Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by susan314

Just to clarify - when I made my comment above about people not knowing how to maximize their grocery shopping, I think it goes across all income levels. I'm not trying to say that "people on food stamps just need to learn how to shop better" by any means. Most people could learn to shop better...I used to spend $700 a month to get essentially the same stuff I now get for $300. We weren't in dire need of getting our grocery spending down, but honestly...why give that extra $400 to the grocery store when it could stay in our pockets instead?

(An added perk is that by learning how to manage my grocery spending, I'm able to pick up extra on some of the great deals and donate it. There are many organizations always in need of personal hygiene products, etc. By maximizing the money I spend, I'm also able to maximize the volume of stuff I can donate. )

I definitely understand that not everyone is able to just "get another job." (Yes, I think there are people who abuse the system and that irks me. But I don't think its the majority of people.) For those of you who think otherwise, I'd highly recommend reading the book "Nickled and Dimed" if you haven't already. Even if you don't completely agree with the author's premise, it will get you thinking about issues in a whole new light.

You need to start a "Susan's spend less at the grocery store tip of the week" thread.

[susan314]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

You need to start a "Susan's spend less at the grocery store tip of the week" thread.

Well, the first tip I will offer is that grocery stores tend to run their sales in cycles...approximately 12 week cycles, give or take.

The critical mistake that many people make is replacing something as they run out of it, and quite often getting stuck paying full price because they run out when there's no sale on that particular item. With proper planning, you can arrange your grocery shopping so that you never pay full price for an item.

(Except, of course milk and fresh produce which need to be replenished each week. But if you're saving money on all the items which you can stock up on, it doesn't hurt the pocketbook quite as much to splurge on those fresh items.)

There is actually a website that tracks grocery store sales and puts out a weekly list for each store. Highlighted on the list are items which are at their rock bottom price, so you know which sale items that week are worth stocking up on. It is a subscription based service which costs $5 a month to get your local store's list. Now, a person could certainly track this information on their own, but it would take a lot of time and effort to put that information together. I subscribe to the list because the $5 a month is worth it to me in exchange for not having to spend hours each week reviewing sale ads and tracking the information myself.

It does take me about an extra hour per week to prepare for my shopping trip, but given that I'm saving $400 a month over what I was spending before for essentially the same stuff that extra hour is worth it!

I'll give the link, but I want to make 2 things clear first:

1) I don't get anything for promoting this site. (Yes, if you had my personal e-mail address to enter w/me being your "referral source," I'd get a month free. But, since none of you have my personal e-mail address I get zilch for recommending it.)

2) There is a message board associated with the site that has some very overzealous ladies on it (not all of them are that way, but many are). Some of them do go a little overboard with their stockpiling, etc. I don't tend to frequent that board, but occasionally you can look at it and get some interesting money saving tips. However, I can assure you that you can still save money with the grocery lists without being fanatical about it.

Here's the site - you can get a 4 week trial for $1. http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ I was a little skeptical at first, but figured "what have I got to lose for $1?" As I said, you could piece together this information by faithfully tracking sale ads yourself without the assistance of this site...I chose not to do that, b/c I have neither the time nor the patience. I'd rather let someone else do the dirty work for me.


ETA: Somewhat related to the topic at hand...if you browse the message board, you can see the stories of some single mothers on food stamps who have used that particular system to make a huge difference in their lives. Because, of course, while food stamps help you cover some of your food expenses, they don't cover a lot of the other stuff...cleaning supplies, personal hygeine stuff, etc.