Boost Your Grocery Budget

Everyone is looking for ways to save money at the grocery store.  This is because they are paying at $4.00 a gallon for gasoline and because everything you need has gone up in price.  “More for less” is the catchphrase of 2011.

But there are ways to cut through all of this price gouging and save money.  You just need a good imagination, a reliable pair of scissors, pen and paper, and the ability to perform basic math:

·         Shop the Sales.

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but people who are in a hurry rarely have time to peruse the newspaper and troll the internet looking for deals.  One suggestion is to stay in one day at lunch time and look on the internet for bargains.  Wednesday is usually when the food ads get posted in the newspaper.  Give it a try.

You don’t have to chase around from sale to sale.  But while you are shopping at the market, if you see an item on sale, buy more than one.   Then when you would ordinarily need this item in the future, you won’t have to purchase it – thus, saving money 1:  on the sale price, and 2:  by purchasing more than one of them.  You’d be amazed at how quickly this type of savings adds up and affects your grocery bill.

·         Check the Unit Price.

The food retailers want to pull one over on you.  They will put one large box of Rice Crispies next to a smaller box.  Most people don’t squint their eyes and read the unit price – which, by the way, is always in near-microscopic print.  But bring along your reading glasses when you head out to the supermarket because they will help you to get a super-good deal. 

Look at the unit price on both items because this is the real price.  You will find that the small box is 10 cents per unit, and the large box is 16.  How can this be?  The market uses deceptive strategies such as this one to get you to pay more.  More for less, more for less.