A Trip to the Grocery Store

I like to save money.  Growing up, my Mom had a book called How to Pinch a Penny 'til it Screams!  I took it to heart.  

I am not a shopper by nature, but I thoroughly enjoy going to the grocery store.  It's a game to me- how much money can I save?  I've really worked on this process over the last few months and wanted to share what I've found. 

Step 1: Create a list of best prices.  I went a little overboard in my quest to complete this step, but you can do a much more scaled back approach, too.  I made a list of all the things we buy regularly, from flour to deodorant, then went to the three main stores around here to check out and compare their prices.  Then I made a spreadsheet with my findings!  

 Above is my list by item.  I can look up coffee and see that Folgers 380 cups is $7.99 at the Commissary.  This is what I use normally.  Below is the complete list.  It lists the price of Folgers coffee at all three stores.  (The yellow highlighting tells me which is the best price.)

Step 2: I create my list based on my menu (more on that later) for the week. 

Step 3: On my spreadsheet, I've listed the price for those staple items such as milk, yogurt, frozen fruit for smoothies and so on.  Before I even get to the store, I know how much I'm going to spend for all the dairy products. 

Step 4: I take my spreadsheet, list and calculator to the store.  I use a graphing calculator and store the tax rate or service charge as 'X'.  Then I enter the total for the dairy products and multiply it by 'X'. 

Step 5: After each item that I pick up, I enter the price (times 'X') and add it to the previous total.  This way I know exactly what my total is at any given moment. 

Step 6: AFTER I've gotten everything I need, I see how much I have left.  I budget $60 a week (not counting meat) and load up the buggy with fresh fruits and veggies.  If, after hitting the produce section (and anticipating the dairy/frozen section), I still have money left, then I hit the middle aisles in search of sales.  If an item is on sale or a coupon brings an item to a "buy price" (according to my spreadsheet!) then I buy it in bulk- whether I need it or not.  At any given moment I may have 10 bottles of shampoo and 50 rolls of toilet paper in the house!

My grocery shopping necessities: my coupons, my pen to cross items of my list, my calculator, my list, my spreadsheets (under the list) and my clipboard to hold it all together and hold the coupons, too!!

It's a science, really...  :) 

Happy shopping!!!