Secrets to Saving More Money
Easy Ways To Save on Grocery Bills
I cannot stress enough on the importance of a saving account. In fact, the more money you save, the more you will be able to spend! You just have to be wise about this. I have written a few Hubs on how to save, specifically from your salary, so for this Hub, I will be providing you with tips on how to save from your grocery bills.
These tips will allow you to save a great deal the next time you do your grocery shopping. This extra 20% or more you will be saving can help a lot to boost especially your emergency saving account.
Based on findings Wednesday is allegedly a very good day to buy groceries. it's believed that this is the day when half of the retailers across 50% of the states in the U.S, begin their weekly sales. However, just to be sure, it's recommended that you check to see when the flyers and circulars are released in your community. Another recommendation is to shop in the evening, or a few hours prior to closing of the store --- This is believed to be the time when perishables are usually marked down for quick sales.
Also, grocery stores frequently slash price up to 50% just to encourage quick sales, if any of the departments such as the Produce, Bakery or Meat department is concerned about having too much left-overs at the end of the day.
Tips on How to Reduce Your Grocery Bills
1. Before You Make a Shopping List Do The Following:
- First check to see what items you have in store and what you don't have.
- Check what needs to be used up before replaced.
- Check to see what items the family is not consuming.
2.Having Done All the Above, You Can Then Make a Final List of All Items Needed.
3.Go Online and Do a Price Comparison of All Items Needed. You Can Compare Prices Across Several Different Stores Such as the Following:
- Walmart
- Value King
- Giant Eagle
- Target
- Save A Lot
- Bottom Dollar
- Family Dollar
You can also check prices of other low-priced stores in your neighborhood or city. Remember, the only way you can know whether you are getting a true sale price or not is by comparing flyers, circulars or online prices of different stores beforehand.
4. Before You Leave Your Home Do the Following:
- Check if the store you plan on shopping accept double coupons.
- know how much you want to spend and stick to your budget.
- Check the weekly circular for sales and discounts.
- Cut coupons and bring rewards cards.
- Map out your week's meals, and then make a list of the things you plan on buying.
- Always make sure you eat, because hungry shoppers have the tendency to spend more.
- Bring your own bags, because some stores charge for shopping bags, while some give special discounts for going green.
5. When You Shop Do the Following:
- Buy generic as they taste just the same, and cost much less.
- Buy non-perishable goods in bulk, like soaps, paper towels, etc.
- Skip the bottled water and invest in a filter for your tap water.
- Shop around to find the best price you want.
- Avoid prepared foods which cost twice the amount as making it yourself.
- Shop local produce markets as the fresh fruit and vegetables costs less than at the supermarkets.
6.When You Get Home Do the Following:
- Resist the urge to eat out -- eat the food you have already bought.
- Keep track of how fast or slowly certain items go -- you may be buying more than you actually need.
- Send in all your rebates, even if it's only a dollar.
- Carefully store all your food items so that they last longer.
Final words of caution -- Always try to go shopping on a day when you don't have to rush! When you rush, you ended up losing money -- money you could help to boost your saving account. For example, supermarkets usually aggressively mark down prices of certain items when they are close to their expiry dates. However, you need to pay attention to the expiry dates.
You don't want to pick up an excessive amount of these items that you aren't able to use up before their expiry dates. If you do this, what will happen, is that you will eventually ended up tossing out spoiled or expired items which will cause you to lose instead of saving money.
In general, you should always pay close attention to items with expiry dates when you shop. Make sure you will be able to consume all items as soon as possible or before the expiry dates!
I.McFarlane 8/24/12
