Top Ten - ways to save $$ for groceries. Mar 13 '10 (Updated Mar 15 '10)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet The Bottom Line Be prepared when opening your wallet that the money stays with you longer. I was watching the news and they had this story about a woman who took the reporter shopping to show how she saves at the grocery store using coupons.  At the end she spent $130 but the final cost was under 1 dollar!  But the report also was promoting her book.  She uses spreadsheet and allegedly donates some of the food items she doesn't use to food banks.  While I'm not as good as her, I have had a plan for many years.  You don't have to be poor to enjoy savings.  When my children were small, I encouraged them to use coupons they had found for groceries and keep the money for things they wanted but I could not purchase for them.  This taught them to spend their money wise.  I was frugal because I was raising a family and now still am because saving money is a habit that stays with you forever. Here's what I do to save money: 1) I clip coupons.  If you are sitting somewhere waiting and there's a newspaper and magazines chances are there are coupons un-clipped.  If you add up the coupons in a specific day of the paper, you will see that the savings actually pay for the newspaper.  Sometimes you may find coupons online.  It takes practice but they are online also.  In store sometimes have coupons that I don't get at home.  Example: I purchase L'Oreal hair color.  I look at the fliers that come in the mail and noticed it on sale for $6.99 for the next week only.  I have a $2 coupon from the newspaper and so something that would have cost me $9 regular price at most stores plus tax is now costing me about $5.50.  2)  Don't go shopping hungry!  When you are hungry, you will purchase foods that you would not if you were full.  It makes us buy more food because our stomach is telling us to.  If you are full you shop more sensibly. 3)  If you shop regularly at a grocery store, you know they have special promotional items each week.  This is because there are people that just go to each store based on the sale items.  I usually don't make special trips to pick up only a few items, but I know some that do.  But they don't just pick up one item, they get the max allowed.  If it's a really good saving, their mate also gets on line and gets the max allowed to double the savings.  They make their trip worthwhile.  Example: Progresso Lentil soup regular price $1.69 on sale for $.99.  I check the expiration date and decide how many I will buy to last me all year.  Usually sale items are grouped in one area. 4) I always shop with a list.  The list usually contains specific items I need but I don't necessarily purchase the item for the regular price.  I will try to find it on sale somewhere I will be going.  When I receive the weekly store fliers, I check what is on sale and will know which store will be best to shop at with savings for my needs.  Shopping with a list, makes you go in a store and know what your are buying so you are not tempted to leisurely stroll and purchase items on the list only. Example:  Store A has 2 items I would normally buy this week but store B has 10 items I need.  I would go to store B.  But while you're there remember that in order for them to discount some things they have other items the are overpriced to make up the difference.  They know that most people go in a store to pick up what they need regardless of price.   5) Price check.  Less is most often more.  Would you buy an 8 oz. jar of Hellman's Mayonnaise if it was $2.50?  Check first the price of the 30 oz.  The larger jar may be on sale for $1.99!  Why would I pay more for less?  I have told store shoppers if I noticed this to save them money and the product was right in front of them but they just didn't notice.  They do thank me and makes me happy to have saved them money.   6) Quantity versus quality.  Sometimes I will check the store brands.  Some products may be good but beware sometimes the cheaper product is so diluted you will need to use 2X the amount in which case it will cost the same price as the popular brand.   Example:  I like this Softsoap Milk & Honey and saw the Equate brand cheaper at WalMart.  It looked the same, smelled almost the same so I purchased it.  It was a waste.  When I started using it, it was very thin and runny causing me to use double the amount therefore I gave them more for getting less.  But that's how we learn and improve not to let it happen again.  Store brands are not always as cheap as they want us to believe.   7)  Saving gas.  Sometimes people like to shop at a store because it is larger and newer.  I don't care if it's larger because it will take me longer to get what I need.  If the products are fresh, I shop for sales first and convenience second.  Also, when I go shopping I try to group errands in specific locations.   Example:  If I travel East I will stop for gas, a local store for fresh eggs that are 1/2 the price of the grocery store and the bank.  West will take me to drug stores, BJs wholesale store and another small produce store for great savings.  I will not pay $1 for 1 tomato at one store when another store in my travel sells it for 50 cents. 8)  Cold Cuts for a family's lunch.  These deli items can vary store to store.  If you purchase lunch meat for a family of 4, you can save about $10 a week if you check the prices. Example:  BJ's has Land O Lakes cheese at the Deli for $3.45 a pound where as my local grocery store has it for $5.99.  BJ's is not only for large families.  I have a membership there and only go for certain items.  Milk is $1 less there than in a regular store.   While I don't go to BJ's often, if I am passing it I will pick up items I use that are about 1/2 price.  9)  Does your family drink canned soda?  Check the prices they can vary.  I wait till the 12 pack goes on sale for $1.99.  This only happens a few times a year but I stock up.  In the summer I carry a small cooler with my own water and drinks in ice so that my grand kids get a cool drink without me spending $ on drinks.   10)  Try not to purchase products at local convenience stores.  I cannot imagine someone paying a high price for one fruit when you can purchase a pound for the same price at a grocery store.  The only reason I would enter a convenience store is for emergency bread and/or milk. ---------------------------- The object of the game is to plan what you will need and don't purchase it when you need for the regular price.  If you start to stock up on sale items, it will become habit and you will never pay full price again.  Some stores have a special saving card and if you shop there consistently, they offer other specials on your receipt.  These have a UPC code and I place them in my key ring.  I also like to watch Howard Clark on the news.  He gives very clever, money saving tips to spend less and get more on all your all puchases.  Who doesn't want to save money?  If you shop wise and perhaps have a goal that the coupon savings will go towards a vacation or other items that a family wants to do you will see the cents add up to dollars.  If you don't purchase the newpaper, ask someone that will most likely not use the coupons to give you their paper when they're done.  Read the fliers that come to your home and use the coupons for those items you would normally purchase.  Sometimes coupons come with the junk mail.  Also, some stores match the local competitor's printed ad for an identical product. NEVER GET RIPPED OFF!

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