One of the best ways to get control of the household finances and look to saving some real extra money in order to use on paying down debt and saving for the future is to reduce expenses. Sure, we can budget for the food bill, but if you are budgeting for going out to eat, you will likely not be working with a successful one. If you can reduce going out to eat and prepare your meals at home, you can save a significant amount by going grocery shopping instead.
Shop During the Week
Going shopping after work is busy in itself, but you know if you try to go during the day on Saturday or Sunday, you will be lucky if you can get out of there without knocking a few carts out of the way. Not only to avoid crowds if you can go mid-week, after dinner, you can also save money off your grocery bill as well. Why put big sales on the weekend when the grocery store will be packed anyways, so during the week is when you can not only find items on sale, but more of the “10 for $10” type promo sales.
Load the Digital Coupons
The days of clipping coupons is not entirely over yet, but as newspaper subscriptions continue to decline, you find less and less that spend their Sunday’s building up their coupon collection. These days, you can load digital coupons to your shopper’s reward card by going to the grocery store’s website, and then when in punch in your phone number at the register you will see the savings start to come off. It may be tough remembering which items you loaded a coupon for, so might be a good idea to print off a list.
Stick to a List
Speaking of lists, there have been plenty of times that I have either gone to the grocery store for a specific item and got distracted with others that I didn’t even get the item I intended to. On the other hand, I’ve also gone in for an item or two and came out with a cart full of groceries that I didn’t intend on buying. If you can make a shopping list when you go of the necessary items that you need, if you can keep your head down and stick to the list, you can avoid impulse purchases, especially if you lump the items on the list according to spot in the store, you won’t have to go searching and risk breaking your concentration on buying what looks good.
Never Go on an Empty Stomach
When you are hungry at the grocery store everything looks good. Without a shopping list and an empty stomach, it can be a recipe for financial disaster as you go up and down each aisle. If you are able to fill up at home before you go shopping, you can have a clear head and focus on the task at hand, without being distracted by impulse purchases that are probably not good for you anyways.