Hey it's 2008 and you've got lots of options of where to find a bargain. Different things will work better for different people. Most of us, don't have the time to go to 4 different stores over a week to get the best values (plus, with gas costing what it does, you'd eat away all your savings). Your best bet is to look at your list and find 1 or 2 stores where you can get your WEEKLY ESSENTIALS from and maybe one more store where you can go occasionally for as needed items.
As I mentioned, you have a lot of choices. As we continue along in the blog, we will cover each one of these choices more in depth, to help you get the best deals and prices wherever you go. The following is a brief overview:
1. Grocery Store - not all grocery stores are created equal. Shop around and find one that has consistently lower prices on the items you actually use. Sometimes journeying outside of your neighborhood to a less affluent area and a less glamorous store will get you better prices. Also, note which stores honor coupons and if they have double or triple coupon days.
2. Gourmet Grocery - Whole Foods, Trader Joe's. They can seem like a higher priced, upscale option, however, if you shop right and stick to their brands you can eat healthy and cheaply.
3. Farmer's Market - Usually have fresher produce at a more reasonable price than your average chain supermarket. The added benefit is that it is usually locally grown and if not organic, certainly with less chemicals used.
4. Fruit/Vegetable Stand - Though they might not carry the same as a Farmer's Market, they do tend to not carry the high mark up of a supermarket chain.
5. Local Specialty store - usually best for AS NEEDED items like spices or baking items. Buying these items at the right places can really save you a bundle. These are the type of items that are usually marked up the max at your average supermarket.
4. Superstore - Walmart, Target, etc. Can be great for AS NEEDED ESSENTIALS.
5. Wholesale Club - Costco, Sam's, BJ's. Great for buying what you need in bulk. You really need to take added care to figure out if what you are buying will actually be used before its expiration date AND if their price in bulk beats buying more of it elsewhere.
6. 99 Cent Store - I know this one takes some getting used to. But I think if you give it a chance and find the right store you will be laughing all the way to the bank.
Now, figure out which stores are options for you. If you live in a rural area maybe you don't really have any specialty stores, Gourmet Grocery or 99cent store. If you are a city dweller without a car you can pretty much rule out the Wholesale clubs and the Superstores. Most people will find that within a reasonable radius from their home they will have multiple choices for most of the above.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Grocery Boot Camp - Phase 2: The List
Ok, So now you know what you have in the house, what you need and what you tend to waste. You also have an idea of how much money you are wasting on spoiled or stale food. Moving forward, your next act is to make a list of your essentials. This should be divided into two categories: 1. Weekly Essentials and 2. As Needed Essentials.
WEEKLY ESSENTIALS are items that you use daily and need to replenish weekly. These items tend to be perishable. For example: bread, cold cuts, eggs, meat, vegetables, fruit, cereal, snack foods etc. However, please note which perishable items you threw away in your purge. Do you tend to buy oranges and then never eat them? Do you buy too many fresh vegetables and then not have the chance to cook them all before they spoil? Note what you need to buy less of or not at all. Also, note which items you might benefit from buying in bulk?
AS NEEDED ESSENTIALS are items that you may use on a daily basis, but it takes you longer to use them up. These items may include olive oil, salad dressing, condiments, crackers, nuts, sugar, flour, snacks, etc Again, note what you tend to leave on your self until it spoils. Do you have maple syrup for 1999 in your pantry? Also, take note of which items you tend to use pretty frequently and go through quickly, these are items you may want to consider buying in bulk.
After doing the purge and the list you should have a good idea of what you need and what you don't need. Next lesson will be about where to get what you need.
WEEKLY ESSENTIALS are items that you use daily and need to replenish weekly. These items tend to be perishable. For example: bread, cold cuts, eggs, meat, vegetables, fruit, cereal, snack foods etc. However, please note which perishable items you threw away in your purge. Do you tend to buy oranges and then never eat them? Do you buy too many fresh vegetables and then not have the chance to cook them all before they spoil? Note what you need to buy less of or not at all. Also, note which items you might benefit from buying in bulk?
AS NEEDED ESSENTIALS are items that you may use on a daily basis, but it takes you longer to use them up. These items may include olive oil, salad dressing, condiments, crackers, nuts, sugar, flour, snacks, etc Again, note what you tend to leave on your self until it spoils. Do you have maple syrup for 1999 in your pantry? Also, take note of which items you tend to use pretty frequently and go through quickly, these are items you may want to consider buying in bulk.
After doing the purge and the list you should have a good idea of what you need and what you don't need. Next lesson will be about where to get what you need.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Grocery Boot Camp - Phase 1: The Clean Out
The first step to stop overbuying and overspending at the grocery store is to assess what you have. Do you have one of those refrigerators that is so stuffed to the gills that Jimmy Hoffa might be somewhere in the back? When was the last time you cleaned out your fridge? How many garbage bags did it take? Or are you a compulsive fridge cleaner who chucks things the second they reach their expiration date? Either way, when you are throwing spoiled, uneaten food in the trash you are throwing away your MONEY.
I suggest you go and get a garbage bag and start cleaning out the fridge. While you are cleaning, keep a tally as to what each item that you are throwing away cost. I bet you will be SHOCKED at how much you are putting in the trash each week or at the end of a month.
It's easy to lose sight of the fact that food costs money and that since we eat it, it must be disposable. Obviously, I understand that having some food waste is inescapable. I'm not talking about the one serving of leftovers that didn't get eaten. I am talking about bags and boxes of food that go bad on the shelf of the fridge or the pantry before you've had more than two bites or the gallon of maple syrup that you bought 3 years ago at your warehouse club.
