Some Shopping Strategies

I have just a few tips for saving the most on your grocery/household budget.

** First of all, forget loyalty. Shop several stores. I am lucky that within a 4 mile stretch on the same street as my daughter's school, where I have to drive every day, there are a Vons, Ralphs, Albertsons, 2 CVS, Walgreens, and even 2 Dollar stores. On the same intersection as her karate studio, where I go twice a week, there are a Vons, Trader Joes, CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid.   I am able to shop more than one store to fulfill my shopping list, and pick the best deals from each store every week, and I can go to 2 different CVS or Walgreens in a day to roll my Register Rewards or ECBs (more on those later) without wasting gas on special trips. Think about where you routinely drive, and make note of the stores along the route. Combine your trips to save time and fuel and maximize your savings.

** Secondly, keep a price book. You don't have to record the prices of every single thing you buy, but start with about 25 or so items that you routinely buy. For example, you may buy milk, cheese, bread, ground turkey, chicken breasts, lunchmeat, bananas and cereal nearly every trip. Those are the items you'll want to track. You can always add more later. When tracking prices, it's important to track the UNIT COST. That means if you paid $2.00 for 8 oz of cheese, your unit cost is .25/ounce. That way, when a 12 oz package is on sale, you can compare the cost per ounce and truly see if it is a better deal.  As with all of my tips, you can start small. Start with only 2 stores and 20-25 items so you won't feel overwhelmed. When you gain confidence and experience, you may want to add to your price book. here is a great link from Money Saving Mom for downloadable price book sheets. Simply print several and keep in a 3-ring binder.

Most stores cycle their sales every 3 months or so. Even if you don't visit the stores every week, look at the sales flyers that come in the mail each week and try to fill in your price book weekly. After about 12 weeks you should have a clear idea of what the lowest prices for your favorite items are.

** Third, read the sales flyers. The front page generally has the best deals of the week. If you did nothing else but shop the front page of the sales flyer, you would save. If you can combine those sale prices with coupons, you are really saving! I use a marker to scan the ads and circle the items I'm interested in that appear to be a good price. I then compare those circled items to what I have on hand and my coupons. I find 2 websites invaluable at stage: Grocery Smarts and Sunday Coupon Preview.  Grocery Smarts allows you to see the sale prices of several stores, along with the coupon matchups for them. You can even "shrink" the list to show only the best "stock-up" deals for the week. Sunday Coupon Preview lists all the coupons that will be in the Sunday coupon inserts. More on how I use those later.

** Know when the sales begin and end. Most grocery stores run their sales from Wednesday through Tuesday. Most other stores run their sales Sunday through Saturday. Rite-Aid begins their sales on Fridays. Most stores also have their sale flyers online, and many provide previews a few days before the sales begin. Check websites and sign up for email links to those sales flyer previews. Some that are available are Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons, CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, and Staples.

Next time: coupons, coupons, coupons