Grocery Shopping 101: Getting the Shopping Done!

GETTING THE SHOPPING DONE

Okay, we went over how to prepare for the grocery store and how to be a smart consumer so now it’s time for my top tips for getting the grocery shopping done! (Monday will be my last installment-WHERE to put it all)

1. When you purchase something you’re running out of, buy two. The plan is to always have at least one on hand (to help build your 3 month supply)
2. Don’t go to the grocery store hungry or you’ll be tempted to buy items not on your list-items you don’t really need.
3. If you have kids-don’t try and sneak a quick trip to the store in with hungry and or tired kids. It just isn’t worth it (says the mom who has left the grocery store completely embarrassed with two melting down crying kids). Go after nap time or early in the morning when they are more likely to cooperate with you.
4. If you don’t know if the price of an item is high or low, watch the price for a couple of weeks.
5. Get your cold and frozen items at the end. This will keep these important items…well cold and frozen!
6. Shop at off-peak times. If you shop late at night or early in the morning during the week, you can often find meat and baked goods at clearance prices. And best of all, the checkout lines will be short! I finally decided it was worth it to hit Wal-mart at 8:30 in the morning because it is VACANT. No lines and not a lot of people-I can get in and out in 30 minutes or less-a miracle if you’ve ever shopped Wal-mart around 11:00!
7. Shop multiple stores at once! If you have a Super Wal-mart near you, you can price match competitors ads. That is like shopping all the stores near you at one store! This is what I do and it saves a A TON of time. If you’ve never price matched before it’s really simple,here is what I do…I separate my cart into “price match” and “non-price match” items. I send the non-price match items on the conveyor belt first and TELL the checker that I also have price match items. (The easier you can make it for the checker-the better your outcome will be.) Then all you need to do is tell the checker what the price of the price match items should be and show it to them on the ad. (Some checkers don’t care to see the ad but some do-so I always keep the ads in my purse-that way if I’m making an impromptu visit to the store I can check all the prices and then compare it to the Wal-mart price and get the cheapest price around town.) It may sound like a lot of work-but trust me it is much faster and cheaper to make ONE trip (especially with multiple kids) than several trips to visit all the local grocery stores. NOTE: Wal-mart won’t match store specific coupons (like a coupon specifically for that store-they WILL accept manufacturer coupons) and they won’t match buy one get one free sales. Also, if the item on sale is a store brand, i.e. Kroger, all you need to do is purchase the Wal-mart brand and they will match the price.

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