10 Unexpected Grocery Hacks to Keep You on Budget | Frugal Living Tips

now I know what you came for you're here looking for some different ways to save money on groceries that maybe you haven't thought of before or just maybe never tried before well hopefully one of these 10 tests that I'm about to give you will have you thinking a little outside of the box or reusable shopping bag to help you spend less money when you go grocery shopping and pulling these different strategies together helps me to knock almost two hundred dollars off my grocery budget last month so here are some of the things I did I started with a reverse shopping list and for a long long time like in recently a few moments ago I had used to create my shopping list by walking around my kitchen and writing down all the things that I could think of that I was missing in my kitchen cabinets in my refrigerator now instead of writing down what I don't have I start by writing down what I do have and then decide what I need to buy to go with those things and this kind of plays into the whole idea of meal planning the problem is is that a lot of times when we make meal plans we make them off the top of our heads like you know I think I want macaroni and cheese on Monday or chicken on Tuesday but that's not the way to do it you should start by taking inventory of what you already have in your cabinet and your freezer your refrigerator and then build your meals based on those items this ensures that you only picked up things that will complement what you already have at home which means that you're going to use up what you have instead of buying all new foods and then letting what you have at home go to waste it also helps prevent duplicate food purchases and ultimately helps you spend less money the next tip is to shop late and there are people in the world that are more productive later in the day I am not one of those people but if you are this is where your natural flow can be in benefit go to the grocery store later in the day preferably during the evening because this is when many stores mark down items that are nearing their expiration date and you can get discounts on Fresh Produce Bakery Goods meat and in my area they put in that bright yeah yellow sticker on the chicken that says reduced for quick sale y'all know what I'm talking about just make sure if you get that that you get it home cut it up get it in the freezer as soon as possible but it is a good way to maybe get quality items at a fraction of the original cost carry cash only just leave your credit and debit cards at home and bring only a predetermined amount of cash to the store if you have a budget set and you have a shopping list created then you know how much money you need and you know how much you can afford to spend if you only bring that amount of cash to the store then when the money runs out that's it there's no overspending just make sure you already have enough gas in your car to get you back home because you won't have any left for that if you run out but can be in cash only might help you stick to your budget better and avoid buying extra stuff that you might normally buy if you were swiping plastic downsize your shopping cart you know the idea of how using a smaller plate for your meals helps you with portion control so you eat less and then lose weight well the same idea applies to food shopping at some grocery stores and there's one that I go to in particular where you can choose one of those small double decker cards or even just use a basket while you're walking through the grocery store and having this smaller vehicle keeps you from filling up the extra space that you have in a larger cart with a whole lot of unnecessary items and it keeps you more Mindful and intentional about what you're grabbing because you know it all won't fit and sometimes when I know I'm supposed to be just grabbing a few items to replenish some Essentials I get real bold with it and I go in without a basket or a cart so that I can only buy what I can carry in my arms now sometimes I'm like why didn't I just get a cart but when I leave having only spent what I was supposed to spend then I'm happy and have probably built up some really good muscles in the process now here's one of my favorites grocery shop online so many grocery stores including discount chains like Aldi use instacart or have their own service where you can place your grocery order online and then go to the store to pick up your pre-selected item and with some you have the choice to pay online ahead of time or you you can pay when you get to the store if you're using cash and some services do have a fee attached to them but stores like ShopRite where I shop they remove the fee when you spend more than 35 dollars and I'm always spending more than 35 dollars when I do my bi-weekly food shopping so for me it's always free this approach is just another way to help eliminate the temptation to buy extra things that you see when you're strolling through the aisles you know how it is when you're walking in the freezer section and you see that Turkey Hill triopolitan ice cream is on sale on sale does not mean that you were supposed to have it so it's just better if you never see it in the first place buying grocery store gift cards one viewer left this idea in a comment some time ago and the idea is to purchase a gift card for your grocery store in the amount of your monthly grocery budget and this one probably works best for you if you tend to shop at only one maybe two grocery stores but it keeps your grocery money separate and limited so you can keep that spending in check and it also helps you to track your grocery spending easily because you can just check your gift card balance to see how much you've spent so far and how much you have left and then whatever money you