While spending money on food is a necessity, after all, you need to eat, but it can be one category where it’s easy to overspend.  First, by taking a look at last month’s debit or credit card statement you can add up all of the charges that are related to food, whether that’s at home or going out, and have an idea of what you’re spending.  That way you can start to look to make cuts in order to watch your savings add up each month and can be put towards better use such as building an emergency fund, paying off debt, and saving for retirement.

Going Out to Eat

This is where you will notice an immediate impact that probably will end up saving you hundreds of dollars every month.  By avoiding stopping for coffee and breakfast in the morning, grabbing lunch out or at the cafeteria at work, or grabbing carryout for dinner on your way home, adds up quickly.  By reducing, going out on special occasions, and really make the effort to go grocery shopping and prepare meals at home, is where you will really notice the extra money left in your bank account every month.

Making Impulse Purchases

While making the move from eating out to grocery shopping is an important step, that doesn’t mean you can’t overspend at the grocery store too.  By making a list at home for all items that you need to fill your fridge and pantry with the necessities to prep meals for the week, you can avoid not only forgetting items, but filling the cart with items you don’t need.  Also, be sure to eat a full meal at home before you leave, as you will thank yourself by not going to the store hungry and filling up the cart with whatever looks good at the time.

Ignoring Deals

Just because the days of clipping coupons out of the newspaper may be dying, that doesn’t mean that deals are over with.  Actually, you can load digital coupons to your shopper’s reward card so that way the discounts will come off at the register, provided you remember to get those items.  Also, you may find that not only will there be less foot traffic mid-week after dinnertime, you can also find sales that you may not see during the weekend when the stores are always packed and there is less need for extra incentive to bring customers in.

Missing Out on Free Money

By making for grocery purchases with your rewards credit card can actually earn you free money that you could be missing out on previously.  Even if you stick to the items that you were going to buy anyways, not to mention across your entire finances, you can earn points or even cashback that could add up to hundreds of dollars per year that you were otherwise missing out on.  Don’t forget to use your store shopper’s rewards card as well to earn fuel points which can ease the financial burden at the gas pump as well.