It seems that everyone is pinching pennies these days. Prices for everything are rising faster than our wages, so it's not always easy to make everything fit into the budget. If you find that you're living with just enough and want a little more wiggle room, try cutting down your grocery budget by 10 percent. We'll show you how to eat just as well with less money.
1. Flyer, flyer, flyer. Check online for your store's flyer before you shop and use it to craft your list for the week. If something is on sale for 50 percent off or more - and it's an item you buy multiple times a month - stock up! Your bill may look bigger today, but the savings will even out throughout the month.
2. Listen to upbeat music while you shop. It'll inspire you to move more quickly and buy fewer things that you don't need that seem appealing while meandering through the aisles.
3. Keep the conversation going. Talk to your deli man and butcher, the fishmonger and the bakery attendant. These areas tend to sell similar items for cheaper. Ask to have a block of your favorite cheese sliced as it'll be cheaper than buying the packaged version available in another spot. Same goes for cuts of raw meat and deli meat as well as fish. Plus, you'll get to know the people who work at your store, which is always a good experience.
4. Keep a log of your most frequently purchased items and how much you usually pay. Price hikes are real and they often happen right before an item goes on "sale" back down to the normal price.
5. Shop with a calculator in hand - and not the one on your phone. You may be distracted by a text or a phone call, so keep an actual calculator in hand and punch in prices as items go into your cart. It'll help you stick to your newly-reduced budget.
6. Shop the perimeter of the store, where the dairy, produce and meat live. This is not only a way to avoid loading up on processed foods stored in the aisles, but you'll also save money.
7. Shop in season. Don't buy pears if it's not the right time. You don't need to be a farmer to know when something isn't in season - if you do the math and you'll be paying more than a dollar per piece of fruit, you're getting ripped off and the fruit won't even taste very good.
8. When in the aisles, look high and low. The most expensive products are kept at eye level on purpose. Get around the grocery store's sneaky ways.
9. Don't fill your cart. Carts are getting bigger to make you buy more.
10. Don't buy prepared or individually-packed food. You don't need to pay for extra packaging.
You'll be amazed at how much you save! Do a normal grocery run and keep the receipt and, next week, shop with our tips in mind and compare for yourself! You'll be able to more comfortably take care of the bills you have to pay when you're not squandering money at the grocery store.