have left on the card you can just roll over to the next month's grocery budget and for those who are wondering there are no fees for grocery store gift cards try cheaper Brands now this is one that you would think would be a given but my husband and I still go back and forth on this one sometimes when I see that there's a cheaper brand alternative to a food brand that we like I opt to get the cheaper brand now I recognize that not all brands are created equal but it's always worth trying a new brand if it costs significantly less for instance we like Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats but at regular price the 24 ounce box costs 6.59 the 18 ounce store brand only costs 2.69 which means I can get two boxes of the store brand version giving me 36 ounces of cereal for a dollar and 21 cents less than the cost of one box of the name brand version and there's no difference in the flavor and sometimes you just have to step out of your comfort zone and give the store brands or the lesser-known brands a chance and these Alternatives often offer the same quality as the more popular brands but sometimes it only half the cost and you really might discover that you like some of the less expensive Brands even better now this leads me to my next one and that is shop alone seriously leave the kids leave your spouse at home leave the dog anybody that you know is going to be asking for things that are not on your list leave them do not take them to the grocery store with you because inevitably they're going to make a convincing case for why you should buy something that you have no business buying and then you'll end up spending more than you intended so just with fewer distractions you can focus solely on your shopping list making it easier to stay on track and stay within your budget save and bring your own shopping bags from home and this is for those people who live in areas or frequent stores where plastic bags are banned and there are a few in my area instead of paying for paper bags every time you go you can just invest a few dollars and the reusable ones that they sell or you can save up your plastic shopping bags that you get from other stores or other areas and then bring them with you now I know you're saying you have the bags at home but you always forget to take them to the store with you it happens to me too but my solution is to put a whole stash of them in the trunk of my car so I always have them when I go to the store and even if you forget to take them into the store with you you can just wheel the cart with your purchased items to the car and then bag the items in your trunk so at least they're not rolling all over the car or if you can't get any plastic bags or you don't want to buy the reusable one you can turn some old t-shirts into functional shopping bags just cut off the sleeves Stitch the bottom shut and you have a personalized reusable shopping bag use Shopper loyalty apps take advantage of your cell phone and download your grocery stores app not only are they useful for doing your food shopping online but the grocery store apps also provide digital coupons that can be scanned at the checkout or just digitally loaded directly to your account which gives you instant savings without cutting anything out without scanning anything beyond your Rewards Card the more you use the apps the more they benefit you because oftentimes you'll receive personalized offers based on your shopping history and sometimes you can accumulate points which can be redeemed for free food or household items at the store or eye shop around Thanksgiving they always offer a free turkey if you spend a certain amount of money during a set period of time and sometimes I'm not sure where I'm going to spend the full amount that's required but what I do is because I know I'm spending Thanksgiving with my mother we'll use the same rewards account when we go shopping so that her spending and my spending gets combined together to meet the requirement that's necessary and we get a free turkey for Thanksgiving so that's one way that you can kind of work with someone else to be able to get those free food also I recently went to a market that I don't usually shop at because I needed some toilet tissue and they had a 20 roll pack of my favorite brands on sale for 15.99 plus with an additional three dollars off with a digital store coupon and another one dollar off with the digital manufacturer's coupon but the coupons were on their app and I didn't have the app but it took me literally 30 seconds to download it 30 seconds to create an account 30 seconds to end the digital coupon for the tissue to my account then on top of that I got an additional five dollars off of my order as a welcome for using the app so with all the discounts I got a 22 dollar pack of Scott toilet tissue for 6.99 there are other ways that you can use your stores app to help you get the best prices when you shop and this leads me to a bit of a bonus tip which is to make sure that you take a little extra time to do adequate comparison shopping and I have some really helpful comparison shopping tips in this video right here so you can check that out and I will see you next time bye foreign [Music]

Channel: Frugal Creative Living

Views: 66,158

Keywords: frugal living, frugal living tips, frugal living ideas, frugal, how to save money, money saving tips, frugal habits, save money on groceries, grocery shopping on a budget, how to save money on groceries, grocery shopping tips, grocery, grocery shopping hacks, save on groceries, how to save money on food, saving money on groceries, how to save money grocery shopping, how to save money on grocery shopping, save money groceries, frugal living habits

Id: r4-EO2XxSDM

Length: 10min 59sec (659 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 02 2023