Whether you enjoy shopping with your children or not, taking the family along tends to make the shopping trip more difficult, more time-consuming and more expensive. Here are 5 tips for making shopping with kids a little easier.

Divide and Conquer Unless you are extremely careful,your grocery bill will increase for every additional person you bring with you on your shopping trip. If at all possible, shop with as few family members as possible. Do the shopping with only your youngest child while the older kids are at school or at an after school activity. Better yet, trade off babysitting with another parent so you can shop by yourself to concentrate on looking for bargains or resist impulse buying.

Sanctioned Splurges Control the impulse buying that children are sucked into by setting a limit for the splurges. Allow your children to pick out one special treat per shopping trip or spend set a specific dollar amount that you will spend on a treat and possibly make that dependent on good behavior. If your budget is tight and does not allow for any extra purchases, make the kids feel like they are getting a special treat by allowing them to pick which cereal or cookies to buy.

Kid friendly Stores Distraction is a powerful tool in keeping kids occupied and engaged so you can get your shopping done. Stores know this, so that is why they offer friendly perks like free balloons, free cookies, mini-shopping carts for the kids to push, special shopping carts that are fun for the kids to ride in too. If your favorite store does not offer these perks, pack your own special snack or activity to keep the kids entertained while you shop.

Optimal Timing To ensure the least expensive, least stressful shopping trip with kids in tow, find the best possible time for both you and your kids. If you shop when you and your kids are tired, hungry, or cranky or when the store is most crowded, you are setting yourself up for an unpleasant experience. Find the time that works best for everyone such as early Saturday morning when the stores are not busy and the kids are still half asleep, or maybe one evening after dinner when the kids are not hungry and stores are less crowded.

Put Them to Work – This idea would not work for small children, but could work wonderfully with older kids. Give each child a job to do while shopping that will keep them occupied and also will help make the shopping trip easier such as pushing the cart, helping with coupons, putting things in basket, manning the calculator or the shopping list. You could even give them a small amount to spend or a percentage of the savings as their reward for their work.

Do you have any other ideas that would make shopping with kids easier?

Labels: grocery shopping, money saving tip