I was reading Simplify Your Work Life, a new age-y type of quick tips book (stop laughing - yes, it wasn't my kind of book), by Elaine St. James and she had some great reminders on how to save money on shopping. Mostly…
Shop alone.
"Shop alone. You'll save money and time. Studies have shown that women spend twice the time when they shop with their spouses or kids, and they spend 20 percent more. They spend 30 percent more when they shop with friends."
I can vouch for that. When I shop alone, I dash in, grab what I need (and only what I need, okay, maybe I add a chocolate bar at check out), and dash out. When I shop with the frugal hubby, we do an aisle to aisle. We ALWAYS add items to our cart we didn't have on the list. The running joke is when I go shopping with the hubby, we always come back with a pie (the hubby loves pie, I don't).
I don't tend to shop with friends. It isn't a thing we do (we usually have some sort of task to do together).