A great way to shave off more than a few bucks every week to add up to huge savings over the course of the month is to avoid going out to eat. Sure, it’s easy, food is typically good, and they clean up after you, but the problem is that it costs so much more than it would if you went and did the grocery shopping yourself. If you can buy and prepare breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks at home, you will see the savings add up immediately, and not only that, if you use a few tips at the grocery store you will save even more.
Don’t Forget the Coffee
Sure, a cup of coffee from the drive-thru in the morning is $2-3 on the way to work in the morning, but it’s probably not just that one day you’re stopping. If you go every day before week that’s over $50 a month just in coffee, not to mention if you pick up breakfast, or even stop on the way home as well, you could be looking at $100 a month for something that you can just buy a programmable coffee pat for under $30 and have it brewed in the morning in time pour in your travel mug as you head out the door.
Make a Shopping List
You always hear of those that go into a store for milk and eggs and come out spending $100, or what I’ve done before is even forget the specific item that I went in there for in the first place. If you can make a list of everything you need around the house, you will have a more successful, and less expensive shopping trip, especially if you can sort the list by area of the store so that you won’t have to go searching and have temptation to fill the cart up.
Never Leave on an Empty Stomach
If you are hungry when you leave the house you are just asking for trouble when it comes to spending money at the grocery store. When you are hungry, everything sounds good, so you will want to load up the cart on cravings, and you can throw your budget out the window. Sure, you may buy the items on your list but you will come home with plenty of unnecessary items that will hurt your wallet and most likely your waistline, because healthy items don’t sound good when you’re hungry.
Shopper’s Reward Card is Key
Now I realize that items may be overpriced otherwise, and when you put in your shopper’s reward card it brings it down on “sale”, but hey, at least it’s cheaper. Not only that, but you can also take advantage of the various “10 for $10” promos that are in-store that those without could not participate in. In addition, you can also load digital coupons to your card on the grocery store’s website as well, not to mention that every time you use your rewards card you can accumulate fuel points to save at the pump.
Great tips! I’m guilty of shopping on an empty stomach – big mistake! I also find it helpful to have a good sense of what your staple foods are and buying them in bulk when they are on sale. While this is a big expense upfront it will pay off in the long run. I was able to cut my food expenses in half using this method. However, it does take a lot of work and foresight.