Friday, February 27, 2009

Frugal Friday

Let's eat ... we all have to, right?

My tip for today is to really analyze and plan your grocery shopping. If you have no idea how much you spend on grocery shopping, consider getting a store credit card (I use a Meijer card). I love that I can simply look at the monthly statement to see how much we've spent at a glance. Otherwise, take a few minutes to look through your bank or credit card statements.

If you need to cut out some spending, here is what to do: buy as much as you can ON SALE. Look at the weekly ads (most stores have them online). Stock up on things you buy when they are on sale (even if you are not currently out of them). If you wait to buy things when you need them, you will pay whatever the price is at the time, when maybe two weeks ago it was half off! This is a great strategy for basic stock items like toilet paper, cereal, juice (a brand is always on sale), and meat (freeze!). The brands I prefer are often on sale once a month or so but you might consider being flexible on brand names. I also keep an eye on a couple other stores. For example, Walgreens has great prices on many things. This week milk is $1 cheaper than the regular grocery store and our laundry detergent is buy one get one free!

I kid you not: this method cut almost $200 out of our monthly grocery budget. It really isn't that much work ... maybe 30 minutes per shopping trip.

1 comment:

The Fearless Freak said...

For cutting costs, I can't say enough good things about Aldi's. They carry mostly off brand or store brand items and some stuff (am cheese singles) I don't like there but I get probably 75% of my groceries there.

I do still have to go to County Market for some things and I get ALL my meat at Old Time Meat and Deli. But honestly, 3 stops (2 being within a few blocks of my house) is completely worth it since I managed to cut $80-100 off our monthly gorcery budget that was already only $300 for a family of 4. Well worth it, in my opinion