Money-saving tips: How to lower your grocery bill

Money-saving tips: How to lower your grocery bill
Being money conservative doesn't mean going without. In the last few months I've been looking into ways to reduce my every day bills like electric, water, phone and now grocery. These are all bills that each of us have and want to reduce in anyway possible. The money saving tips that have worked for me is making a list before shopping, coupons (both online and in the Sunday newspaper) and tracking how much you spend on particular items each week.

Making a list and dinner schedule before you go to the store will reduce the likelihood of overspending on frivolous items that you may not need or already have plenty of in your cabinets. If you shop every week, two weeks or even by the month you can do this, all it takes is a few extra minutes. These few extra minutes of preparation will save you money at the checkout stand. Depending on how often you go shopping, make your self a calendar. Fill the calendar out for lunch and dinner ideas. Once you organized your food schedule move over to your grocery list. Take inventory of what you already have in the cabinet. You don't want to purchase two more cans of tomato puree if you already have some on hand. Knowing what you have, and what you need to buy before entering the store is half the battle.

A money savers dream is coupons! The more you have for the items you already buy or want to try the better the savings in your grocery bill. Make yourself a note or tie a red string around your finger to help you remember to go to the store each Sunday. In addition to the coupons found in the Sunday paper, go online to coupon sites and print them off on your home computer. Coupons are like free money; why not take advantage of them? To get organized with your coupons get yourself a pocket divider and make labels for the types. Go through your divider each week to see if any of the coupons apply to your grocery list. Take all the coupons with you to the store in case you see a huge sale on a particular item that you have coupons for as well. Double the savings!

After you have made your list, traveled to the grocery store and put away all your items it is time to start the tracking phase. Jump on your computer and make up a spreadsheet. Label down the left side what items (in categories) that you bought. Then the next column makes for how much you spent. In the third column figure up the percentage of each item out of the total amount you spent. This will show you week to week where you spend the bulk of your money at the grocery store.

Example of spreadsheet setup: (Given that your total bill came to $184.00)
Amount Percentage Chicken $14.98 =14.98/184.00 is 8% of your total Eggs $ 3.48 =3.48/184.00 is 1% of your total

Overtime you will get in a habit of making your dinner lists, saving the coupons and have a stronger knowledge of what you spend and in what category. This will help you look for coupons that apply to your biggest portion of the grocery budget. Have fun shopping and saving!

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