With the cost of everything going up, it's no surprise that consumers are constantly looking to save money by any means necessary. While bargain hunting used to require customers go store to store or flip through advertisements in the newspaper, technology has made saving money much easier.
Flipp isn't a new app but it's definitely one of my faves that I've used for several years. When I first discovered it over eight years ago, it was mainly the weekly flyers (or circulars, or penny savers, or whatever they’re called where you live) in a digital format. Instead of flipping physical pages, you'd scroll with your finger. Simple.
The concept is relatively unchanged but Flipp has added more functionality as it's grown over the years. You can create a shopping list, bookmark/tag items, search for products and compare results across all stores connected to the app. You're even able to select items from the ads and shop directly from store websites.
Most of the sales in our area start and end on the same days. For instance, the sale prices start on a Thursday and end the following Wednesday. Flipp usually shows you the current flyer and then a day or two before the next one is active, you can preview that, too.
I love having this ability to see from week to week what will be on sale. Midweek is when I check Flipp and plan my grocery buys accordingly. If the cereal I get isn't on sale this week but I see that it's on sale tomorrow when the new flyer hits, I won't bother buying it today. Or, if it's on sale now and I see that nobody else has a better price starting tomorrow when the new sales come into effect, then I'll go shopping today.
The thing to remember, specifically for grocery shopping, anyway, is that the sale prices are on a rotation. If my favorite peanut butter is on sale this week, it probably won't be next week, but in two or three weeks it'll likely be back on sale for the same price. How do I know this? That's how much I use Flipp and have figured out the patterns!
Additionally, there's generally always a certain type of product on sale every week, though the brands will change. By that, I mean, there will always be some kind of apple juice on sale. It won't be the same national brand every week but you can bank on some kind of juice always being on sale every week.
For Flipp searches, I recommend keeping things generic when searching products. Unless you're a label snob and require the brand-name products (Cheerios, Pepsi, etc.) use basic search words: cereal, cheese, juice because that can be the easiest way to find bargains and save money.
I think one of the main purposes of Flipp is to help users save money and time but for me, while saving money is always the goal, Flipp makes me spend more time grocery shopping. And that's not a complaint. It's turned shopping into an adventure to see how much I can save and plan accordingly based on the weekly deals in the app.