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For most families, the grocery bill is the biggest variable expense in their budget – and provides the most opportunity to save money. Whether you are shopping for 15 people or just for yourself, a little planning and effort can save you significant amount of money each month. Where you shop for your groceries may be limited by your geographical location but it is worth the effort to investigate where are the best places to shop and then plan your shopping trip thoroughly to ensure you are paying the lowest possible price. Also, you should pay close attention to the items that you don’t purchase on a monthly basis but quarterly or even every six months. If you buy your non perishable items in bulk, it could also save you big in long run.
Shopping stores
In choosing where to shop, what tempt you most? Is it the distance from your home? Or the store layout and setup that lures into the store? Everyone has their own reasons why they shop at a certain place but sometimes people have no real reasons to shop at a store. They shop at a store because they see it on their way to home and that’s about it. Nothing about store layout, shopping experience or price is factored in their choice. Remember, grocery stores invest a huge amount of money is developing strategies to tempt shoppers. Some stores will go so far as to install special lighting and pipe in mood music designed to relax you into lingering longer in the aisles in hopes you will purchase more than you intended. If your goal is to save money, you must be able to spot these techniques.
There is absolutely no way of knowing up front if a store has a lowest price for the item you are looking for. Remember, item prices are tied to a bar code and store can change them on the fly(can even change them couple of time a day). So there is no guarantee that if you found the lowest price for “ITEM A” today, you’ll continue to get it at a cheaper price down the road. However, you can still recognize the trend. If a store is consistently selling groceries at higher prices, chances are that you’ll never find the lowest price there. You should also be aware that if you shop at chain stores, price can easily vary from one location to another.
Since there is no scientific method to pinpoint a lowest price, you should rely on the routine research conducted by non-profit organizations and third parties. Here is an example to clarify it further. In 2004, a local newspaper in southeast region decided to shop for most common weekly groceries items at local stores. All major groceries stores, including chain stores, were included in the experiment and results were shocking. Average bill for this list varied from as low as $48 to as high as $83. Some of the items on the list were brand names while others has no brand name requirements. For example, if you’re going to buy bottled water, whether you buy a brand name or a generic, it is still water and there is no reason to pay 50% premium for a label on the bottle.
One of the interesting findings of this experiment was various options offered to shoppers. The most expensive store had the most brands available per item while the lowest price store had only a couple.
Examine coupon policies – Find out which stores double (or triple!) the face value of coupons. Most limit the value of coupons they multiply to $.50 or less, but a few will double up to $1.00. Some store post their coupons in the aisle itself so pay close attention to them. Also, some stores print grocery coupons with your receipt, so pay close attention to the coupons printed with your receipt to see if you could save money.
Purchase in Bulk – There is a reason why stores like Sam’s club and Costco are in business. These stores run their business on wholesale basis and you could save big by signing up for the membership. Membership is not free and usually cost $30 to $40/ year but you could easily save that much money in couple of trips. One of the good examples is baby food and diapers. If you purchase baby jar foods and diapers at Sam’s club or Costco, you can save as much as 30% as compared to your regular retail stores. You can also save on certain big ticket items such as home appliances and consumer electronics at these stores. If you can’t afford to pay for the membership fees, check if you have a friend or family with the membership to help you out. Also, these stores allow non members to shop there once or twice a year with a temporary but free membership card. Keep an eye on your Sunday newspaper to find out about such an event in your area or check out their online web sites. These stores also offer discount of as much as 15 cent per gallon on gasoline and that could save you $2-$4 every time you fill up your tank.
Planning your Shopping Trip -You should have a standard grocery list of staple items that you use on a regular basis. You can customize this list based on your store circular research showing what meat, seafood, or produce is on sale any given week. Vegetables and fruit prices are usually lowest in mid week so plan your shopping trip around mid week instead of the usual weekend trip.
Rain Checks - Many times there is no limit on the number of items you can buy with a rain check, so this not only gives you an opportunity to stock up later and give you time to gather together coupons for the product in the meantime. You can also try samples offered in the store and you’ll often be offered a coupon to take home a package of the newest and greatest products.
Learn the Store Cycle – Once you have found the store that saves you money on a weekly basis, you can take your saving a step further by learning and exploiting the product cycle at your store. Many stores run sales for different categories on a 12 or 16 week cycle – paper, meat, frozen foods, etc., so if you understand how the store’s cycles work you can stash coupons and use them to stock up on what you need when those items are at the lowest possible price.
Try Store Brands – Many store brands are made at the exact same place that the brand name is, just without the fancy label and expensive advertising campaign that drives up the price. Try the store brands, and if you can’t tell the difference, why pay more? Store brand is the number one reason why you can save lot of money on your grocery bill. You should purchase brand product only if there is some real value to it and you have to have it, otherwise store brand should be your preference.
Utilize these strategies and you should be able to realize significant savings in your grocery budget. Try to make bargain shopping fun and use it as an opportunity to teach younger children the importance of being a savvy consumer. You can even have your children or grandchildren help clip coupons. It can help them learn math skills, and seeing how much money they helped you save can be very rewarding.
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