From Supermarket Savings to Weekend Getaway
We work hard for our money. No matter what kind of income each of us has or how much money we have or don’t have to spend on the food budget, there are ways to save some cash in the grocery store. Don’t be afraid to be “stingy” when it comes to wanting to save your pennies that you worked so hard to obtain!
To take it a step further, if you have a goal in mind and get the children involved, you may be surprised at how fast the pennies and dollars actually will add up. Everyone will want to get involved with your plan if it means a weekend in a mountain cabin or a trip to the amusement park that you may not have been able to take otherwise. It is very important to have a goal that everyone in the family can work toward.
If you have plenty of extra money or think you don’t need to or want to “bother with” doing these things to save a little money each grocery trip, put what you saved into a jar and donate it to the Red Cross or Salvation Army earmarking it for disaster relief. It will be a good feeling even if taking the time to do these steps seems like something you normally would not feel like doing. If you are still not interested, maybe the children in the family could take on the project and save for new sports equipment, books, videos, or computer games.
Once you have decided to set a goal and start saving for your getaway, here are some tips to help you get started:
Start with making a menu and list!
One of the best things that you can get into the habit of doing is to make sure you go to the grocery store with a list. It will be difficult at first to stick to it if you aren’t used to having a list, but it will get easier as time goes on. Write down items that you run out of or realize you need during the week and keep a running inventory. This is a good place where the children can help.
There are two reasons why this is important. The first, of course, is so that you are not tempted to over-buy items that you can’t remember if you need or not. The second reason is that if you forget something, impulse buying becomes more prevalent when you have to go back into the store again in a few days. We food shoppers seem to never be able to go into a store for one or two things and not come out with extra items.
The same principles apply to making a menu for the week (or two weeks, etc. depending upon how often you do the grocery shopping). You will not run out of enough food for meals which will in turn not cause another trip to the store where impulse buying could come into play if you know what you will be serving for dinner each evening. Ask the children for menu ideas and don’t forget to plan their favorites sometimes.
Stock up on some things elsewhere
Be aware that certain items usually cost less in a supermarket than they will at a chain marketer. Some things that you probably will not want to buy in the grocery store (unless you have a good coupon that will be doubled perhaps and end up costing less than elsewhere) include:
– Paper items such as toilet paper and paper towels
– Cleaning products
– Personal care items including shampoo, deodorant, and toothpaste
– Medicines, vitamins, and health care items
– Kitchen items such as baking pans, cooking pots, etc.
Take advantage of coupons!
Coupons have changed over the years and this is unfortunate. Years ago most coupons were for one item and now shoppers need to buy two or even more to get the discount. Take the time to look through your magazines and Sunday paper, though, and clip the coupons for things you use or would like to try. Children usually love clipping coupons and helping out in that way. (If they are old enough to safely do so, of course).
If you like a particular generic or store brand of product then by all means keep buying that and don’t buy something more expensive just because you have a coupon for it. By the same token, if you need to buy three of the item to get a small discount and it would take your family a whole year to finish using the product, it isn’t a good idea to use the coupon in that scenario either.
Another important thing to know is which grocery stores in your area offer double value on coupons. Each store has its own policy, but many will double, for example, up to 50 cents and then just have single value for anything over 50 cents. Some places will actually double up to one dollar coupons.
If you want to try new products or if you do not mind buying two or three of an item you already use, it is easy to see how coupon usage could add up to at least $5 per week (if you shop weekly). Even that small amount can save well over $200 per year. Many coupon users save a significant amount more than $5 per week so it adds up fast throughout a year even though it may not seem that way in the short term.
One word of caution here is that because of fraud, many stores are beginning to refuse to honor coupons that have been printed out from the internet. You may want to check on that before going to the store armed with a stack of internet coupons that will end up not being honored at the end.
Know what’s on sale!
Take the time to look at the store’s sale flyer while you are making a list. If you were planning pork chops for one night and they are not on sale, but chicken cutlets are being featured as a sale item, you may want to modify your menu and buy the chops when they come on sale.
Match up the coupons you have clipped with things that are on sale any given week. That is one of the best ways to make sure you are stretching your food dollars as far as they can go. See what you have a coupon for that is already on sale and you will be surprised at the savings. Older children may enjoy doing this comparison.
At this point I will mention that all of this will go much more easily if you have your coupons in some kind of order and separated. A coupon wallet works great and you can take it right into the store for unadvertised bargains. If you do not want to do that, plain envelopes or paper clips will work to separate your coupons into categories.
Know how to read the prices on the shelves. Unit prices are required to be listed and you will remember from economics classes in school that buying larger packages of some items saves money because of lower unit prices.
Take advantage of your freezer
– There are a number of ways that you can use your freezer to help with saving money on food purchases. First is by buying some inexpensive leftover containers so that anything left over from your meals will not be wasted. Freeze individual servings to heat up in a few weeks and it will seem like a whole new meal. Many people do not enjoy leftovers one night after another and this practice will avoid that.
– Another good use for the freezer is to buy meat that is on sale. Take it home and cut it into serving sized pieces and freeze it. Wrap meat in aluminum foil or freezer wrap. Often the large packages of meat will be less expensive and you can just separate it for the freezer after getting home.
– Still another good idea is to buy produce when it is in season or on sale and immediately prepare it for freezing. One huge waste of money when it comes to food shopping is having to throw out produce that spoiled before it was eaten.
See if you can make more than one meal from one purchase
This takes a bit of creativity but can save money if you can come up with ways to make it work. One idea is to buy a whole chicken and use most of it for your favorite chicken soup or chicken casserole recipe. However, keep the breasts out for another meal. Being able to prepare two meals from one fryer chicken is very economical.
Another meat that this works well with is a ham. Serve the ham as a meal but then cube the leftovers right away (or before you put it on the table) and freeze the cubes for another meal of ham and bean soup, ham salad, or a ham and noodle casserole.
Is there a generic grocer in your area?
Where I live, there is a discount store that sells non-name brand products. The labels on cans, for example, are white with black print, but these items cost a fraction of the cost of name brands and sometimes even regular store brands.
This may take a little experimentation and I would recommend trying one can, box, etc. at a time until you know which items your family will like. Very many things are just as good as name brands, but there are always a few things that are not the same quality. If you find something that you like, you can stock up with your next visit instead of buying too much of an item you will not enjoy on the first trip.
Watch those perishables and produce!
No matter how much you think you are saving on buying fresh produce or perishable foods or how much of a sale the store is offering, it will not be a good purchase if your family will not be eating it before it spoils.
If there seems to be a problem with that, take a moment to freeze some of the extra as soon as you get home from shopping or at least when you see it will most likely not be eaten. Don’t wait until there’s a possibility that it had already started spoiling, though, of course.
Check the “bargain shelf” and bakery discounts
Don’t be afraid to see what is available on the discount shelves usually found at the back of the store. Often there are bakery items found here that will be good as new if microwaved, or even still wonderful if eaten in a day or two. The discounts are sometimes rather large.
If something like bread has an expiration date that will not allow it to be eaten before it becomes stale, consider using the probable high discount and cubing the bread for freezing. Bread cubes can be used for things like meat loaf and croutons.
Last but not least, check if your supermarket has a discount card. You will often only get the sale prices if you have such a card. Make it work for you and match the coupons you have with the discount card specials of the week.
Time for that trip!
If it is indeed a weekend getaway that is your goal, make sure that everyone in the family knows how much you will need to save to make it happen. Give out weekly reports after you get back from the grocery store and let everyone know how much more you need to save before making your reservations. Most of all, have fun! It may be one of the best memories the children have of childhood because it was done as a family!
