With the price of groceries and gas going up, many are feeling financial pressure.
“I don’t see inflation abating anytime soon, without significant action,” said Jason Childs, University of Regina Associate Professor of economics.
“We’ve got too much money chasing too few goods. So either we’re gonna have to have fewer goods, or less money chasing those goods.”
Childs says the price won’t go down until we’re able to increase our supply of goods.
“That’s one of the problems we’re gonna face in alleviating the supply side of this issue is we just don’t have the infrastructure to get the goods to market and not only that ramping up production isn’t an immediate process, it’s not flipping a switch,” said Childs.
In other words, that’s not a quick or realistic solution in the short-term.
Instead, people are turning to coupons and price-matching to save on their grocery bills.
Regina’s coupon enthusiast, Raiza Ocampo, also known as ‘CouponBae’ says it’s helped her save lots of money.
“During the pandemic when people (were) laid off and were off work for a while, I think that’s when a flood of people started joining the page,” said Ocampo.
“Don’t have to pay too much for everything when you use coupons,” said grocery store patron.
Ocampo says throughout the pandemic she’s been able to help her friends and family start couponing, as well as sharing items they may need.
She recommends all first timers download the app “flipp” and “checkout 51”.
“I tell everyone, everyone download this right now, when I’m talking to them, download this app, right? Like, they want to know how to save money, download this app,” said Ocampo.
But for others that haven’t started couponing, they’re seeing and feeling the increase in prices.
“The price has gone up a lot in stores nowadays, so yeah I think there’s a big difference in what it used to be,” said another grocery store patron.
“Young families, ya know, mom dad and two kids, it’s probably hitting them really hard,” said a different grocery store patron.
Ocampo suggests people start with price matching, then begin researching coupons.
She says this is a great way to save as much as possible.
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