by Barry Tadmore

Created on: April 02, 2010

With such a big portion of the monthly budget dedicated to groceries, anybody looking to save money every month would be smart to look at reducing their grocery expense.  The problem is that there are too many people who simply believe that you can’t save money on groceries.  You need to eat and you need to buy that food.  But when I bought a new house, I had to cut down on expenses across the board.  The easiest spot to decrease spending was at the grocery store, simply by changing the way I shopped.  A few tips:

PLAN AHEAD AND MAKE A LIST – A lot of people shop with a list.  But how many of them actually plan out meals and the other food that they will eat in the upcoming week?  People tend to make a running list and jot things down as they need them, but rarely do people actually buy exactly what they’ll need for the upcoming week.  Put the items you need on your list and buy only from the list.

STICK TO THE LIST – Once you get to the grocery store, don’t start wandering around looking for other things to buy.  The Denver Post reports that for every 10 unplanned minutes you spend in a grocery store you will incur an additional $20 in expenses.  That’s $2 per minute!  Stick to the list and get out of the store when you’re done with it!

USE COUPONS – I hear too many people tell me that the savings from coupons aren’t worth the time it takes to find them and clip them out.  I’ve never agreed with that.  I spend 10 minutes a week clipping coupons and save about $5 each week at the grocery store from those coupons.  Sure, $5 doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up.  At the end of the year, I will have spent 8 hours and 40 minutes clipping coupons that will have saved me $260.  Can you do the math?  That averages out to $30 per hour.  Not worth the time?  Wrong.

IGNORE PRICES – When you find yourself deciding between that small jar of peanut butter and the large jar of peanut butter, forget about looking at the prices.  Instead, look at the fine print on those price tags.  Look at the cost per ounce.  The large jar of peanut butter will undoubtedly cost more at check-out, but will cost less per ounce.  That means that you are getting more peanut butter for your money!

FORGET ABOUT NAME BRANDS – My aunt used to work in a jelly packaging factory.  They would jar the jelly for all the brands, including store brands.  The only difference between Smucker’s and the store brands is that Smucker’s uses whole pieces of fruit and the store brands use fruit pieces.  It’s the same jelly but one is much less expensive!

JOIN THE CLUB – All the grocery stores seem to have a discount club.  Joining your local store’s discount club should save you quite a bit on each week’s grocery trip.

These are the main tips I’ve followed and I have experienced a much lower expense in my monthly budget for food.  Good luck in your journey to save money!

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