Smart grocery shopping
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In my view, grocery shopping can be a great victory or a stunning defeat in the battle to save money. In most households where people are already making some effort to be frugal, grocery shopping is the single most variable expense. It is very easy to spend more than necessary, but it’s also the area where a little extra effort can pay off big time in savings. I’m going to list some tips for grocery shopping below, and then over the next few days, I’ll go into more detail on each topic.
Shop less often. The more times I go to the store, the more stuff I’m likely to pick up. It’s usually just a couple of extra things that are probably useful, but doing this frequently adds up to a lot of things that don’t all need to be in this month’s budget (they won’t fit there!). That’s one reason for doing grocery shopping once a week or less often; another is that this kind of shopping will encourage you to follow the next two tips.
Scout out your options. It is not cost effective to include every store in town on your shopping trip. However, it can save a good amount to shop two or three stores, based on who’s giving you what deal. Stores frequently offer a few items very cheaply (they’re called “loss leaders” for a reason) to get you in the door. The easiest way to find these deals is by looking at the weekly newspaper ads. It’s usually the most overall-expensive stores that offer the best deals, because they know if you buy anything else, they’ll make money. Don’t fall for it! Buy the loss leader if you need it but get most of your groceries at a “typically inexpensive” store instead.
Plan your meals. Meal planning is really just taking what you do one frantic day at a time, and doing it all at once—hopefully less frantically! I just write down the meals that I need to shop for (usually four or five dinners a week, a couple of lunches, plus a weekly church potluck and some part of a dinner for my book group; I use staples for breakfasts and “fend-for-yourself” dinners). Then I decide what I’ll make for each meal (printing out the recipe if it’s new to me) and add the ingredients I don’t have to my shopping list. Which brings me to…
Use a shopping list. Ideally, try to list items in the order you’ll find them in the store. This keeps you away from as much temptation as possible; a direct route won’t have you walking past that fancy cookie display over and over. If you stick with your list, you’ll have a much better shot at staying within your grocery budget; you also won’t end up buying things that will spoil if you stick with the things on your meal plan—stuff you’ll use in the next week or so.
Use a pricebook. You won’t know if something is a good deal unless you know what a good deal is. It takes a little effort to get started, but once it’s going, a pricebook is not hard to maintain and can really give you a compass when it comes to making good buying decisions. Basically, a pricebook is just a list of what you’ve paid for a particular item in the past. That historical information lets you know whether a sale price is really a good deal or if the “sale” is just a gimmick.
Consider using coupons. This is something that many frugalites disagree on. Some feel that it’s worth it to find and use coupons, while others think the time it takes makes it a bad value. I’m kind of in the middle. I use a coupon clipping service to get coupons on things I’ll buy anyway, and don’t usually bother with the newspaper (I don’t subscribe, so it can be a pain to track down a copy or buy one). The total time it takes me to use coupons is minimal, but I don’t save on everything I buy, either.
Why not take a moment and share a tip of your own?