Saving on the German Economy

You can download the Saving on the German Economy Brochure here.

Recycle

Almost every drink you buy you pay a deposit on for the bottle. Landliebe bottles are recyclable too. Stop tossing money away. You can get up to €.25 worth for each bottle.
Pfand or Deposit, how can you tell?
PFANDFLASCHE-REFUND
PFANDFREI-NO REFUND
Mehrwertflasche” or “Mehrwertglas” has a few cents pfand on it.

Reminders and Tips

Not all stores take bank cards or credit cards.
•You must have a chip in your cards to use them off base.
•You can also get the GiroCard at the SSC.
•You normally get a better exchange off base.
•Watch for bank fees when using your cards off base; even if your bank does.
reimburse you, most of the time there is a cap on the amount they pay.
Value Added Tax Form or “VAT” / Abwicklungs
•Before shopping, ask the service desk if they take VAT forms.
•Some online German companies will take VAT form; you may need to mail itto them before your purchases.
•You can save up to 19%, but make sure purchase is worth using the VAT form.
•$5 each for VAT forms, $65 for over 2500 VAT form and $99 for UTAP Enrollment.
•For more information about vat forms contact your vat office.

VAT office

•Not all stores have free parking and some have timed parking. Look for the Parkscheinautomat/Parkschein-Automat.
•Some you pay and place the ticket in your car.
•Some you get the ticket and pay when you leave.
Don’t forget to use the Parkscheibe (parking disk).
Example: If you are parking at 10:32 am you set it for 11am.
Example: If you park at 10.58am you also set it for 11am.
•Walk the stores before you shop. You don’t have to buy anything. You will most likely have to exit by the information center near the entrance.
•Bring your own bags or you will have to pay to buy some from the store.
•Have Euro change too for the shopping carts. You can also get tokens in the stores.
•Local butchers have great sales and normally leaner cuts of meat.
•Local bakeries normally have cheaper and fresher breads.
Ways to Save Money
•Shopping on Saturdays or before a holiday will help save money on produce .
•Local stores may provide stickers/stamps for monthly deals or savings.
•Sign up for newsletters.
•Like their Facebook page.
•Sign up for the store’s rewards cards(these are not credit cards).
•Check local newspaper ads and websites for sales.
•The Angeboteprospekte site provides all the sales that are going on each week. Just type in the store you are looking for: http://angeboteprospekte.de/.
•Sunday shopping is a great way to save. For dates and locations this link can help: http://www.oeffnungszeitenbuch.de/. You can use google to translate the website.

Store Cards

Many stores have their own savings cards. These are not credit cards.They are a reward savings card for their customer. Some stores offer discounts on items while others give cash €back and discounts.

Websites and APPS:

1. http://www.couponplatz.de/

2. https://www.facebook.com/mydealz.de

3.http://www.owsdk.de/LIVE/index_hit.htm

4. http://www.for-me-online.de Click on the tab Clever Einkaufen and you should see a pair of scissors click on that to see all the coupons.

5. https://www.henkel-lifetimes.de/

6. http://www.meinprospekt.de/

7.http://www.kaufda.de/

8. Coupon site for pets www.fressnapf.de

9. YouPickit.de

10. Coupies.de

11. Scondoo.de

Sticky Savings

Several stores offer stickers at the time of check out for the items you bought for free. These stickers are for each month for on going items in the store or for specialty deals from tools, toys, camping items and more.

Coupons AKA Rebates (Rabatt)

Germany is starting to have more coupons on many different German items.
Not all stores accept coupons.
Coupons are referred to most times as a rebate.
Where to find coupons?
•In the sales papers.
•Websites (located in handouts).
•Be on the lookout when you check out, some stores print out coupons with the receipt or on the back of them too.

Look for deals off base

One meal out €65.00
To take my family of 5 out for one Schnitzel dinner is about €65,00, no joke. That includes the
little side salad and only one drink each, no dessert.
Total for 12 meals was €65.59.I had enough just in the Schnitzel for 12 people, same for fries and all the stuff for salad. I say that is a win.

1. Fries 1,000 grams
2. 2 bags 6 in each pork schnitzel
3. Potato pancakes 1,500 gram
4. Pizza 1 box 2 pizza
5. 1 bag of Hard rolls
6. 1 Basil plant
7. 1 parsley Plant
8. Big jar of pickles 1500 grams
9. 2 Chocolate Cream Cheese
10. 5 kinder Eggs
11. Big bag of Apples 3000kg
12. Bananas
13. Almonds
14. Red Oak Leaf lettuce
15. Green Oak leaf lettuce
16. 2 cumbers
17. 6 1.5 liters of Apple
18. 4 1.5 liters of Mixed Vitamin juice
19. 2 Apple sauce each box 710 grams
20. 10 packages of salad dressing mix
21. 1 bag of onions, 1000 grams
22. Diced ham 250 grams
23. 3 Bell Pepper, 1 green and 2 red
24. Box of Jasmine Tea

Compare & Save

Grand total before vat was ∈129.13
Total food cost ∈109.14 before vat
Below are the items Items I bought:
8 Pizzas
8.85 lbs. Chicken wings
12.32 lbs. Pork steak boneless
13.20 lbs. Pasta (one sale)
1.43 lbs. sandwich meats
2.20 lbs. of honey
1.32 tomato tube paste
25.88 lbs. of frozen veggies
The Real brand of frozen veggies tastes very good. The broccoli is some of the best I have had.
8.81 lb. of yogurt
I like the choices of cream cheese off-base better. I got two containers of cream cheese,
some feta cheese, and bought a new scale to weigh ingredients to cook.

10kg is about 22 pounds of potatoes. If that is too much for one family, share with another family. You each pay $1.50 and get 11 pounds of potatoes.

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY, THAT IS THE QUESITON!

What Not to buy on the economy:

•Motor oil (bring you own to auto shops when getting our oil changed)
•Batteries
•Auto window cleaner
•Peanut Butter
•Marshmallows
•Make up

What normally is cheaper on the economy:

•Fruit
•Milk, local cheese
•Eggs
•Frozen fruit and vegetables “FRIES”
•Vitamins
•Pasta
•Wine

Discount Stores

•KIK discount store (Dollar Tree store)
•DEICHMAN (Famous Footwear )
•Primark
•TEDI(One Euro Store)
•TAKKO
•ROSSMAM (Like WALLGREENS)
•Thomas-Philipps(Like Big Lots)
•LIDL (Grocery store)
•Netto (Grocery store)
•Treff 3000 (Grocery store)
•Penny Market (Grocery store)
•ALDI (Grocery store)