Being Centsible-- Grocery shopping Part 1

so how do it do it? How do I feed my family for such a small amount of money? I use many different methods to save money. And it changes all the time. I am constantly researching new ways to save! There is always a way to cut out a few pennies. And the pennies add up!



This is a brief review of my grocery shopping technique. It changes often... just little tweaks here and there to better fit my family and our needs and budget. I am not saying this is what will work for you. But I do hope that you can find a tip or two in here to help you out. I get so many questions and requests for this, that I thought I would do it again.



I budget $75 a week for all of our groceries, toiletries, paper goods, etc. This even covers diapers. I will admit that every once in a while, I go over. When I find diapers at a really good deal, I will buy so many diapers that it will put me over my budget. But the majority of the time I am under. Sometimes, way under budget. $35-$50/ week is pretty common.



I start out clipping coupons. I have a huge shoe box type holder for all my coupons with about 25 different categories. I clip and sort.



I then go to the coupon mom website. This is a free site that helps your use your coupons and sales at stores in your area together. That is the key. You want to utilize your coupons with sales. That will help you optimize the value and price you pay. And help you get many items for free!! This site is by no means always correct. But since it is free, you can't really complain. I usually find 1-2 mistakes per week per store. I find way more ways to save than mistakes, so it is well worth it!



Now it gets a little tricky. While there may be a sale at store X on your brand of detergent, there may be an even better sale at store Y. So, I research several stores and try to find the best deals. I usually shop at Publix, Kroger, Wal-Greens, CVS, Wal-Mart, Target, farmer's market and Aldi on any given week. With gas prices the way they are, you really need to weigh the cost/ benefit/ savings ratios here. If you are driving 5 extra miles to save $0.50 on olive oil-- it might not be worth it. I am very lucky that I have a Kroger and Publix within .3 miles of me. the farmer's market is a bit far, so I usually only go there every 1-2 weeks. CVS and Wal-greens are both also pretty close. Aldi is a bit far, but it is in an area that we are frequently in to run errands on weekends. So, it usually isn't too big a deal to stop by there. Target and Wal-Mart are usually special planned trips. May 1-3 times per month.



We then take my list and hit the stores. We always try to hit Publix on Sunday or Monday because they have a $0.01 cent mystery item with any $10 purchase. And it's usually a pretty good item-- bleach, paper towels, hot dogs, etc. I will hit the other stores on my list during the week.



I don't want to overload anyone, so I will post more tips later. But this is a great place to start. It is pretty much the backbone of my system.



The economy is so bad right now, that I want this to be a regular feature on the new blog. I'm not good at too many things, but I am pretty good at saving money. I hope that I can help you pinch without pain!