Neat "how much my cart costs" trick from my mom

[Coleroo]

When I go shopping for variety groceries, I never use a calculator or add up anything. Instead I use this neat little trick that my mom taught me -

Count the number of total items in your cart and double it - that will be the approximate price of your bill, including tax. Items almost always average out to be 2$ per item. On a good run (when focus is on off brands) I can get less than 2$ per item average. I've noticed when I buy more "high class" name brands, it can run up to 2.50, 3.00 per item average but i've never seen it more than that.

This works when you are on a variety grocery shopping day. It wont work if you are going to buy only high dollar items (i.e, all meat).

An example from my last grocery run 2 weeks ago... I was purchasing some cleaning products, hot pockets, luncheon meats, bagged salad, chicken fryers, canned foods, cereal, milk, juice... items with prices ranging from .33 up to over $10 ...typical pantry stuff - I had a total of 49 items (so I estimated 98$) to be processed in the check out line. My bill came to $95.74.

I love this trick and have never seen it fail to get me close to the guestimate. Its great for those days when you are looking at your buggy saying, oh gosh now how much do i have and am i going to go over? Just count it out and double.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

use coupons and keep the number to be just 1 item = $1!

[LuxLiving]

Coleroo - is that figured with the tax included or without - iow, do I need to add on the tax on top of the guesstimate?

[Coleroo]

Originally Posted by LuxLiving

Coleroo - is that figured with the tax included or without - iow, do I need to add on the tax on top of the guesstimate?

that includes tax where i live.. im not sure if it will work the same for higher taxes though. my state has a 6% tax and (i think) 5% food tax but its always worked for us. The "grand total" price = double the # items purchased.

An easy way to test it -- most grocery stores will put an item count at the bottom of your receipt. I know walmart, food lion and bi-lo does it down here. i dont remember if aldi's does it.
Keep track of your shopping for a month and all the receipts, then compare the # of items on each receipt to the grand total at the bottom. Maybe some of you will have a different "magic number" (2.5... 3... 1.75)... i just know this double method has always worked for us.

[Coleroo]

Originally Posted by LivingAlmostLarge

use coupons and keep the number to be just 1 item = $1!

I try! I know i've had a good run when I find sales, get a lot of quality foods and the final item averages = less than 1.50! haven't quite hit the 1.00 mark though unless i was in the dollar tree.. haha