How To Save Money At The Grocery Store

You’re walking down the grocery store aisles wondering if you’re getting the most out of your food shopping, maybe even some of these question come to mind.

• Can my coupons be more organized?
• Is it really that bad to shop on an empty stomach?
• Should I spend the extra dollar on the “name brand” items?

According to most; one of the biggest expenses is their grocery bill, but it doesn’t  have to be that way. Grocery stores are designed to get you to spend as much as possible, but with these easy tips you’ll could potentially cut your grocery bill in half.

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The amazing power of coupons.

Some might casually use them, some might not use them at all, and some even obsess over them. We know coupons can save money; 80% of people are using them, but most do not have a system for organizing them.  Here are some quick tips on getting the most from your coupons:

• Start a coupon clipping kit, this will include:
  • Envelopes, an accordion file or large wallet
  • Scissors for clipping the coupons
  • A calculator
  • A small pad of paper for making grocery lists with
  • Pens and pencils
• Take coupons as seriously as you would take real cash. It can help understand how important they really are.
• Try your best to keep track of all your spending. Knowing this information will help you stay organized and be much more efficient in saving you money.
• Use printable grocery coupons. Coupon Mom is a great resource for tons of coupon needs.
• Develop an organizational system, sort them by expiration date, category of product or alphabetical order.
• Stick to only a couple of specific stores so you can track their sales better.
• Stack coupons, if you can double up on coupons, do it!
• Even though there are a lot of good printable coupons, always use your Sunday paper to clip coupons from as well.
• Leftover with extra coupons? Use The Coupon Forum to trade your left-over coupons.

These are just some tips to get you started, obviously the art of coupon clipping is a fairly in depth subject, so for much more information on this subject you can visit this TipNut article on making a coupon organizing system. Also, here is a great in depth article on coupons over at The Digerati Life.

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Not all items on sale are actually cheaper

Many grocery stores will place items at the end of an aisle to grab your attention. This is a common tactic to have you thinking that these “sale items” are the cheapest of their kind. Don’t go for the impulse buy on this. To find the real bargains, make sure you  scan all of the items in the aisles (especially generic brands) to see which are the least expensive. You may be surprised how much money you’ll save buying generic foods vs name brand items on sale.

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Comparison Shop: Bigger is not always better

Stores are figuring out that consumers have the “buy in bulk, spend less” mentality, and they are taking advantage of this. Sometimes buying in bulk can actually end up costing you more. Make sure that when buying your next box of cereal, you compare it with the smaller box to see if you are actually saving money buying in bulk.

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Don’t shop on an empty stomach

I think this comic courtesy of keanerdotnet sums up everything there is to be said about shopping on an empty stomach.

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Generic Foods Vs Name Brands

One of the biggest ways to save money when grocery shopping is to avoid the name brands and stick to the generics. It’s easy to get wrapped up in spending more on a name, but everything in the generic brand usually has the exact same ingredients. If you absolutely must have some name brands, first check if there are coupons for it, and make sure it’s worth the extra money to you. Another great idea is to buy the generic brands of common items such as; flour, salt, eggs, milk, etc.

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Make a list and stick to it!

If you spend enough effort and time researching the best deals to help make your shopping list, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t stick with it. Always make a shopping list. Never go into the store blindly, that is a recipe for disaster. Make sure you go into the store as prepared as possible, this will allow you maximum efficiency in saving you money.

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The art of saving money on groceries is a tough one to master, but with enough time, effort and experience, you too can become a grocery shopping guru. By following these tips there is no reason that you couldn’t cut your next grocery bill in half, if not more. Please share any tips or experiences you’ve had that can help other people save money.

Tags: comparison shopping, generic brands
Posted in Featured, Shopping | 2 Comments »

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