6 Easy Ways to Stop Overspending at the Grocery Store

Written By: Ashley McCargish

 

How much money are you spending at the grocery store? My family of four spends around $100-$150 on groceries each week. We can’t afford much more than that.

 

We buy toiletries, diapers, paper products, and cleaning products along with our groceries during our weekly grocery store trip based on our family needs.

 

I save 30-40% at the grocery store every time we shouldn’t! What a great feeling it is to see the total go from $200 down to $140 or even better $120! This regularly happens every time I grocery shop! I get employees telling me they are impressed with the “new total”.

   

I’m going to give you all of the details for saving money at the grocery store! Hopefully with these tips you’ll be saving money in the grocery store in no time!

 

Follow a Meal Plan

 

Following a meal plan makes buying groceries so simple! It takes all of the guess work out of what to buy. You can even base your meals on the sales the store is having that week.

 

I have the app downloaded for the grocery store we regularly shop at downloaded on my phone. Since I’m easily spending around $500 a month or more on groceries alone I’m more than okay keeping their app on my phone.

 

There are so many benefits to having the app on my phone. I can easily pull up their weekly ad while I make my grocery list. I can also download digital coupons and earn cash back right from the store app (but we’ll get to all of that later).

 

Here is are a couple pictures of the ad this week. Let’s look to see what is on sale. Right away I see we have ears of corn for $2 when you buy 6 along with coleslaw. I love getting things like this because its seasonal and we can’t get it all year round. I also see that chicken is on sale for 99 cents/pound. This is great because in my family that could be an entire meal.

 

Annie’s full line including snacks are buy 1 get 1 free, these are perfect snacks for my kids. Especially with lunch boxes starting this month!

 

I also use the ads to see what produce is on sale. Since I generally don’t have coupons for produce (sometimes I do!) I always buy what is on sale. Right now in the summer we are getting great deals on berries, grapes, watermelon, and peaches!

     

I laid out a very simple way to plan meals in my last post “How to Plan Meals and Dinners for Kids“. I also give 5 easy meals that my kids are willing to eat each time I make them!

 

Sign up for the Grocery’s Member Card

 

Almost all grocery stores in my area have a “member” card. It is free to sign up and only takes a few minutes. For some stores you’ll get a member card and others they track it based on your phone number.

 

With a member card you can download the stores app and attach your card number to it. Most stores have digital coupons you can download right to their app.  

 

When I open the app to my grocery it says “savings” at the bottom. After you click that it will give you a couple options. You can click to look at your digital coupons or to look at cash back offers. I suggest you look at the coupons first. Then you can search coupons at the top by typing in the brand or the type of item you are looking for. I will usually use the search bar when I’m at the store to quickly check for a coupon on “bread” or “yogurt”.

 

As you can see I currently have 303 coupons available to me! You can sort these coupons based on departments in the store as well. For example if you were shopping for diapers you could filter it to look at just the “baby” department.

 

Notice how on the coupon pictured it says “Savings for You”. This means that my grocery has offered me this coupon based on the fact that we have been buying grapes a lot lately.

 

Yes this does mean that the grocery store is tracking you! If you are bothered by that then you might want to skip this step. I for one am not concerned that my grocery store knows I buy grapes (almost) weekly.

   

Recently my grocery store started offering cash back. So they will give back cash for buying specific items in the store. This works very similarly to the digital coupons as far as how to download them. However as you earn cash back it will go to your available cash back credit. Then you can apply the amount you have to your order.

 

I will take some time while watching TV in the evening to scroll through the app. I’m able to quickly add coupons of items we typically buy. I can also check to see what is on sale that week. Finally I can also look through any cash back offers that may apply to my family’s needs. 

 

Use Coupons

 

There are lots of ways to get coupons for grocery store items. We already discussed digital coupons on the app. However you can also get coupons in the mail through Smart Source or Retail Me Not. If you are not currently getting these coupons in the mail you can also find them in the weekly paper.

 

Another way to get coupons is from the the store you shop at. The store I typically shop at will send coupons in the mail. Below are some examples of the coupons I got in this week! At times I’ll even get coupons to redeem for free items!

   

I get coupons, recipes, and articles about the newest offerings in their store about once a week or more. 

 

Many grocery stores also offer coupons at the register. These coupons print out when your receipt does and you can use them the next time you come into the store.

 

If I get one that says “save $3 off your next purchase” and I know its coming. I will just wait and purchase something I was already going to purchase with that coupon in a separate transaction. I’m pretty good about organizing and remembering to use my coupons. But I don’t want any of those “high value” coupons going to waste.

 

Anytime I have coupons it feels like extra money in my pocket. As I shop through the store I check my coupon binder. If I have a coupon for an item in my cart I put it in my pocket. 

 

Shop Sales

 

Growing up I can’t even count the number of times I heard my mom say “only if its on sale”, today she’ll laugh when she hears it because she knows its true! As a family of 4 being raised by a single mom it didn’t go in the cart unless it was on sale. If it was on sale and she had a coupon- EVEN BETTER!

 

I totally get it now! I tell my kids the same thing, it doesn’t go in the cart unless it’s on sale! The thing is that if you shop the same store every week you will learn the ins and outs of that store. You’ll learn when their sales start over and you’ll learn how often they run things on sale.

 

In the store I typically shop in runs the same sale for 2 weeks (changing out the meat and produce) and then start a different sale to run for 2 weeks.

 

I know that if its not on sale this week and we can hold off it will be in 2 weeks. I also try to “stock up” if I find a great sale on something that isn’t typically on sale.

 

Moral of the story here … buy it if its on sale. If its not on sale wait until it is (because it will be).

 

Shop When You Are Full

 

This is a proven fact. If you shop when you are full and take your list you are more likely to stick to the list. You’ll only be buying what is exactly on your list. You won’t be as tempted to put extra things in the cart just because “they are on sale” or “wow it looks so good”!

 

Shop with Only 1 Person

 

If possible in your situation shop when only one person from your house needs to go. This eliminates your kids or anyone else asking you to buy something that isn’t on the list. You’ll be more likely to stick to what you actually need to make it through to the next grocery day.

   

These are the ways I save money at the grocery each week!

 

Please let me know how you save money at grocery or if you learned something new!

 

Remember to share with your friends or family who love to save money!

 

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