Last night I went to the store and bought some Ben & Jerry’s blueberry graham Froyo (delicious. try it for a semi-healthy treat. you won’t regret it) and a few other items and my total came to $41.73. WHAT?! I feel like every time I go to the store just to grab a few items I’m walking out of there with my pocket 50 bucks lighter. And let it be known people, we are talking items that don’t even cook a meal. Little things like dish soap and a loaf of bread and paper towels. The price of groceries has drastically increased over the past few years due to rising fuel costs and other reasons I won’t get in to. Has anyone else noticed that little stinging sensation every time you swipe the Amex? Yeah that stinging is your bank account letting you know it is in pain. So here are 5 tips to save money on groceries.
1. Use your sale crystal ball. You don’t have to be a psychic to know when groceries will go on sale. First of all, for this to work you should probably shop at the same store consistently. At least at the same chain in the same locality. A grocery cycle is typically 6 weeks. This means that if Bounty paper towels are on sale today, they will probably be on sale again in 6 weeks. So buy enough Bounty paper towels to last 6 weeks and you will never pay full price again. That’s a thing of beauty isn’t it. Let’s say it’s not 6 weeks. Consider keeping track of how much time goes by between sales. Beware of perishable items because often time they go on sale because their shelf life is about to expire. Check your dates folks.
2. Start on the left side of the store. There is a tremendous amount of logistics, marketing, design etc that goes into most grocery store set ups. Often stores will set up the big bargains on the left side of the store. The store figures that most people start on the right side of the store and work their way left. So customers fill up their cart with all the non-bargain items. Once they get to the left of the store and notice all the great deals, they pick up a few other items because of the bargain that they may not have gotten otherwise raising the overall tab. Ultimately, the store’s revenue increases.
3. Understand loyalty programs and use them. Some of them can be very creepy but often stores will track your buying habits using their loyalty programs and offer coupons based on what you buy. So I buy a lot of Ben & Jerry’s Blueberry Graham froyo and often a coupon prints at check out offering me money off my next B&J purchase. Don’t throw those things in the garbage even though it’s tempting to do so. Paper stinks. I know. But hold on to that thing. Look at the time expiration on the coupon and make sure you use it. If the date has passed, ask a store manager to make an exception.
4. Shop on Wednesdays and right after holidays. Manager markdowns often happen on Wednesdays. Again, beware of shelf life expiration but there is nothing wrong with buying something as long as you will use it before it expires. Also, after big holidays like the 4th of July, the stores overstock will often go on sale. This can save you big bucks because of the deep discounts offered.
5. Shop less often. Us younger folks are especially guilty of grocery shopping too often. Buy for at least a week at a time. Consider a “pantry week” in which you don’t go to the store at all and use those canned peas you have had in the pantry for 4 months. In other words, use up the inventory in your house. The more trips to the grocery store, the more opportunity the store has to get you to spend money with their sales and fancy marketing displays. I always fall for the sales. UGH. Consider memberships at Costco or another wholesale club, to save big on things like meats and cheeses and buy in bulk to last the month. Use your freezer and pantry to store the items you bought in bulk and watch how much money you save.
So here is a good start. We picked some obvious and some not-so-obvious in our 5 tips to save money on groceries. Start implementing some of these strategies along with cutting coupons and taking advantage of online discounts to save yourself hundreds or probably thousands per year. I can’t stress this enough, you’d be surprised how much money can add up by doing the little things. Maybe the money you save can pay for your new iPhone 6 coming out in September. Ya never know. Good day folks.
