by Barry Tadmore

Created on: December 10, 2010

For anybody living on a budget, the grocery store can be a scary place.  Buying food and other groceries takes a big chunk of your money every month, causing some high-stress moments for those living paycheck-to-paycheck.  But don't fear!  With a few money-saving tips, you can find yourself cutting down on that monthly expense and adding to your savings!  Here are a few tips:

1. Never shop when you're hungry.  Most people understand this because most people have done this.  When you're hungry, everything looks good.  You put a lot of extra stuff in your shopping cart, but they might not be items you would normally eat.  Rather than buy food that would sit in your cupboard for months before you throw it out, grab a quick snack before you hit the grocery store.

2. Always shop with a list.  If you shop with a list, you know exactly what you want and exactly where you're going.  Without a list, you end up wandering around the store looking for things you need.  The problem?  You'll end up finding a lot of things you don't really need.  For example, "Oh, Dreyer's ice cream is on sale.  2 for $5?  Great!"  It might be a good value, but if you didn't need ice cream (and who really NEEDS ice cream?), you just spent $5 more than you needed.  If you do something like that even one more time, you've spent an extra $10.  It might not sound like much, but if you should once per week, you just spent an extra $40 that month!

3. Get in and get out!  Research indicates that for every 10 unplanned minutes you spend in a grocery store, you'll spend an extra $20.  This is why shopping with a list is important.  Get in and get out and keep that money in your wallet!

4. Ignore the price tags.  Well, okay...don't ignore the price tags.  But ignore the price.  Instead, look at the price per unit.  It's a smaller print below the actual price, but it is the number that will tell you the value of the item you're purchasing.  Look at  a jar of peanut butter. Maybe it's $0.58 per ounce.  Now look at a bigger jar of peanut butter.  It might be $0.49 per ounce.  Sure you'll end up paying more at the check-out line, but you'll have to buy peanut-butter much less often and you're paying less for each ounce of it that you eat!

5. Name brands?  Who cares!  I have an aunt who once worked at a jelly-jarring company.  She jarred jelly for Smucker's and she jarred jelly for the store-brand stuff.  The only difference?  The store brand used fruit pieces rather than whole fruit.  Does that really matter to you when they end up smashing it up anyway?  It is literally the SAME product, so why pay more for the name brand?  Go with the cheapest option!

6. Look for sales!  We all need toilet paper, laundry detergent, and dish soap, right?  Rather than wait until you are completely out of these items, look for them on sale as you get close to needing them.  You might find a better deal than you would at the time you need to purchase them.  Why pay full price for something when a week earlier you could have had it on sale and saved $3?

These tips have helped save me a lot of money every month.  Keeping within budget can be hard, but if you follow these tips, it'll be much easier!  Good luck!

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