katautumn
Prodigal Daughter
- May 14, 2015
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I'm not QF, but I do live in a multi-generational house hold, so there's a lot of mouths to feed. My husband and I, my grandmother and my parents all pool our money together for groceries. When my dad lost his job, and we became a two-income household, we had to start being more conscientious about groceries, which most months averaged more than the rent payment on this house. We were averaging about $600/week, which is insane. Now we're averaging about $200/week. That includes feeding four dogs, two cats and my sister and brother-in-law three nights per week (they pitch in $30/week). How did we do it?
1. Don't be fooled by membership club warehouse stores. Yeah, I've looked into them and places like BJ's, Costco and Sam's Club have great deals, but bulk isn't always cost effective. For example, I can buy a 100ct pack of natural coffee filters at Publix for $1.09. A 1000ct pack at BJ's costs around $14. I'd come out cheaper buying 10 100ct packs at my Publix than buying the bulk pack at BJ's. Another thing - what of that is your family going to eat and how much will be wasted? That 10lb block of cheese may be a steal, but is your family going to eat that much cheese? Is eating that much cheese even healthy? Another thing is bulk buy snack foods. Here again, things that can be eliminated from the family diet become a huge waste of money. $5 for a twenty pound tub of Tootsie Rolls is a steal, but does your family need twenty pounds worth of Tootsie Rolls.
I have found if you feel compelled to join a membership warehouse the best is BJ's. The stores are a bit smaller and their big ticket items (like electronics) are not as low-priced as they are at Costco and Sam's Club; however, unlike the other two they accept manufacturer's coupons. Their membership cost is also cheaper per year.
2. Unless you have the fortitude of a super hero, Wal-Mart costs more than what you'll save. For starters, Wal-Mart rarely discounts their groceries and they do not double coupons. Second, how many of us can go to Wal-Mart for groceries and leave the store with just groceries? I know I don't have the willpower, so Wal-Mart, while prices on some things are lower, I can't leave without buying clothes, socks, a pair of shoes, toys for my son, unnecessary snacks, maybe a DVD from the $5 bin...you get the idea. This makes Wal-Mart a difficult place for me to save money.
3. Clip coupons, join rewards programs, shop the sales. This is where saving on groceries becomes time consuming. We try and coordinate our meals around store sales. Each week we get the sales circulars for our three major grocery stores - Kroger, Ingle's and Publix. We do have an Aldi, but realized we didn't much care for the quality of the products there and that the occasional name brand item being sold was more expensive than at the other local stores.
Buy the Sunday paper on Saturday night. Try and subscribe for home delivery or find the good folks selling the Sunday paper out of their van in parking lots. I've found many times grocery stores will jack the price up of the Sunday paper. Even worse? I've found entire coupon sections have been pilfered. Gather your sales circulars and look for items that match the coupons in the Sunday paper.
Once a month there will be a P&G Super Saver pull-out. This is a coupon gold mine. Here is where you'll find those awesome "Free Razor" coupons and the like. This is when you stock up on the expensive stuff you wouldn't normally buy. It's better to have ten free razors you don't need right away than to need a razor and end up paying $13 for it when you really don't have it in the budget. Red Plum coupons are inserted every other week. The SmartSource coupon circular is usually inserted every week. You should note that during the weekends in which stores are having massive blowout sales (like Black Friday, President's Day and Memorial Day weekend) coupons in the Sunday paper are pretty sparse, if you get any at all. But, this is also when lots of stores have 10 for $10 and BOGOF sales.
Use sales and coupons wisely. A .75 off coupon on something that costs $4.75 for a product you normally wouldn't purchase isn't a good deal. Only use coupons and sales to your advantage on items you normally purchase and you're going to use.
4. Eliminate wasteful items. It's no secret that snack foods and sodas are not only expensive these days, but they're unhealthy and make us fat. Drink water instead of teas, sodas or fruit juices. Don't buy potato chips. Bake cookies or cupcakes to pack in lunches rather than purchase packaged snack cakes. Use milk for baking and cereals only. Don't consume milk as a beverage.
