Cooking up Big Savings

www.CoookingUpBigSavings.com Grocery List Exercise

Your grocery list exercise begins with having your list creation tools in hand. A pen and paper is a quick and simple option. Fancier options include stationary made specifically for grocery lists or a technologically advanced cell phone program or PDA, which can create a list. Let’s engage in some bargain hunting. Locate a weekly local grocery store circular and any coupon inserts. If you don’t have one close by, keep reading. Many large supermarket chains create printed publications that are mailed to homes or our found at the store and in a local Sunday newspaper. If necessary, the modest newspaper investment will more than pay for itself and then some if utilized to its potential. Many people practice paper minimization techniques and prefer paperless methods. As an alternative to printed grocery store circulars and coupon books, use the internet. Your main corporate giant grocery store has a website and so does your organic market. Your pharmacy has one too

In order to find internet bargains, follow these steps:

1) Get online and find the grocery store’s website home page, which might require a search engine if it is not obvious, like www.thenameofthestore.com.

2) Look on the home page for sales, bargains, store circular, or other terms that indicate current offers. If the home page is void of offers, you may look for the store locater, which will request your zip code. Your local store may have a webpage with its own specials.

3) Print out the coupons and write down the relevant specials. With your pride shelved, sniff around the circulars, both tangible and virtual, and hunt for bargains for your standard stock household supplies and items needed for your weekly menu. An ideal situation exists when sale priced items are in alignment with your weekly menu. Look specifically for:

• Buy one, get one free (must buy two)
• Two for $ (you can buy just one item at ½ price)
• Sale (normal price reduced)
• On Sale and you have a coupon for two levels of savings!

Write down items in groups that coincide with store aisles to save you a little time wandering around the store. Highlight the shopping list with the sale and coupon items to ensure that you acquire them at discount, which you confirm at the register.

While shopping and navigating the aisles, be sure to look for these things:

• Products with built-in coupons that you peel off at checkout.
• Products will built-in coupons for other products you want or require.
• Easy to spot “end of the aisle” specials.
• Store-brand products instead of brand-name products, which are often identical other than the packaging.

A modest effort will immediately produce weekly savings of 10% to 25% of the total grocery bill. A mere $100 weekly grocery bill translates to $10 to $25 back in your pocket. Many families spend much more than this. A $200 weekly grocery bill can but slashed to save a family $20 to $50 per week.

If you are a frequent flyer or points-junkie, using a credit card to pay for groceries can be a valuable strategy for those who have demonstrated a solid history of financial discipline. Many credit cards offer, points, rewards, or cash back. If you are strict and can pay the charges every month, you can rack up the incentives very fast. In addition it also provides a statement with built in tracking of your dollars spent of food. Remember this strategy is reserved for extremely disciplined shoppers only.