Personal Finance

Save On Your Grocery Bills

Here’s a great piece on how to save some money on your family’s weekly grocery bills.

With rising prices and supply issues — prompting food warehouse stores like Costco to ration rice purchases per customer — people need to do whatever they can to keep food costs down. This article follows a Conway woman (Horry County, SC) in her grocery shopping excursion. The bottom line for this mother of nine (yes, nine!) children? Seventy-two bucks and change.

And that’s twelve dollars more than she usually spends!

Some suggestions from the article and from my own personal experience:

• Never go without a list.
• Go one step beyond a list: prepare a menu plan and buy only what’s going to go on the table.
• Don’t get a full-sized cart if you need only a few items — get one of the hand carts.
• Don’t go shopping while you’re hungry!
• Be wary of bulk items. Some stores have raised their prices on bulk purchases. Make sure you check the unit price first, before making a decision.
• Here I differ with the experts: Don’t bother with coupons. Typically, they’re for higher priced items and you can get the same item for less by shopping the lower-cost brands or generic versions. I find they’re not worth the time it takes to clip them, and I can generally save more by shopping carefully. Your mileage may vary.
• Ignore the processed foods, which are almost always more expensive (and of questionable nutritional value to boot). Get potatoes, instead of pre-cut french fries. You definitely pay more for convenience.
• Don’t use the grocery store for non-grocery purchases. Get your toiletries (toothpaste, toilet paper, shampoo, etc.) at a deep-discount chain/pharmacy.

Check the article for the full list!

© 2008 SC Bankruptcy & Consumer Law Blog.