A Little Advice Before Getting Started

The first thing you have to get over is your store loyalty. Don't get me wrong, I love my local Vons, and I do much of my grocery shopping there, but if Ralphs has a better sale this week I'm going there. Some weeks I may even go to two stores, and  buy the best deals from each one. Other weeks I never set foot in a grocery store. I might get free eggs or oatmeal for .50 at a drugstore! Stocking up at a warehouse store? Not so fast...I can usually beat their prices with a sale and coupons. It's important to compare UNIT prices when shopping at warehouses. I haven't quit my Costco membership yet, but I buy a lot less there than I did last year.

Get club cards for everywhere: CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons. Don't make a special trip: you can apply online for them, or get one the next time you shop. You'll see the advantage to those little cards soon.


Go slow! Don't try to hit every deal you see at once! The amount you spend is much more important than the amount you save! Prioritize your spending. Stick to your budget.You'll burn yourself out if you try to shop every store every week. Look carefully at the ads and blog posts and decide what you really want, and watch your budget. That being said, stocking up when things are cheap is a great idea. If you can buy 6 tubes of toothpaste for .25, stock up. Otherwise, you are going to run out of toothpaste and have to pay $3.50 for one tube! If you already have 6 tubes of toothpaste, but you're almost out of shampoo, you better focus on shampoo deals and skip the great sale on toothpaste. Got it?

Speaking of stocking up, do you have a shelf in a closet or cupboard you can empty and use? When you buy several bottles of shampoo or lotion at a time you need somewhere to keep it. It's also nice to have a few extras to be able to donate without breaking your budget. Do you have a freezer? That may be something you will want to set aside some savings for. I got a small chest freezer this year for around $150 and I have no trouble keeping it full. When whole chickens go on sale for .67/lb, where are you going to put 5 chickens?  If you don't have a freezer, don't worry. Just put it on your "to save for" list.