Sticking to your budget is the best thing you can do to ease the stress of grocery shopping. First, set a budget that works for your family. Personally, we make a grocery/cleaning/baby care/toiletry budget for each paycheck and I shop bi-monthly for these items. Second, you need to be organized with your coupons and with your shopping list. Using a Meal Planner is helpful with this also. Do what works for you.

Thirdly, put it all to work at the store! When you go to the store take your supplies. I take my coupon binder, calculator, Price Comparison Sheet, shopping list and a pen.

Using your calculator:
     – Start with the total estimated tax in your calculator
     – As you shop enter the price of each item you are purchasing 
     – Subtract any coupons.
     – Add the price of any items you plan to buy at another store (you can do this at the start and add  any other items as you go)

Your calculator price should reflect the total amount you are planning on spending out of the budget. There should be no reason to go over budget when using your calculator. You have already accounted for the tax and the cost of any other items you are buying elsewhere! If your calculator reaches budget and you need other items decide if you need to remove certain items from the cart that you don’t really need! Remember, if you are buy other items at another store your checkout price will not be the same as your calculators total since some items aren’t being purchased yet!

I hope this makes sense! If not, feel free to ask questions :)

Return to Home Page
Subscribe to Blog

What I am going to refer to as my Price Comparison Sheet is a list of items I purchase on a regular basis and prices. I typically shop at Super Target and Kroger. For the longest time I have thought that I should buy my groceries at Kroger and all the other items like baby care, toiletries and paper goods at Target. Well, I started a comparison sheet and learned that isn’t always the best plan.

BUILD THE LIST
To build a list is easy. You can use receipts from previous shopping trips or do like I did and scout out prices at the store. I made three columns on my list: Items, Target and Kroger. Make as many columns as you need for the stores you shop. You can do this on a spreadsheet or just a piece of notebook paper.

FILL OUT THE LIST
When describing the item write the name of the item as well as the size: Tide 32 oz. You may have multiple lines for Tide, but you want to know the prices for each size you may want to buy. Write down the price of the item under the correct store column. Be sure the price you are writing down is the regular price not the sale price. This will help you know what you are saving if the item is on sale.

Once you have a list be sure to watch the prices every so often. They do change and you want to be sure you have the current information to work with. You don’t need to write down every item in the store. Get to know your shopping habits. It is likely you buy the same type of items each week or month.

Wondering why your list is helpful? I used mine fully for the first time on my last grocery trip! I went to Kroger first. I was able to go through my list and look at the price of the a large box of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish for Katelyn and say, “hmmm… Kroger price $8.49. Oh, Target’s regular price is only $6.94!” Right there, I knew I had to head to Target anyway so I put the goldfish on my Target list and saved $1.55.

Once you have a fairly decent list made you will be able to make a shopping list for each store based on the sales and regular priced items! This is just one more tool to make shopping easier and less expensive!

I would love to compile a huge Price Comparison Sheet. Of course prices vary by region, but if you would like to share prices you have found on your Price Comparison Sheet just send me an email and I will post a big list!

If you haven’t started a coupon organizing system please check my posts on ideas here. Watch for a post tomorrow about keeping yourself within budget at the store!

Return to Home Page
Subscribe to Blog

Here are some fabulous online sources to print out coupons! Usually there is a print limit, but that gets reset so come back to check if your coupons have been reset or if they have new coupons available!

Return to Home Page
Subscribe to Blog

If you have ever couponed or if you are just starting you will soon realize there are a lot of coupons that won’t be of use to you. Maybe they don’t apply to you for instance you don’t have a baby so diapers aren’t your thing. Or the coupon just isn’t something you wouldn’t purchase.

I would suggest you join a coupon train or exchange or multiple ones! I have never participated in a train, but I am joining one on We Use Coupons. I also host my own coupon exchange and would be happy to have others join the fun. Just send me an email!

The reason to join is you get rid of the coupons you aren’t going to use by passing them along to someone else. Also, you get coupons you need from someone else! Each program is different so just find one that works for you! There is nothing worse than throwing away a coupon someone else may have been able to use.

I will post more on what to do with expired coupons in the near future!

Return to Home Page
Subscribe to Blog

You might be thinking that coupons don’t make sense. Why not just buy the off brand and save some money. This is true. There is definitely and opportunity to save if you aren’t a brand loyalist. However, this is not always the case. It is important to look at all the brands, prices, and coupons you have available to be able to make an informed decision about every purchase you make.

1. Look at the whole shelf at the store. If you notice the most expensive items are at eye level, be sure to compare everything.
2. Do you have a coupon? If so, determine if the price with the coupon is better than the off brand.
3. Also look at the sizes of the packaging. Sometimes it is worth buying the bigger package since it may be cheaper per ounce/liter/piece. However, it may be cheaper to buy two smaller units in which you can use two coupons.

Just keep an eye out. I have passed on coupons in the past because my thinking was this: Even if this goes on sale it won’t be cheap enough.

I have learned that isn’t always the case. Be open-minded about the brands and keep the coupons of items you may not want to pass up if there is a great price.

My example from the other night:
                      Kroger single roll paper towels are $0.68 (I think and may have been on sale)
                      Bounty single roll paper towels were $1.09
                      2 coupons for $1 off and I got them for $0.18 saving $1.18!

Wish I had more coupons so I could stock up. This is also a good example of where buying smaller and not in bulk is more effective.

This post may contain affiliate links