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The Queen's guide to Grocery Shopping

First off, let me just say, as the Queen of Penny Pinching, I KNOW how much everything is SUPPOSED to cost. Don't be fooled by sales and other gimmicks the stores try to pull by raising the price of other items to cover the cost. For instance, one store that I frequent several times a week, runs a promotion that I will call "Gas Money". For every 10 dollars worth of store brand items you buy, you will get a dollars worth of "Gas Money" at checkout. Well, since I know how much everything is "Supposed" to cost, then I know that they have added 10 cents to dozens of frequently bought items...so where is the savings? What I do is avoid the hiked up items and buy only the items that were not raised.

Another store in town periodically offers "Triple Coupons". The first time I saw this, I gathered up all of my coupons and trekked across town, only to find out that they hiked the prices up....I mean it was unbelievable! Like $5.00 for a box of cereal, then you get triple a 50 cent coupon, so 3.50 for a box of cereal? I think not! After all, $1.50 off "overpriced" does not equal a good deal. I never even waste my time trying to orchestrate "triple coupon" shopping, it's not worth it.

I just want to give you an example of how to plan your grocery trips and get the most for your food dollar. I mean, everyone has to eat, right? You are going to have to go to the grocery store anyway, so why not take an extra few minutes to plan? Log on to your local grocery stores' web sites and look over their current ads. I have to drive past one store to get to my preferred store, so I look at both sale papers online, compare the prices and print out my lists. I do this because it is much easier to plan when you are sitting at home than when you are at the store. (Especially when you have a little one with you)

You may have heard this advice: Always try to make a list and stick to it. This is not true. If you make a list and stick to it, you may miss out on something you frequently use being on sale, which will cost you money in the long run. This is why I suggest reading your local ads AND planning your menu around the items that are on sale that week.

If you don't mind the extra work, use the self-checkout. This way, when you scan your items you can see (or hear) the prices and make sure they are scanning properly, plus you can bag your groceries without anything getting smashed or broken. Before they had the self-checkouts, I ALWAYS got overcharged

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