Small Steps to Savings: Mastering the Grocery Store

 So it's been a while, but given that I have always viewed the Fall season as the most productive part of my year, what better way to return? I am going to start by saying that in this past few months, I have learned that there will be no quick fix to this gigantic financial hole I've dug myself because that's just not the way the world works. I am not going to win the lottery, someone is not going to give me $100k, I am not going to marry a billionaire, and I am certainly not going to get a magic wand, wave it in the general direction of my debt and Abra Cadabra it away. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was my pile of debt. 

I will tell you that I have been struggling a bit with completely changing my life style. If you haven't noticed yet, I like nice things and it isn't always easy to give those up. With that said, I found that when i tried to go cold turkey, it backfired majorly and I found myself knee deep in some online sample sales. Once I gently forgave myself for this indiscretion and analyzed why I did it in the first place, I found that I needed to try a different strategy- one that wouldn't cause me to punish myself if I slipped. So, after some deep thought and 3 pints of that gross low calorie ice cream, I realized that I had more research to do. 

We are in strange and uncharted territory when it comes to the available time that most of us have during the day with this pandemic going on. My first step was to look at how much free time I was wasting doing, you guessed it, NOTHING (or online shopping out of boredom). It was a lot - no need to go into how much because it is embarrassing. In normal times, I would fill this time with travel, friends, workout classes and happy hours, but given that I am pretty much stuck in my house, I chose to look into other alternatives and maybe even find ways to make a little money. In the next few days, I will tell you what I've found and how much I've made or saved from each one (and the TIME it took). 

I am going to start with basics. Things I need on the daily: Food and groceries. A normal trip to the store for us is around $200. This means that we aimlessly wander the store, grab anything that looks good, get all of the most expensive ingredients for the one meal we plan to make by hand for the week and go from there. We never understood how it added up so quickly. Lest I remind you that we are 2 33 year old adults (face in palm). Yesterday for us, though, was a totally new experience and most of the changes we made happened BEFORE we even left our house for the store. Here are the steps I recommend taking. 

1. Go on Monday or Tuesday. I would definitely avoid busier times at the grocery store, AKA the weekend, because it can cause you to feel rushed with more traffic in there. Also, I find that lines are much shorter and stock is WAY more plentiful early in the week during the day if your work schedule allows. 

2. Research your options. Which stores are around you? Kroger, Albertsons, Von's, WHOLE FOODS (Do you really need to shop there?), Food Lion, Trader Joe's, Costco (this is better if you have a family or really LOVE a few items)? For us, It is Costco, Von's and Trader Joe's. We have a Ralph's nearby, but with the exception of cheese, everything there is more expensive. 

3. Make a list and check it twice. How do you want to eat this week? Are there any meals you plan to make? Double the recipe and save some for lunches. In our house, we make a large batch of healthy, veggie filled gumbo and then focus on a couple of fun dinner recipes that use similar ingredients so that we don't waste any veggies or proteins on one dish. Regardless of what you get, though, PLEASE make a list and STICK TO IT. This is the number one thing that will keep you from adding more and more money to your cart (that you probably don't even need to survive). 

**TIP: Buy produce in season (you will save an average of $2/Lb and it will taste much better. Check ads for meat and seafood sales to stock up while prices are better. 

4. Download your grocery store app. If you like the sound of "Free money", then this is what you need to do ASAP. Not only can you shop the weekly Ads and add items to your list, but you can see prices and promotions for items that may already be on your list. This is why I recommend making the list first because if you are a deal seeker, you won't feel as tempted to add those 3 pints of gross low calorie ice cream :). There are also ways that you can redeem points for free items or even dollars off of your purchase. Yesterday, we had an automatic $7 taken off of our bill just for using the app and entering our phone number. 

5. Try manufacturer websites. I find that most of their coupons were already on the app, but in some cases, you can find some printable coupons to add to your bounty. 

5.5. Pro Tip: check out how much items are at each of your stores. For example, when we buy frozen chicken strips, berries, or spices from Trader Joes, they are about 30% cheaper than at Vons. No idea why, but that's another $15 bucks for us. 

6. GO TO THE STORE with your LIST. Please don't forget your list at home because you would have done all of this work for nothing. Yesterday's trip was our first trip using this method seriously and our total bill was $200 before savings. After we entered our phone number and watched the total go down, the total bill was only $130 for the entire week. That is $70 savings that took 15 minutes of effort. I am not by any means a coupon queen, but for an average working adult, I'd say that effort was minimal for the result. To put that into perspective, that pays for my car insurance this month or for a dinner out. And multiply that $70 by 4, you have $280 per month in your pocket. Keep it there. 

Let's add that to our monthly money saved so far - $280. So far so easy right? 

See you tomorrow :)