Saving on Your Grocery Bill

The average American family spends about $300 a month on groceries and about $200 per month eating out. (http://www.visualeconomics.com/how-the-average-us-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/)  I think the eating out average is a little high...however unless we have a budget we are trying to stick to, the grocery bill and restaurant bill can get way out of hand.  I've had so much fun figuring out how to get great savings at the store.  Today, I shopped the sales at Randalls, used coupons and saved 80%.  I bought 4 boxes of General Mills brand cereal, 1 package of Pampers diapers, 1 box of Nature Valley Granola bars and 2 Banquet entrees.  Altogether I spent $5.65!  The following are a few tips for achieving amazing store savings!
 
Do not buy on a whim.  Base your shopping list and menus on sales.  Plan your menus based on the sales for the week.  Make a list of what you need and stick to it while you shop.  Buying in the moment can  wreak havoc on a budget.  Kraft cheese is on sale this week at Kroger for $1.88.  This is an item I might buy but if I have a coupon as well the deal is a bit sweeter.

Use coupons for your favorite brands.  With list in hand, check to see if you have any coupons for any of the items.
Coupons can be found in your local paper, in the store next to a display, catalinas (coupons that print with your receipt) and you can print them from manufacturer's websites or www.coupons.com.  Many stores offer loyalty cards and on their websites have coupons available to be loaded onto those cards. Other loadable sites include www.shortcuts.com, www.cellfire.com, www.pgesaver.com and www.upromise.com.  There are many coupons for Kraft cheese.  One is $1 off when you buy 2.  This makes the cheese $1.38 per package which is a much better deal.

Check for additional savings.  Additional savings would be rebates or some catalinas.  For example, Kraft put out a catalina at Kroger for their cheese.  Buy 5 and get $5 off your next order.  This makes the cheese price too good to pass up.  I can now buy 5 bags of cheese  for $1.90!  I would have paid $9.40 for the cheese if I had just gone with the sale.  I will save $7.50 using all of these steps.

Stock up on rock bottom priced items.  Once you find an item that you use frequently at a rock bottom price (such as the cheese), stock up!  Otherwise you will be back in the store in 2 weeks buying more at the regular price.  You can buy 10 bags of cheese and freeze what you cannot use right away.  Cheese that has been frozen looks and tastes just the same as cheese that has not been frozen.  

Put the money you've saved to better use.   When you spend carefully, the money you save can be put into savings, used for vacation, renovation or put towards any other of the million things on your list.  This is what makes saving so much fun!