4 Tips to Save Money on Food and Groceries
Here are 4 tips to save money on food and groceries. If having the kids home for the summer is wreaking havoc on your food budget, hopefully we can help you out.
1- Drink water!
It’s better for your body anyway. If you are like me you may drink a 32 oz (or more) of soda each day. That Big Gulp can cost anywhere from $1.00 – $1.50. At a dollar a day that’s $365 a year! One thing we have tried to do in our home is rather than buying a drink at the gas station, we buy 2 liter bottles at the grocery store when they are on sale for $1.00. It still saves money. The same goes for coffee. Fancy coffee drink are expensive! Can you substitute a regular coffee in place of your latte or cappuccino? By doing that you might save $2 a day that’s $730 a year!
2- Don’t dine out as much.
I admit this is a struggle for our family. When it’s hot outside in the summer the last thing I want to do is cook dinner. Even barbequing is even tough for me when it’s hot. I would much rather go sit in a restaurant basking in their air conditioning. Dinners out can cost my family of 4 anywhere between $25 and $35 on average. I can make dinner at home and spend $5-10 per meal! If you cut out one restaurant meal a week you can save your family about $780 a year.
3- Plan your menu and stick to it!
It’s a breeze around here when we plan our menu and stick to it. I post the menu on the fridge and there is not arguing about the food. The kids know that unless there are extenuating circumstances what is on the list is what is for dinner. This helps a lot with lunches in the summer too. If I have a plan then I am more likely to prep in the morning or throughout the day. I have at my house what I call the “Witching Hour.” It’s that time of day before dinner when people are getting grumpy and hungry. If we are prepped, ready and we know what’s for dinner it helps! Again this keeps us out of the fast food line.
4- Make a shopping list and stick to it!
Make your shopping list and menu based upon what is on sale in your local grocery store that week is a great way to save money on food and groceries. Even without coupons, just shopping and meal planning off the local ads can make a huge difference in your grocery budget. Don’t forget if you find a great deal in your ad, stock up! Compare prices while you are shopping. Take a calculator with you and compare the prices per serving between container sizes and brands. You might be surprised to see the differences.
Of course you can save money on food and groceries by combining the grocery add prices with coupons! Here are some links to printable coupons: Coupons.com, Smartsource.com and Redplum.com
You can also use cash back grocery services like SavingStar, and Checkout 51 to save even more money on groceries!
*The one exception to the shopping list is… don’t forget to check the clearance bins. I ALWAYS look through the clearance bins at the grocery store. My local store has bins for canned goods, boxed goods, deli, meats & dairy! Watch the prices to make sure they really are clearance worthy and also be sure to check the expiration dates.
One final note: there are great places to shop for groceries online. Be sure to check Amazon for their Subscribe & Save and also for great quality meats checkout Zaycon.
Why Should You Start Saving Money?
It’s 2014 and that means it’s a new year. No longer is it 2013 and that means you have even more opportunities this year to save money than you did last year. You may have even saved up some money last year and we certainly hope that you did. Why? Well, we’re about to tell you. You see, we put together a list of a few reasons that you should be saving money. Not only are these all logical reasons but we understand the importance of saving money better than anyone. So, with that being said, we hope you’ll scroll down and look!
Your Children
The first reason that we recommend saving money is because of your children. If you don’t have children and never plan on it, you can skip to the next section. If you do have kids, what would happen to them if something happened to you right now? What if you get sick? What if they get sick? Your kids are the perfect reason to start saving money as it will keep them safe in the future as well as you. If you do anything for your kids this year, save big!
Your Future
Your future is another good reason to start saving money. Has your car just about seen its day? Are you currently renting a home and don’t own one? Is your air conditioning unit starting to act up? Think about all the things that could go wrong or all the things that you want to accomplish in life and that should be motivation enough to start saving money.
Emergencies/Disaster Relief
Depending on what part of the country that you live in, you never know what types of disasters could hit. It could be anything from hurricanes to tornadoes or even tsunamis. Make sure you have some money put back in case you ever need to stock up on canned goods and call work a “no way” for a couple of weeks. It may sound silly now but this kind of stuff does happen and most people aren’t prepared at all. Don’t be one of those people.
Peace of Mind
Finally, the last reason that we have (which should convince you to save some money) is for peace of mind. Knowing that you have a few thousand dollars saved up is a big relief of stress for most people. If your bills cost you a total of $1,000 a month and you have around $6,000 saved up, that means you could lose your job and still survive for 6 months. Most people would immediately go into panic mode but you wouldn’t have to. Think about it!
So, these are just some of the many reasons that you should start saving money this year. If you need even more reasons, ask those around you. We’re sure that anyone can come up with at least a few good reasons as to why everyone should save money. The economy goes up and down, prices go up and down, and it’s always a good idea to save some cash.