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These days, it is not as easy as it once was to shop as if you had all day and all the money in the world. In hard times like now, it is very important to find ways to economize. Maybe the government can’t do it but we must do it or it will cost us more than we want to pay out. We must learn to save money where we can so that there are times when we might need money for an extra or two would not be out of the realm of happening. Visions of chocolate covered cookies dance in my head while I am trying to stop and get the bottle of diet supplement pills I need. It is not that easy to shop but it must be done. You can cut out a lot of unnecessary items but food is not one of them. So, you must shop smartly. Stop, look and listen is not only for the railroad crossings.
Here are a few tips for shopping in smart ways. They are all things that have been around for years. Now you find that you have to adopt them much like we did some years ago:
1) Do not shop for food when you are hungry. Bad timing all the way. You will always put more in your cart than you really wanted in the first place. That one is deadly to a budget.
2) If possible, do not bring the kids. Their wants will work your bill up much higher than you need.
3) At home, make a list of what you want to and need to buy. Build in a bit of room for extras spotted at the store. Check the sales and loss leaders for the store.
4) Do not buy something on sale simply because you see it on sale. If you don’t usually use it or plan to use it some time soon, don’t bother with it. It is not saving you money if you buy something you do not need.
5) Buy your meat on sale when possible. Shop for the best prices and get as much as you are able on sale.
6) Plan meals and then buy for those meals.
7) Use the generic store brands when possible. Now I know that some things are not the same as the brand names. However, I have found that most of the generic or store brands are exactly or comparable to the name brand items. These cost sometimes half the price of the name brand item. You are saving up to half or sometimes more by using the store brand.
8 ) Stock up on clearance and sale items. Do not buy it just because it’s there. Find things you really need and buy in bulk. If the individual price is higher than the case price, buy the case. But do not buy a case if you will only use two. You do not save money by having way more than you need. If sometime in the near future, you will use it, buy by the case.
9) When possible, buy fresh veggies and freeze them. Then, during a time when they are not available or are much higher priced, you have yours available to you at a lower cost.
Above all, there is an art to saving money but it’s relatively easy to learn. You stop buying the high priced items and start buying only what you need. Stock up. It might take a little effort to learn it but this is valuable to you and your family. And for those who do coupons, they save enormous amounts of money that way. Some people who do this much more than I do, find that they can pay for an entire load of groceries for pennies. I saw someone who did this coupon savings have a bill of over $400 and pay out actual money of less than $50. It can be done. These days, it’s easier than ever with online shopping, coupon websites that allow you to print out the coupons which you then take to the store to redeem.
You can save money shopping but it takes work. If you want to save, you will. Happy Shopping!
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2 Comments
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Excellent advice! I definitely second the first tip, not going shopping when hungry.
I always look at the sale flyers, and plan my meals around whatever is on sale that week. Also, even though it’s just the two of us here, I still buy the larger *family packs* of meats, which are always cheaper per pound. I’ve actually known single people who complained that this is *discrimination* against singles and childless couples, but this is hogwash. Just break them down into smaller serving sizes, and freeze whatever is not used for the first meal. How difficult is that?
We all gotta do what we gotta do to save money and still eat well!
Absolutely! Good advice! And thank you for adding it. We all need all the help we can get!
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