by Victoria
My reasons for saving money on
groceries have changed over the years. At first in our early years of
marriage I wanted to spend as little as possible so that we could use what I
saved to pay down debts. Now with our debts paid, we can spend a bit more
but I still set a realistic budget that fits within our means.
I have also learned so much about
good nutrition since my mom’s battle with cancer that took her life several
years ago, that my goal is now to squeeze in as many whole foods as possible as
well as buying the dirty dozen organic and much of our dairy products.
Still no matter what your grocery budget goal is these 10 thrifty ways
people save money on groceries can help you reach it.
Here are 10 Ways I keep our grocery budget low
How does menu planning save you
money? It makes aware of what you already have on hand so that you don’t go out
and buy more than you need. It helps you eat out less since you have a weeks
worth of dinner ideas at your finger tips and all the ingredients to make them.
Menu planning can seem like a drag to
most people. I know it did me until I set a timer one week and figured out that
it takes me under 10 minutes to go through what sales bought items I already
have on hand and figure out what meals I could make with them and what
ingredients I will need to buy to round out the meals.
Currently I don’t make our bread
(see a tip further on as to why) but I still use my bread machine as often as a few times a week
baking up dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, pretzel bits, pizza
dough, bread sticks and more.
There are coupons out there
available for whole and organic foods. My biggest source for them in my town is
my Mperks membership for Meijer . Each week I load up my account with coupons
for items on my list. Another source is to Google you favorite grocery products
and see if they have websites that may contain printable coupons. There
are a few good coupon apps out there too (I don’t have a smartphone so I cannot use these).
Update I have discovered since
writing this that you can access most coupon apps using a tablet and I do
also own a smartphone now. Here are the apps I have found that
include deals for every day items like bread, milk, eggs and such….
- ibotta
- Berry Cart (organic & gluten free foods)
- Checkout 51
- Shopkick (a way to earn money as you shop)
- Snap
- Favado Savings App (more like a deal finder and coupon matcher app than a coupon app)
What I love about coupon apps is
that you can use the ones that are not store exclusive like Checkout 51 to save money at places that
don’t take printable coupons
like Aldi.
4. Junk mail
You could be surprised what you
could find in that stack of flyers in your mail box.
A few months ago I found a $5 off $25 purchase coupon for Aldi in a stack of
what just looked like trash offers. I have also found high value toothpaste
coupons which combined with sales has led to free toothpaste.
About a year ago I discovered a discount bread store that stocks the 100%
whole grain bread my family eats for significantly less than the stores carry
it for and even less than I can bake it for so we made the switch. The store is
a bit of a drive for us but it is in a city that we visit a few times a year
for various events so when we go we buy 2 to 3 months worth and fill our
freezer.
We include all our personal products
as well as household cleaners in our grocery budget. One way I have found to
cut down our soap consumption is foaming soap dispensers for our hand soap, dish soap and
body wash. I estimate this trick saves us over $300 a year. ( I
don’t recommend it for shampoo, I tried and it just did not clean as well)
We don’t eat a lot of meat but when
we do it is normally bought from the markdown
section. This saves our family and additional 20% off. Sale meat
goes into the markdown pile more often than people would think making the
prices very low.
My price book comes out of the wood work about
once a year as I do an annual check up to see if I can beat my current best
price for items. The price book helps me find where to find the best price
on items that don’t normally go on sale, as well as what is a good sale,
and what items are cheaper at the warehouse store.
I find if I spend about 30 minutes
each week for a month updating it, I am good to go for another year. Ideally
for maximum savings I would carry it and update it all year, but that has yet
to happen.
I find deals on groceries that can’t
be beat by my grocery store at Big Lots all the time. I especially love their
20% off nights for buzz club members as well as the special $5 off $15 purchase
coupons the send members in the mail now and again. These make the deals go
from good to amazing.
I have friends in other towns that
rave about their local scratch and dent grocery stores, or their dollar store
food finds. Every town differs as to what deals are available the key is to get
out there and look around.
Vinegar and baking soda make up the bulk of the homemade cleaner recipes you can
find on Pinterest (follow my Homemade Cleaning Products board
if you want some ideas). These cleaners cost just pennies and work as well as
the commercial brands.
No comments:
Post a Comment