I am not a money-saving expert by any means but I have tried in the last year or two to follow frugal blogs, clip coupons, and watch for deals.
However, I think I could do a lot better when it comes to groceries. Typically, I grocery shop at one store (Wal-Mart) and use the coupons I have for the things I need (or can stock up on). I save $10 or $15 doing this. Lately, however, I've realized I can save a great deal more on our food budget.
Yesterday, we were having dinner guests so I ran to a nearby grocery store (City Market, a Kroger store) to pick up some last-minute items. While there, I noticed that there was a very good sale that included items we reguarly use: pasta, pasta sauce, and salad dressing. I ended up with 16 extra items, but the sale meant I saved about $30 on those items. I also noticed that that the price on Betty Crocker cake mix (for which I have a coupon) was cut to $1, and that Pantene shampoo, for which I have a $2 coupon, was $2.97. I will be headed back there, coupons in hand.
This inspired me to read fliers and visit other stores at least once in a while, instead of just assuming Wal-Mart has the lowest prices (it obviously doesn't). While it's a bit of a hassle, the savings might well be worth it!
Do you shop at various grocery stores or just one? What has worked best for you?
1 day ago
5 comments:
I do shop at various grocery stores, but some weeks, it just doesn't work and I go where it's convenient or if I can, to the one with the better deals. Sometimes I look through flier and compare with coupons, other times I refer to a website for our area that posts a list for all stores with links to online coupons when it's a good deal.
I am curious what people's grocery spending is if anyone cares to share? What is the avg. you spend or try to stay under weekly? For me, it's ~$75/avg.
Good question! I think we spend about $100/week. I'm sure we could cut it down.
We spend about $100 also and we've been doing meal planning every week (for a few months). We make a shopping list of what to buy (for those meals) and that has been helping to keep our grocery bills a little more consistent. We also try to shop at the same store(Walmart), and it seems to be cheaper than most of the other grocery stores and it has what we need.
that was from me (Becky Zwicker) I didn't realize that I was signed in as my husband David.
I also used to shop at Walmart because I thought it was the cheapest. When I started couponing, I found that the "more expensive" stores were often cheaper. There are a few things that I know I can get cheapest at Walmart, but waiting for sales at other stores on many other things saves me money.
I haven't been able to do much couponing lately, so I am spending about $350/week for 10 people, including 3 teenage boys and 3 adults. That does include everything bought at the grocery store, health food store, or drug store (except prescriptions) AND any eating out. There are some things I spend extra on, like raw milk, and we eat a LOT of fresh produce. I'm looking forward to the garden lowering the grocery bill this summer!
Post a Comment