couponqueenofcorning

This is the second half of Best Ways to Save Money on your Groceries. You can find Part I here . So, here are three more tips for saving you lots of money at the store.

1. Make a list - This is key to not overspending. If you have a list of the things you need to buy you are less likely to forget something and have to come back later. Also, if you have a budgeted amount that you want to spend (say $60, once it looks like you are getting  close to that amount, you may have to decide what is really necessary for you to buy and that is where the list comes into play. We start listing products on our grocery list as we run out of them or are noticing we are getting low. My list also takes into account how my stockpile is doing and whether I need to stock up on those staples that I use often. I go through my cupboards, pantry, freezer and refrigerator to find out what we are low on. If I am going to a store that runs sales, I will also go through their flier and write down things that are a good deal that I would like to buy. Finally, my list contains all the ingredients necessary to carry out my meal plan for the week / month. If you’d like to read more about meal planning, you can check out this post:
2. Combine coupons with sales - I mentioned yesterday how great coupons are. Well, they are even better when you can combine those coupons with some great sales. I have been able to get things pretty cheap, or even free, at places like CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid. I have done really well even in our local grocery stores by combining coupons with their loss leaders. Target is a great place to look for household and beauty supplies, because they often have these products on clearance. In case you don’t know, usually Target has their clearance items at the back sides of the aisles. I’ve gotten hair dye, Charmin toilet paper, paper towels, makeup, shampoo and much more, dirt cheap by buying it on clearance and using a coupon.
3. Stockpiling - Some people think of stockpiling as hoarding. It isn’t that at all. Stockpiling works best when you buy the things you need in bulk when the price is low. When you find an awesome price on something (that will last a while) you buy as many as you can afford / have room for. My stockpile probably has enough food for two months or so. So, if for some reason we had no income for a while, we would still be able to eat. Or, if there was a snow storm like there was a few years back farther north of us, where they didn’t have power for a week, I know that we would have food that we could eat right out of the can if need be. I like to keep the products I use the most of, on hand all the time. For example, I always have several cans of tomato paste, diced tomatoes, tuna, peanut butter, jelly, canned fruits, etc. My freezer is mostly stocked with bread, frozen veggies, and meat (some of it I already cooked). The key to stockpiling is knowing what you have. Make an inventory sheet of what’s in there and post it near your stockpile. As you use things, cross off what you are using. Because I shop monthly I haven’t been keeping an inventory, though I would like to start. (put that one on the New Year’s resolution list also). Before we go, I just usually go around and look what we have and what we need. Now, this wouldn’t work well if I shopped weekly because it would be too time consuming.

So, there you have my top 6 list of grocery saving tips. If you can think of anymore, please leave me a comment.

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