Ways to lower your expenses/best deals (expats in France)?

Hi Ameerah! The cost of living in France has indeed risen rapidly after the COVID. Our family has been shopping regularly at a discount food store. When we visit the countryside, we contact small local producers to get fresh produce at great prices. This summer we got mirabelles for 2 euros per kilo, with free figs and courgettes thrown into the deal!

Good luck for your article!

@Ameerah Arjanee

Knowing when the annual sales are is very helpful, and planning for that. In France, things like lawnmowers go on sale at a particular time of year (beg. of Spring) and other items like seed potatoes, tomato and strawberry plants (for example) are only available in bulk at the beginning of summer, or in the middle of spring (ideal planting conditions).

Stocking up on next winter's clothes in the January sales, or summer items right now, makes good sense to get the best options et al.

There are so many discount stores if you ferret them out in the commercial/light industrial zones of many towns and cities, where you can buy cosmetics/soaps/personal items, towels and linens etc and packaged foodstuff at a good discount.

We find we do spend a bit more at 'Action' for example, where paint brushed that we like are only 99c, and you can purchase homewares/storage boxes et al for much less than the supermarkets and Brico.

We purchase croissants at Marie Blachere for their formule for croissants under a euro each, in preference to our local boulangerie where they are 1,15 a piece, and can be as high as 1,30 for pur beurre in others. While we like to buy local and support small businesses, our euros only go so far on a fixed income with no pensions to prop us up.

We dont buy at the local Marché des Producteurs because the produce is more expensive than the nearest Grand Frais, which is our preferred retailer for good quality produce. We find our local supermarket produce inferior to GF.

Because we both have special footwear needs, we inevitably buy online for those, and wait for sales. However we discovered a chain store with discount footwear that seems to suit our purpose. Paying import taxes in France on goods that arrive in the mail deters us from making outside of EU purchases, as it was designed to do.

We find that our 'needs' are few, and we eat out sparingly. We do spend on gazole for a Sunday outing which takes in new towns and countryside and might take a picnic in preference to going to a restaurant.

As said in another comment, the cost of living has risen considerably in France since Covid. I recall reading that the COL rose 12% the following year and one item in particular that we used to pay 99 cents for is now 1,79 euros.

We buy meat on sale, or items in the Gaspi fridges/shelves. I buy a side of salmon for 18,99kg and cut it myself to portion it vs 24,99kg (and more) for already cut pieces. We keep stocked freezer drawers with well packed meat/frozen veg (when fresh isn't available) and again, purchase on promo/special when we can. Being flexible is good, and keeping notes on our calendar for when items will be on sale is necessary.