5. Substitute whenever possible and invest in a pressure cooker. Seriously, having a pressure cooker is the greatest thing ever. I can soak dry beans over night and prepare them in twenty minutes or less. Dry beans cost me around $1/pound. A 15oz can of Publix Greenwise Beans cost me almost $2. Not only do dried beans cost less, they taste better and you eliminate a ton of waste. Cans take up more space in your trash can than you realize. Substitute frozen or fresh veggies for canned veggies. Frozen veggies can be steamed and retain their color, flavor and nutrients.
6. Cleaning and paper products are like throwing money in the garbage. Yes, we should be clean and sanitary. Saving money on groceries won't do you any good if your family is living at the doctor's office for one ailment after the other. With that said, cleaning supply companies capitalize on our fear of things being "unclean". Unless someone in your house is very ill, cloth hand towels are just fine for drying hands on and rags can be used to wipe down faucets and windows. You don't need disposable everything! Not only does it waste precious space in your trash cans, but it's like taking money and flushing it down the toilet.
The only paper products we use these days are toilet paper and napkins. We no longer use paper towels, which made a huge dent in our weekly grocery budget. We also make our own cleaners from alcohol, peroxide and vinegar.
ETA: I forgot one last thing-
7. Know how grocery stores function. If you understand how grocery stores operate, you can arm yourself against wasteful spending. For example, why do some stores make it impossible for you to cut through the middle of the store and, instead, force you to walk down an entire aisle to find something? Or why is the bakery usually located at the front entrance? Or why did my grocery store change the layout just when I started learning where everything was located? And why did they put canned condensed milk all the way over there with the peanut butter? And why aren't the granola bars with the breakfast cereals any more?
Here is the basic strategy of grocery stores:
a) Locate the bakery near the main entrance. The smell of baked goods triggers the shopper's brain to feel hungry, thus making them more inclined to impulse purchase.
b) Locate the more expensive products at eye level.
c) Change up the store layout from time to time. When a shopper grows accustomed to the layout, they aren't spending unnecessary lengths of time trying to locate items, thus making them spend less.
d) Every time an item goes on sale, several others have received a significant cost increase. Offering sales distracts the customer from these price hikes or they're too excited about their "steal" to bother complaining.
e) Have live, in-store demonstrations of a meal being prepared. Offer free samples, a recipe card and showcase the products used in a special case. Usually these meals cost an average of $10/per person, thus making them not so cost efficient.
1. Don't be fooled by membership club warehouse stores. Yeah, I've looked into them and places like BJ's, Costco and Sam's Club have great deals, but bulk isn't always cost effective. For example, I can buy a 100ct pack of natural coffee filters at Publix for $1.09. A 1000ct pack at BJ's costs around $14. I'd come out cheaper buying 10 100ct packs at my Publix than buying the bulk pack at BJ's. Another thing - what of that is your family going to eat and how much will be wasted? That 10lb block of cheese may be a steal, but is your family going to eat that much cheese? Is eating that much cheese even healthy? Another thing is bulk buy snack foods. Here again, things that can be eliminated from the family diet become a huge waste of money. $5 for a twenty pound tub of Tootsie Rolls is a steal, but does your family need twenty pounds worth of Tootsie Rolls.
I have found if you feel compelled to join a membership warehouse the best is BJ's. The stores are a bit smaller and their big ticket items (like electronics) are not as low-priced as they are at Costco and Sam's Club; however, unlike the other two they accept manufacturer's coupons. Their membership cost is also cheaper per year.
2. Unless you have the fortitude of a super hero, Wal-Mart costs more than what you'll save. For starters, Wal-Mart rarely discounts their groceries and they do not double coupons. Second, how many of us can go to Wal-Mart for groceries and leave the store with just groceries? I know I don't have the willpower, so Wal-Mart, while prices on some things are lower, I can't leave without buying clothes, socks, a pair of shoes, toys for my son, unnecessary snacks, maybe a DVD from the $5 bin...you get the idea. This makes Wal-Mart a difficult place for me to save money.
3. Clip coupons, join rewards programs, shop the sales. This is where saving on groceries becomes time consuming. We try and coordinate our meals around store sales. Each week we get the sales circulars for our three major grocery stores - Kroger, Ingle's and Publix. We do have an Aldi, but realized we didn't much care for the quality of the products there and that the occasional name brand item being sold was more expensive than at the other local stores.
