Saving More on Groceries

I have lived frugally all of my adult life, some 20+ years. I've always used coupons, bought generic when generic wasn't as good a quality as it is today, and shopped the clearance racks. With today's grocery prices rising and income either keeping steady or decreasing, it's getting harder and harder to keep my grocery budget in line. In fact, that part of my budget is usually where I fail the most, but I am slowly finding ways to help keep food costs at least a little more manageable.

1. Saying *No.* DD likes to go to the grocery store with me. Frankly, I can save easily a minimum of $20 when going by myself versus taking one or both kids with me, but I like to have her come for a couple reasons. First, it's good training for her, and second, we have some awesome conversations while out and about! However....she is very good at seeing snack foods that she wants me to buy. We haven't started the teen grocery budget yet, but I've started to enforce a rule that I have had since the twins were very young. They are each allowed one request or treat, something that is not on my list but that they really want, and only one. For a while, I was slacking off on this and letting them have 3 or 4 different treats. Now, if DD picks something, I warn her that this is her treat and that she can't get something else later at a different store. Even going through one store, she will ask if she can get additional items, and I will just ask, "Do you want X or do you want to go put Y back?" She is always free to purchase items with her own allowance, but more often than not, she just sticks to the one treat. I have control back of my budget, and both kids feel like they are getting something I wouldn't otherwise buy if I went alone.

2. It is so frustrating to buy things at the store that in my mind are for solely for school lunches, only to turn around 1 or 2 days later, and that food item be gone. Not that DS is a growing boy or anything! ;-) It finally dawned on me to start setting aside snacks and lunch items in a separate place not easily accessible to the kids to see if that made a difference, and by golly, it does! I now now keep these items in my room in a bag in my room, where I can grab them in the mornings on my way to the kitchen. They are handy for me but a little more out of the way for the kids. Lunch items are now lasting longer, and snacks can be moved to the pantry as needed. The kids have more variety in their lunches, and I'm no longer racking my brain the last 2-3 days before a paycheck arrives, wondering what I'm going to put in their lunches.

3. Take advantage of the database at http://www.hotcouponworld.com/. I follow several blogs that do a wonderful job of matching up weekly sales with coupons, and that alone has saved me a lot of money. But occasionally we all have things that we need to get that aren't on sale. So after checking out the blogs, I head over to the coupon database at Hot Coupon World. It's very easy to search for a specific item, and many times, I'll find what I'm looking for. I'm putting in maybe 5 minutes extra in my grocery shopping preparation time, but it is well worth the savings.