Staying on budget

January 8, 2012 at 9:19 am (Love)
Tags: coupon, local, money saving, raincheck, tips

Lately I have gotten a lot of emails of other parents asking about tips on lowering the grocery bill. I am defiantly not an expert on budgets but I am more than willing to share my tricks to lowering that bill. We have a family of 4 (2 GF and 3 DF) and 2 cats, I get about 200- 400 a month TOPS for groceries and personal care.

Here are a few of my tricks:

Shop the sales: There are two grocery stores on the little island i live on. So for me there are only 2 flyers to look through, if you have more stores I would check the ones close to you (saves the gas bill). each week I figure out what I need, and what is on sale. Sometimes the good sales are all at one store sometimes I have to make a stop at both, but if it means saving 50$ I’ll do it.

Watch sale trends: I have noticed most sales come around every 3-5 months. so if you see a great deal on toilet paper but you don’t need to buy it for a week or two, its worth buying. Lets be honest you’ll always need toilet paper! If that item on sale is juice, or pop.. then pass you don’t really need it.

Rainchecks: A lot of stores offer rainchecks if they are out of an item. This way you can go in anytime after the sale and get the sale price

Coupons: I dont use coupons a lot but they can be very useful, some stores offer double coupons. Which means if you have a 1.50$ coupon it becomes a 3$ coupon. Though some stores will not double a coupon if the item is on sale.

buy in bulk: If you see an item that is on a upper sale (50% off or more) buy it in bulk. For example buy a case of almond milk, some store give you an additional 10% off. I have saved 20$ on almond milk this way. Enough to last a month or two.

Make a list: Make a list of the sale items you need and the household items you need. this will cut down on non essentials.

Points: Some stores offer points for your purchases. These might seem like a pain but they really add up!

switch out some of your expensive items: For example gluten-free bread if very pricey! instead I buy frozen tortilla wraps when they are on sale for 2$. I use them instead of bread (peanut butter wraps, chicken wraps… ect) saving me 5$ on every package I buy.

Buy a roast instead: When roast beef goes on sale I buy a large one and cut it into steaks, stew meat.. ect. This can save you over 10-40$ every 2 week (depending on how much meat you eat)

Buy local produce: You would be surprised how much you can save at a local farm and the food tastes so much better (this goes for eggs too).

These are some of my tips, what are yours?