How To Save At The Grocery Store

When it comes to going grocery shopping...Lets just say I'm not a fan. I hate to do it and I'm not one who is really good when it comes to planning out the menu. For me I'd rather go out to eat and not have to worry about dirty dishes or having to fix dinner every night. But lets face it, that just isn't possible for most of us. We have to learn how to cook good meals for our families and try to do so on a budget.  I wanted to talk about how to save at the grocery store and how to stick to your budget.


#1. The first thing I do is make a list of meals I want to eat for the week. I use to do more than a week but it got too stressful and it was hard for me to figure out what to eat that far out.  I open up my cook book and go through all my families favorite recipes and pick a weeks worth of meals.

#2. Next I go through my pantry and see what ingredients I already have to cook those meals for a week. Once I have figured that out I make a list of things I need at the store.

#3.  We have these great things we carry with us all the time that are awesome money savers when it comes to shopping. I downloaded an app called Shopper. You pick your store you shop at the most and start adding all the food you need. You can also go online or at the store type in the price of each item. At the bottom of the app it will tell you how much money you have in your cart for food. Plus once you start checking off your list the price on one side goes down but the other side it goes up. It's a great way to help keep you on your budget.

#4. One of the many great things about shopping at Walmart is that you can go online and see how much each food item you need is. So you don't have to add that price when you're walking around the store. (time saver). Another great thing about Walmart is they have a savings catcher app. On their app you can take a picture of your receipt and it will take a few days to process. Once it has processed you can get money back for other prices that are cheaper around your area. Sometimes Walmart wins and in that case you wont get any money back.
Another great thing about Walmart is that they have free grocery pick up. You can go online place your order and choose a day and time to go pick it up. Talk about best thing for a busy mom!!! I love it and it saves so much time during my day.  The only down side to shopping online is you don't get a barcode to scan to do your savings catcher or other apps that need that to get money back. But it's a great way to keep on budget.

#5. Another great app is Ibotta or Checkout 51. You do have to have a bar code for these apps. Once you have done your shopping you click on the item you bought that's on the app and then scan your item along with the bar code. You then will get money back.  SO EASY!!! Most of these apps will only allow you to cash out once you hit $20 dollars. But you do have your choice of gift cards to pick from. Another great app is called Shopkick. Every time you walk into a store you get points. You also get points for purchases and other items you see that are on the app called scan kicks. So you don't have to buy the item just scan the barcode and you get points. Once you get so many points you can cash that in for any gift card of your choice!!

#6. The most important way to save money is stick to your budget. Everyone has a different budget when it comes to food. First you need to figure out how much your family needs and what you can afford. I go off of a weekly budget which makes it easier to plan meals and grocery shop. Yes, I'm going to the store once a week but I feel like I'm not spending hours at the store and putting things into my cart that I don't need. (I tend to do that often when I have my kids with me)

I hope this helps the next time you head out to the store.


Melanie

Mom Brain....

Mom brain... We all get it and the truth is the more kids you have the worse it gets.  There has been so many times I get side tracked or space out what I'm doing and it takes me a minute to remember or I completely forget all together. There has even been a time when I have driven past the street that leads to my daughters school three time on my way to pick her up!

So, since we are talking about Mom brain I wanted to tell you a funny that happened the other day. I was doing some yard work and my kids were all outside playing so I could keep track of them. My oldest had some friends over and they were playing with play dough.  One of her friends decided to throw his play dough down into our window well.  My daughter climbed down and found a package that had been hiding in-between our bush and house. She handed it to me and I was stumped.  It had my name on it but couldn't think of what it could be.

I opened up the box and low and behold.  These babies were in there.

I looked at the receipt to see when they were purchase... 4/22/2016. Yep, that's right. April of LAST YEAR!!! Talk about funniest Mom brain moment ever!!! I have never forgotten about something for that long.  I guess that's what three kids will do to you.  Haha

I was really glad they weren't damage, and they were the right size. You never know when it comes to ordering things online.

The shoes pictured were purchased at Forever 21 for $24.00


If you're still on the hunt for that awesome pair of shoes. You can check out Old Navy.  I was able to get two pairs of shoes for me and one pair for each of my kids for only $20 bucks!!! Yep that's right $20 dollars for 4 pairs of shoes.

I think Old Navy will be doing their super cash again before school starts (end of August) so stock up so you can get some great deals. Another great way to get discounts is by taking those surveys that are at the end of your receipts. I usually just toss the receipt not paying any attention. But if  you look closely you can usually get 10% or more for doing the survey. I was able to add that to my super cash and I got free 3-7 day shipping. When it's normally $7.00 extra.

Happy Shopping!!!

Mel