After the fridge move on to the pantry. Keep your tally and pay attention to patterns. How long have some of those boxes been sitting in there? It's time to say goodbye to that box of graham crackers you bought two years ago. That's $3.99 that's been sitting on your shelf wasted and now you are throwing that $3.99 in the trash. Please do not buy graham crackers when you go out shopping, as strong as that urge may be. Take note of some of the other items that you are tossing that you have never eaten or that your kids decided that they didn't like. Also, take note of the things that you bought too much of that went bad. Do you automatically buy bread and eggs each time you grocery shop? If so, I bet you found three half eaten loaves in the recesses of your pantry (I speak from experience on this one). Or maybe a dozen of expired eggs that got buried in the fridge behind the carton of nearly expired eggs (and please don't ask me how old the ones on the door are)! Ok, go get to work. This step is critical in order to be an efficient shopper.
At the end of this exercise, you should be able to see what food you have, know what you need to buy and know where you are overbuying. You will also have a financial tally of approximately what you are throwing away in uneaten food each week or month. This information will serve you well as we move on tomorrow to grocery store basics.
I suggest you go and get a garbage bag and start cleaning out the fridge. While you are cleaning, keep a tally as to what each item that you are throwing away cost. I bet you will be SHOCKED at how much you are putting in the trash each week or at the end of a month.
It's easy to lose sight of the fact that food costs money and that since we eat it, it must be disposable. Obviously, I understand that having some food waste is inescapable. I'm not talking about the one serving of leftovers that didn't get eaten. I am talking about bags and boxes of food that go bad on the shelf of the fridge or the pantry before you've had more than two bites or the gallon of maple syrup that you bought 3 years ago at your warehouse club.
After the fridge move on to the pantry. Keep your tally and pay attention to patterns. How long have some of those boxes been sitting in there? It's time to say goodbye to that box of graham crackers you bought two years ago. That's $3.99 that's been sitting on your shelf wasted and now you are throwing that $3.99 in the trash. Please do not buy graham crackers when you go out shopping, as strong as that urge may be. Take note of some of the other items that you are tossing that you have never eaten or that your kids decided that they didn't like. Also, take note of the things that you bought too much of that went bad. Do you automatically buy bread and eggs each time you grocery shop? If so, I bet you found three half eaten loaves in the recesses of your pantry (I speak from experience on this one). Or maybe a dozen of expired eggs that got buried in the fridge behind the carton of nearly expired eggs (and please don't ask me how old the ones on the door are)! Ok, go get to work. This step is critical in order to be an efficient shopper.
At the end of this exercise, you should be able to see what food you have, know what you need to buy and know where you are overbuying. You will also have a financial tally of approximately what you are throwing away in uneaten food each week or month. This information will serve you well as we move on tomorrow to grocery store basics.
Stop throwing your money away (literally)!
You work hard for your money. No matter what it is that you do to earn it, I know you work hard. You need to learn to respect your money. Time is money and money is time. So, stop throwing your hard earned money away! Really, stop! Over the next few posts we will take a journey which will change the way you shop for groceries. We are going to get you to stop overbuying and overspending and yet still have everything that you need, want and crave to eat.
Live The Rich Life
What does it mean to live a rich life? Is it material wealth or something more? How does one go about living richly? And can you live richly if you are not rich? When people hear that I live in midtown Manhattan with my husband and two small children, they presume that we and all of our friends and neighbors are extremely wealthy. How else could we afford to own or rent some of the most expensive real estate on Earth, send our children to private preschools, keep a car, shop for food and clothes at NYC prices.
One would think that in order to maintain this lifestyle that we and/or our spouses must work high powered corporate jobs making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. However, our secret is that we don't. My husband and I both left our six figured salaries to pursue our own small businesses and to spend more time with our daughters. Our friends are mostly artists, actors, musicians, writers, etc who make middle class salaries and barely make ends meet. So, how are we all able to live so well and afford our lives here? The answer will unfold here on this site as I reveal to you our secrets to living rich while being kind of poor.
The secrets that I will divulge will help you to live a richer life no matter where you live and what your financial situation is. You may be a upper middle class family who lives paycheck to paycheck, or wealthy suburbanites who can't figure out where the money that they should be saving for retirement is going, a family who's main earner has just lost her job and now you have to figure out how to downsize, or even a family who doesn't worry about money, but worries that their kids value materialism and don't know the value of money.
I'm not going to give you stock tips, or lecture you about your 401K. What you do with the money you will save here is your choice. With very little time investment or lifestyle change you will soon be living a rich life!
One would think that in order to maintain this lifestyle that we and/or our spouses must work high powered corporate jobs making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. However, our secret is that we don't. My husband and I both left our six figured salaries to pursue our own small businesses and to spend more time with our daughters. Our friends are mostly artists, actors, musicians, writers, etc who make middle class salaries and barely make ends meet. So, how are we all able to live so well and afford our lives here? The answer will unfold here on this site as I reveal to you our secrets to living rich while being kind of poor.
The secrets that I will divulge will help you to live a richer life no matter where you live and what your financial situation is. You may be a upper middle class family who lives paycheck to paycheck, or wealthy suburbanites who can't figure out where the money that they should be saving for retirement is going, a family who's main earner has just lost her job and now you have to figure out how to downsize, or even a family who doesn't worry about money, but worries that their kids value materialism and don't know the value of money.
I'm not going to give you stock tips, or lecture you about your 401K. What you do with the money you will save here is your choice. With very little time investment or lifestyle change you will soon be living a rich life!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)