It's no secret that grocery stores use tricks to get you to spend more . After all, where there's a competitive business, there's a bottom line. Some of these strategies are obvious, like placing sweet treats at eye level and checkout stands.

And those free samples? They're designed to get you to slow down and consider purchasing items you wouldn't notice otherwise. However, other marketing strategies are so subtle that they can swindle even the savviest of shoppers. When strolling down grocery store aisles, you may have noticed that tasty teams, like chips and salsa, are grouped together.

This is no accident. They often also appear as end caps, meaning they're set up at the beginning or end of an aisle to catch your attention. These pairings are designed to upsell you on certain items.

Let's say you're looking for cured meat and come across all the fixings for a charcuterie board . You were only aiming for prosciutto, but why not go all in? This line of thinking is precisely what the store is hoping for. Mind you, this clever tactic isn't all bad — sometimes it comes in handy.

But if you find you're frequently exceeding your grocery budget, you better check yourself before you reach that checkout stand. Ask yourself, are these marketing strategies helping or hindering your grocery goals? When to give into that crafty pairing, and when to resist Stores group products together so you'll purchase multiple items — and it works beautifully. If you're reaching for chips, why n.