for hidden clearance deals using her Walmart barcode scanning app.

Peggy clarified that you don’t need a Walmart+ membership to scan an item’s barcodes to see if it’s a big deal.

In the meantime, she will make sure for Aldi that they shop on Wednesday when the clearance deals – Aldi Finds – come out.

Peggy regularly finds Aldi sales discounts of 50 percent and more.

This includes a variety of items, including $90 cabinets that sell for $45 and a whisk that sells for $3 instead of $6.

For the other deals she covers, she takes a different route.

“Dollar General, CVS, and Walgreens all have a sneak peak at their upcoming deals,” she said.

“It allows me to check out their ads and put together coupons before I go to the store.”

USE THE RIGHT APP

Regardless of the store, Peggy enjoys using third-party apps that offer cash back rewards on items.

Her favorite by far is the cash back rewards app Ibotta.

“Ibotta is number one for sure. It’s the easiest to use and offers the most discounts, top dollar discounts,” she said.

Instead of a typical coupon, Ibotta gives you money back for items you select before you shop.

Once you have purchased the item and submitted a photo of your receipt, Ibotta transfers the money to an account.

And once your account is over $20, you can transfer the money to your bank account.

Ibotta is free and can be used on Android and iOS.

Peggy is also a fan of the cash rewards app Shopkick.

Shopkick gives you rewards called Kicks that you can later redeem for gift cards to use at your favorite retailers

Peggy also stacked Ibotta and Shopkick deals on the same item to top up her savings.

SPECIFIC ARTICLES, SPECIFIC STORES

When it comes to the item you want, not all stores, including discounters, are the same.

“The best for diapers and laundry detergent and paper products — the top three requested items for couponers — are CVS and Walgreens,” Peggy said.

While prices at these stores are typically higher than Walmart, Peggy says you can save more by participating in member rewards programs.

In fact, Peggy recommends spending an extra month on CarePass, CVS’ premium membership.

“No matter how much you pay, you get $10 a month in extra care allowance, (that’s) like CVS money,” she said.

“It costs $5 a month. But if I do a coupon there once a week, it’s a no-brainer to spend $5 to make $10.”

GENERAL STRATEGY

While many of Peggy’s strategies involve research and apps, she still gets many of her tips the old-fashioned way.

Peggy said: “A lot of this is word of mouth. I’ve met so many other couponers just through my coupon creator work and they really get together to exchange offers.”

And from her experience of finding hidden clearance deals, Peggy always takes the shelf price with a grain of salt.

“In many stores, the price on the shelf label differs from that on the item [actually is],” she explained.

She knows Peggy’s last piece of advice from both shopping and working in a store.

“Always be nice to the employees! That will get you very far.”

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