Saving on Groceries $ Weekly Money Check-In $

Re: Saving on Groceries $ Weekly Money Check-In $

• momofcatan member

  October 2014 edited October 2014

  Part 1- I have been unmotivated and have not sent out any resumes recently. I really need to do this because no matter how much I try to save money, we really need more money coming in. I have been learning more about investing and plan on moving our retirement funds into index funds which will have a lower commission than the mutual funds our banker sold us. I'm very happy I'm starting to understand more about investing.
  
  Part 2 - I feel like I do a lot to save money on groceries but still spend so much.
  

  • For me keeping track is key. I make my list every week in a little notebook of what's on sale. After doing this for a year I've become a lot better at knowing what's a good price for the things we buy regularly.
    
  • Price matching! I lost any hesitation or embarrassment about price matching. I do 95% of my shopping at stores that price match (No Frills and Wal-Mart). I look through all my flyers and keep a list of what is on sale where so I can pull out the correct flyers when checking out. It is by far the easiest way to save lots of money on groceries.
    
  • Flipp - not sure if its available in the US but its a smartphone/tablet app that has all the store flyers. You can search for an item and it will pull up all the flyers that have the item
  • Coupons - I clip coupons for things that I will use, but always try to match them up with a sale price if possible
    
  • "Coupon/cashback" apps- I currently have 6 of these installed on my iPad. Checkout51 and Zweet (coming soon to US) are my favorites. They are the best because you can use a regular coupon in store and get cash back on top of that using apps. Zweet often has at least 1 or 2 produce items listed which is great.
  • I don't meal plan which does lead to multiple grocery trips every week, but I'm good at only buying what I need.
    

  
  

  
  

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• momofcatan member

  October 2014

  @subliminalrabbit That sad face is so pathetic. As long as you can afford the flights it is just a minor set back and hopefully you can be back on track soon.
  
  I eat small meals and snack all day. I'm not sure how what affects my grocery spending. I try to stock up on the snacks I like with the best sales and use coupons for the bulk store.
  
  

  
  

  
  

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• momofcatan member

  October 2014 edited October 2014

  @steamboat123 there is Vangaurd in Canada. I will need to research if it is as good as in the US. Right now, I'm looking at a fund with TD so I get to stay in my comfort zone since I do all my banking there. The MER is only 0.33%.
  

  
  

  
  

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• Lizzybizzy80 member

  October 2014

  Part 1: my 90,000 mile check up for my Prius was $450. That was more than I planned. Thankfully DH's former boss sent him a nice letter and an extra paycheck.
  
  Part 2: I plan meals around weekly sales and clip coupons. We hit up Aldi for their weekly deals but can't really use coupons there. I buy some things in bulk and put in smaller portions for the deep freezer.
  
  I use the Tom Thumb/Safeway app for more deals and get some things for free or they pay me. I have a spreadsheet with prices at different stores so I can figure out if something is a good deal. I need to start a reward system where leftover grocery $ goes to wine

  

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• momofcatan member

  October 2014

  @megsw85‌ (sorry for the delay) In order of favouritism checkout51, Zweet, changio, snap by groupon, cartsmart, save.ca.

  
  

  
  

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• Cricket81 member

  October 2014

  For groceries, my big thing has been meal planning and sticking to it. However, I also have gotten really good at saving my coupons (for things I would buy anyways) until that item is also on sale and then stocking up. For example, last week our favorite cereals were on sale for 1.98 instead of 3.99 and I had a couple $1 off of 2 coupons, so I got a bunch of cereal for $1.50 a box instead of $4. I've done the same thing with Barilla pasta and sauce.

  

  

  
  

  
  

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