Besides your mortgage or rent, or if your children going to a private school, the grocery bill is usually the highest expense in the home–and cutting it is not easy. After all, you have to eat, have a healthy nutrition and help your kids eat more each day. In my house, it's not uncommon to hear complaints about there being "nothing" in the fridge, two days after a big purchase.
One day I realized that food and other daily products were taking more and more money. My budget couldn't be stretched any further. I decided to investigate how I could spend less, while still buying the necessities and even without giving up certain luxuries. What I found made me feel like a fool. Supermarkets and other grocery stores are using scientific discoveries to make us waste our dollars!
Read more ¿Qué más?: Check your credit card & bank statements for this sneaky charge right NOW!
For example: What is the first thing you see when you enter the supermarket? On one side there are usually flowers, breads, cakes, sweets, prepared meals. At the other end, vegetables, fruits, organic products. No matter where you come in from, fabulous flavors and colors assail you. Don't get distracted. That's why it's important for you to follow these tips:
1. Go with a list already made and give yourself permission to buy two or three extra items (no more) or a dollar amount for that. Forget temptations. I am very weak and not very organized, so I have a master list I made in the supermarket site on the Internet. I print that one and check what I don't have.
2. Look at unit prices. For example, I always used to buy the biggest bag of laundry detergent because I thought that was more worth it, but on a recent visit to Target I decided to compare the unit price and see: the big bag of detergent All was $ 13.99 for 82 pacs. That is, $ 0.17 per pac. The middle size bag $7.99 for 48 pacs, $ 0.16 per pac. A penny doesn't seem too much, until you multiply it by 96 (the total number of pacs in two bags). Just like that I was saving $ 1.60.
3. Use coupons. That same day I was also carrying a manufacturer's coupon, which gave me two for the price of one. In short, I bought 96 pacs (one pac per load) for $ 7.99 instead of 82 for $ 13.99. Now you no longer have to spend hours cutting coupons supplements that come in the newspapers. Go to the websites of the products you use and download them to your smartphone. Most stores have scanners that read them directly from the phone screen.
4. Read the ingredients. My husband is an athlete and often goes with all kinds of body aches. I remember that more than once I've had to remind him not to fall into marketing traps that he falls into because of "pain-reducing" or other gimmicky packaging. Beware!
5. Avoid buying seasonal items. Yes, do buy fruits and vegetables in season. I refer to those things that are not typical of a supermarket, like a bouquet of flowers for Mom on Mother's Day, or a toy; that's where they raise prices and have the biggest profits, because it is something you buy because you need it at the moment and we usually pay more to get out of trouble.
Images via Thinkstock, Alicia Civita