Buy the Sunday paper on Saturday night. Try and subscribe for home delivery or find the good folks selling the Sunday paper out of their van in parking lots. I've found many times grocery stores will jack the price up of the Sunday paper. Even worse? I've found entire coupon sections have been pilfered. Gather your sales circulars and look for items that match the coupons in the Sunday paper.
Once a month there will be a P&G Super Saver pull-out. This is a coupon gold mine. Here is where you'll find those awesome "Free Razor" coupons and the like. This is when you stock up on the expensive stuff you wouldn't normally buy. It's better to have ten free razors you don't need right away than to need a razor and end up paying $13 for it when you really don't have it in the budget. Red Plum coupons are inserted every other week. The SmartSource coupon circular is usually inserted every week. You should note that during the weekends in which stores are having massive blowout sales (like Black Friday, President's Day and Memorial Day weekend) coupons in the Sunday paper are pretty sparse, if you get any at all. But, this is also when lots of stores have 10 for $10 and BOGOF sales.
Use sales and coupons wisely. A .75 off coupon on something that costs $4.75 for a product you normally wouldn't purchase isn't a good deal. Only use coupons and sales to your advantage on items you normally purchase and you're going to use.
4. Eliminate wasteful items. It's no secret that snack foods and sodas are not only expensive these days, but they're unhealthy and make us fat. Drink water instead of teas, sodas or fruit juices. Don't buy potato chips. Bake cookies or cupcakes to pack in lunches rather than purchase packaged snack cakes. Use milk for baking and cereals only. Don't consume milk as a beverage.
5. Substitute whenever possible and invest in a pressure cooker. Seriously, having a pressure cooker is the greatest thing ever. I can soak dry beans over night and prepare them in twenty minutes or less. Dry beans cost me around $1/pound. A 15oz can of Publix Greenwise Beans cost me almost $2. Not only do dried beans cost less, they taste better and you eliminate a ton of waste. Cans take up more space in your trash can than you realize. Substitute frozen or fresh veggies for canned veggies. Frozen veggies can be steamed and retain their color, flavor and nutrients.
6. Cleaning and paper products are like throwing money in the garbage. Yes, we should be clean and sanitary. Saving money on groceries won't do you any good if your family is living at the doctor's office for one ailment after the other. With that said, cleaning supply companies capitalize on our fear of things being "unclean". Unless someone in your house is very ill, cloth hand towels are just fine for drying hands on and rags can be used to wipe down faucets and windows. You don't need disposable everything! Not only does it waste precious space in your trash cans, but it's like taking money and flushing it down the toilet.
The only paper products we use these days are toilet paper and napkins. We no longer use paper towels, which made a huge dent in our weekly grocery budget. We also make our own cleaners from alcohol, peroxide and vinegar.
ETA: I forgot one last thing-
7. Know how grocery stores function. If you understand how grocery stores operate, you can arm yourself against wasteful spending. For example, why do some stores make it impossible for you to cut through the middle of the store and, instead, force you to walk down an entire aisle to find something? Or why is the bakery usually located at the front entrance? Or why did my grocery store change the layout just when I started learning where everything was located? And why did they put canned condensed milk all the way over there with the peanut butter? And why aren't the granola bars with the breakfast cereals any more?
Here is the basic strategy of grocery stores:
a) Locate the bakery near the main entrance. The smell of baked goods triggers the shopper's brain to feel hungry, thus making them more inclined to impulse purchase.
b) Locate the more expensive products at eye level.
c) Change up the store layout from time to time. When a shopper grows accustomed to the layout, they aren't spending unnecessary lengths of time trying to locate items, thus making them spend less.
d) Every time an item goes on sale, several others have received a significant cost increase. Offering sales distracts the customer from these price hikes or they're too excited about their "steal" to bother complaining.
e) Have live, in-store demonstrations of a meal being prepared. Offer free samples, a recipe card and showcase the products used in a special case. Usually these meals cost an average of $10/per person, thus making them not so cost efficient.
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