by Imonikhe Ahimie

Created on: July 20, 2010

Given the current economic circumstances it makes sense for ordinary folk to effect savings in as wide a variety of spending areas as they possibly can. Whilst some spending areas are less susceptible of savings than others, one area where savings can be made, and possibly quite considerable savings, is the area of grocery purchases.  A common means, perhaps the most common, of making savings on grocery purchases is the system of discount coupons, but even without the use of such coupons (and there are reasons why coupons may be infeasible, e.g. a dearth of nearby stores that run good coupon deals, a lack of coupons for the stuff you buy, etc.), it is possible to make real savings each time you shop for groceries and over time these savings cam amount to a very goodly sum. The beauty of it all is that you need not reduce the quality of your diet; indeed, you may very well improve upon your diet and save money at the same time.

Create a grocery budget.

Create a menu for your household, and stick to it. If your shopping habits remain faithfully aligned to your menu ideas, the possibility of impulse buying, a budget wrecker if ever there was one, is reduced quite considerably. In creating your menus, always keep your budget in mind.

Cut down on your shopping schedule. The more you shop, the more you spend, and vice-versa. Your grocery lists should be planned around the menu you have already devised; if you do this your budget should be adequate for your needs, more than adequate. Try always to shop with cash, and do not take more cash with you than is required by your budgeted expenditure; it may seem inconvenient, but the seeming convenience offered by credit cards can very often turn out to be very deceptive. Using cards increases the chances of overspending on non-essentials that catch your fancy. If you absolutely have to use a card for your shopping, you might consider one of the no annual fee cards that offer rewards for grocery shopping. Keep in mind, however, that no fee reward cards are credit cards just as all other credit cards; if you are unable to pay off your card in full as at when due, interest charges can easily wipe away any gains you have made in card’s reward scheme.

Create a price book that contains the items that you buy as well as how much they cost at different selling points. Do no hesitate to visit different stores so that you can search out the best place to buy different types of groceries, and endeavor not to buy non grocery

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