To this day I can still remember my first big grocery bill after we were married. It was about $200 and I cried on the way home. I didn’t get anything fancy-just the basics. We were poor newlywed students and food expenses were a necessary evil that I couldn’t get around.
Buying groceries was my responsibility in the marriage and that I was determined to live within our meager budget.
I no longer spend hours finding, printing, cutting and organizing coupons but there are some valuable shopping principles I learned from these studies that I will never change. My favorite one is buying more to save more.
The simple idea behind the strategy is to buy more of something when it’s on sale so that you don’t have to pay full price for it later if you need it. Applying this principle will appear different in everyone’s home. Take some time to think about the following questions to have the ability to maximize your savings.
*How much room do you have for food storage?
This might seem like an obvious issue but this has landed me in danger more than once when it comes to frozen foods. I have become much more organized (and creative!) With my freezer space from necessity. Even though this is obviously not the answer for everybody, we invested in a freezer for a consequence of one of the best sales I’ve ever seen on cheese and meat. I convinced my husband that after a few additional sales like that one we would pay for the freezer with the sum of money we saved.
*How much of the item will we use?
No matter how great of a sale it’s, it’s never a good deal if the food goes to waste. Be sure to don’t buy more than you can use. Think about the expiration date along with your own schedule and meal rotations. I always try to make meals at which the bulk of my ingredients are things I already have saved so that nothing is forgotten or wasted, but that is a whole other principle. Austin Wildlife Removal
This is something that you will get better at knowing over time. The worst feeling is when you stock up on a favorite item since it’s on a great sale, only to learn the next week the identical item is being sold at a significantly better price at a nearby shop. You will become familiar with prices in your area and begin to know what’s a fantastic price for unique items. Also, don’t be afraid to ask people! I’ve talked to my butcher in my grocery store several times about prices. I don’t know of a grocery store where they pay their workers commissions on sales so they will honestly tell you if you need to wait for a better sale or when an impending discount can be expected. Be kind and friendly to employees- they have a wealth of knowledge!
*How often is it on sale?
This question is one of my favorites because it is such a game changer. Sales go in rotation. Not only can you expect certain things to be discounted around certain times, you can organize your food storage ! By way of instance, my supermarket has meat earnings over a two week rotation. This means that I only need to buy enough chicken to last my family two weeks until I know it is going to be on sale again. In addition, it gives me a reason to never have to get chicken at its whole price in between those selling prices since I can pull it out of my freezer.
Another sale rotation that’s extremely helpful to be aware of and watch for are seasonal earnings. Oftentimes these items don’t expire for over a year so if you’ve got the space, buy enough to last your family that long.
Once your stock piles reach a successful rotation you’ll find that you’re shopping completely differently. It is not uncommon for me to come home from the store with 25 boxes of cereal, 10 bags of cheese and only a handful of other basics like milk, bread and bananas. I don’t need to buy every ingredient on my list for meals that week because I have already stocked up on them when they were on sale. Because of this, I can make the identical tasty meals at a far lower price for my loved ones. Buying more to save cash is all about timing your larger purchases using their selling prices and ironically you will soon discover that purchasing more can indeed help you spend less.