Shop Once a Week – Daily Financial Challenge

We talked about making to-do lists and how they can save you money. In the same light, getting organized is a key component to saving money. It will show up in countless little things that you do. One example is making extra trips to the grocery store because you forgot something you needed.

Grocery stores are well-oiled machines in getting you to part from your money. The more times you enter the store, the more money you’ll likely spend. In addition, with gasoline prices so high, each extra trip to the store costs you money in gas and time.

Shop Once a Week

One of the best ways to help reduce the amount you spend at the grocery store is simply not to go there as often. Getting into the habit of only going once a week (or even better, once every two weeks) will help shave a minimum of $50 off your grocery bill. Possibly much more depending on how often you currently go.

Set aside a certain day each week on your calendar as your “grocery shopping day.” Commit to making that the only day that you will do your grocery shopping. This will force you to get organized and make a list of the things you need so that you have enough food to last you through the week.

While it will be tempting to go to the grocery store more than once when you first begin this exercise, don’t do it. The struggle will help you become more organized and pay off in the long run. If you are used to going to the store when you accidentally forget something, it’ll mean that you’ll probably have to do some creative alternatives with your cooking plans. It will also help you break yourself from the habit of going more than you should which costs you money.

You can also take our Grocery Shopping Quiz to test your grocery shopping knowledge and visit our satellite site Grocery Coupon Guide for more quality information on ways that you can reduce your grocery shopping costs.