The Best Way To Spend $20 at Walmart and Make It Last All Week

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Let’s face it — shopping of any sort, be it for groceries, home goods or clothes, hasn’t gotten much easier over the last few years. In fact, prices only seem to increase on all the goods we need just to make it to the end of each week.

This is where smart shopping is not only helpful, but required. It’s dangerously easy to step into your favorite retail store and walk out with a busted budget and a grocery cart that’s still not full enough. In fact, it flat out flies in the face of the recently observed National Savings Day. A large part of budgeting is simply choosing a location (Walmart, for instance) that can guarantee you savings.

Here’s an example of items you can grab at Walmart for a single $20 bill that will provide you with a week’s worth of groceries and bare-minimum home goods to stretch through the week to that next paycheck. Remember, keep an eye out for discounts and sales, and you might be able to add even more to the examples in this list:

• Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars, Oats ‘n Honey, 12 Bars (Price: $2.97)
• Sam’s Diet Cola 2-liter (Price: $1.00)
• Mussleman’s Original Applesauce Cups, 4 oz, 6-count (Price: $2.17)
• Quaker Instant Oatmeal, Variety, 12.1 oz, 8 Count (Price: $2.87)
• Doritos Tortilla Chips Nacho Cheese Flavored Snacks Chips, 9.25 Ounce Bag (Price: $3.00)
• Great Value Milk 1% Lowfat Half Gallon Plastic Jug (Price: $1.51)
• Black and White Toilet Paper, 4 Rolls (Price: 94 cents)
• Black and White Paper Towels, 88 Sheets (Price: 68 cents)
• Clorox Disinfecting Wipes on the Go Bleach Free Travel Wipes, Fresh Scent, 9 Count (Price: 97 cents)
• Great Value Cleaner with Bleach, 32 fl oz (Price: $1.48)

That’s just under $20, with a little left over for taxes or a treat while you wait in the checkout aisle.

Additional Methods of Saving Money at Walmart

Another method of saving money at Walmart is always planning to make a beeline for the clearance section. There, you’ll find a remarkable amount of products with wildly discounted rollback prices. You can also check the Walmart website’s clearance section for a breakdown on what you can expect, and it’s organized by price: items under $5, items under $10, and so on. Speaking of the website, always be sure to check online for coupons, in-store sales events and any other discount event you can take advantage of.

Finally, always know when to shop. As GOBankingRates reported earlier this year, shopping in the mornings from 7 a.m to 11 a.m. early in the week — a Monday or Tuesday morning, for instance — will net you a better chance to grab markdowns on perishables and freshly-stocked on-sale items before they sell out.

_{Disclaimer: Prices current as of Oct. 20, 2024 when this article was originally published.}

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