Grocery stores are one of the best places to rack up cash back rewards. Not only is this a place where we spend increasingly large amounts of money, but it is also a spending category where many credit card companies offer a higher cash back percent. Using the CardWisdom credit card rewards calculator, I plugged in some spending numbers that anyone with a family could easily meet or exceed and assumed a rate of 2% cash back on groceries. To make things interesting, I came up with some ways to increase your spending at groceries stores you may have overlooked.
Okay, first I have to deliver on my promise to show you how to save $200 a year on groceries. This part is simple. By using a credit card with 2% cash back, all you need to do is spend $220 a week on groceries to rack up $200 in cash back rewards. If you spend $150 a week at grocery stores, you'll only save $144 a year. Sure, it's not $200, but it is enough to pay for a week's worth of groceries.
Now, I thought up a few tricks that can help you increase your cash back from grocery shopping. The first is to buy things at the grocery store you might normally buy elsewhere. This can be anything from hair care products you might buy at the drugstore to booze you might normally buy at a liquor store.
Another trick which that could really help bring in the cash back can be used by people whose prescription drug insurance requires them to pay full price for prescriptions which are then reimbursed. My wife and I used to have this type of plan and we used it to rack up pretty decent cash back. In total, we probably earned about $100 a year from this trick alone.
Now, I'm sure some of you are coupon clippers that have turned saving money on groceries into an art form. So, while you may scoff at a measly $200 a year in cash back, earning these rewards is just too easy and everyone should be able to save at least $100 a year with the wise use of a cash back credit card.
To estimate how much you can save with a cash back credit card, test out the rewards calculator. For more information and to apply online for a new card, please see the credit card rewards section of CardWisdom.
