Food / Groceries

Shop Once A Week – Daily Financial Challenge

April 28, 2006 By Jeffrey Strain 15 Comments

sgrocery store - shop once a week Yesterday we talked about making to do lists and how they can save you money (I hope that you wrote down a single goal yesterday and have another one today). In the same light, organization is a key component to saving money. Your organization – or lack there of – will show up in countless little things that you do such as having to make 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.

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, and possibly much more depending on how often you currently go.

Set aside a certain day each week on your calendar that you will make your “grocery shopping day” to do all your grocery shopping for that week. 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 if you aren’t doing that right now (another good habit that will save you money) 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, but it’ll 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.

Pack Your Freezer – Daily Financial Tip

April 26, 2006 By Jeffrey Strain 10 Comments

pack your freezer - hear sinking and freezer blocking Unlike your refrigerator, your freezer runs more efficiently when it’s tightly packed. That means if your freezer isn’t completely full, you should place something inside the freezer to fill up the empty space and that is exactly what we’re going to do today.

One way to accomplish this by placing bottles of water in your freezer when it isn’t full. This is referred to as “heat sinking.” When the freezer shuts off, the the frozen bottles will help keep the food frozen. The frozen bottles will also slow down the natural heat transfer between the freezer walls and the food meaning that the freezer doesn’t have to power on again as quickly as if there weren’t there. These frozen water bottles can also help in a number of other ways.

As mentioned above, they will help your freezer run more efficiently by making sure it’s always full.

If for some reason the power happens to go out, the frozen water bottles will help preserve the food in the freezer longer than if they weren’t there.

After you go shopping and need to remove the frozen water bottles from the freezer to make room for food you purchased, you can place them in your refrigerator. They will help cool and reduce the cost of running your refrigerator.

In the summer the frozen water bottles can also be used to help cool ice-chests when not needed in the freezer.

When filling your freezer with water bottles, remember to not fill the bottles completely full when placing them in the freezer. Water expands about 10% and you don’t want the bottles bursting in your freezer.

The other method that can be used is called “freezer blocking.” The concept is the same as filling the freezer with water bottles, but this time you use boxes filled with insulation. As with the water bottles, less electricity will be required to freeze the food since there is less air in the freezer and thus the freezer won’t have to work as hard.

For the boxes, you can use any type of insulation to fill them – regular household fiberglass wall insulation will work just fine which is fairly inexpensive and easily purchased at any home improvement store. Another options would be using shipping and packaging insulating peanuts. Try to get a variety of box sizes as this will make filling the freezer much easier. Once the boxes are filled with insulation, you’ll want to tape them shut since you don’t want the insulating material mixing with your food.

Whichever of the two methods you choose, you’ll want to place the insulated boxes or water bottles in the open spaces on either side of the food and not on top. Placing it on top will make it much more difficult to reach the food that you want when opening the freezer and in shuffling everything around, you’ll likely leave the freezer door open longer which will waste energy. Placing the packing material on either side will allow you to get to your food quickly without moving everything all around.

By taking the time to make sure that your freezer is packed tight, you’ll ensure that it is running as efficiently as possible and you are saving money.

Ditch The Bottled Water – Daily Financial Tip

April 18, 2006 By Jeffrey Strain 8 Comments

drink tap water instead of bottled water and save money Advertisers have done a wonderful job through media markets to convince that their product is superior to the water that comes out of your faucets. It wasn’t that long ago that bottled water was almost non existent and everyone drank what came out of the tap. Today it seems that most people feel they are putting themselves and their children in some type of danger if they give them tap water.

The truth is that tap water is just as safe as bottled water. According to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), “Generally, over the years, the FDA has adopted EPA standards for tap water as standards for bottled water. As a result, standards for contaminants in tap water and bottled water are very similar.”

In effect, you are paying high prices for water for the image that it is better when in reality it isn’t. For those of you who think your water “tastes funny,” the FDA points out that “tap water may sometimes look or taste differently, but that doesn’t mean it’s unsafe. In fact, the most dangerous contaminants are those that consumers cannot see, smell or taste…”

If you can, simply stop buying bottled water and drink your tap water by simply refilling empty bottles with tap water. If that won’t work in your situation, opt for purchasing a simple water filter to take away taste or color issues you may have. Purchasing a water filter such as a Brita water filter will be much less expensive than bottled water over the long run.

You can read how I save over $1000 a year drinking tap water since I stopped drinking soda.

Local Farmer’s Market – Daily Financial Tip

April 12, 2006 By Jeffrey Strain 5 Comments

farmer's market - shop and save Sometimes the best deals you can get on fresh produce is not on sale in your local supermarket. Finding other outlets where food is sold can save you money and introduce you to different varieties of fruits and vegetables that you won’t find in the grocery store produce section.

Farmers’ markets are an excellent source of fresh local produce. Since the produce sold at these markets are locally grown, they tend to be much fresher compared to grocery store produce that has been shipped thousands of miles. The local produce also tends to be less expensive that produce in the grocery store since you are purchasing it directly from the grower and there are no middle men to pay.

While the prices should be competitive if not lower than your local grocery store, there are a few steps you can take to reduce the cost even more:

Purchase Seconds: Seconds are perfectly edible produce that may not look right or have minor damage. Sellers will usually keep these in their trucks out of view and will often sell them for a discount.

Purchase In Bulk: If you are going to be purchasing a lot of a certain type of produce, ask up front what type of discount the seller will give if you buy in bulk.

Purchase At Closing: In the last hours before the farmers’ market closes, you can get great deals since most sellers would rather sell the produce even at a slight margin than haul it all the way back home. Simply ask what is the best price they are willing to sell for as they are packing up.

Sample: If you see something that you have never seen before, ask. Sellers will be more than willing to explain and give a small sample for you to try. Local farmers will often grow produce varieties not found in supermarkets with a wider variety of flavors. By sampling, you know you will be buying something you truly like and won’t be thrown away once it is taken home.

The first step is to locate a local farmers’ market in your area. You may have already heard of one, but never gone. If you haven’t, check the local paper for advertisements and ask friends. If you are able to locate one, make sure to mark it down on your calendar on what days it is held. A farmers’ market will give you an alternative place to purchase some of your produce at great prices.

Take Your Own Drink – Daily Financial Tip

April 7, 2006 By Jeffrey Strain 14 Comments

Cans of soda - save money bringing your own drink to work Whatever you buy to drink when you’re outside the home, you’re most likely paying more for it than you should be. While you have probably heard a million times it’s less expensive to bring your lunch to work rather than purchasing it, you may not have considered the effect of purchasing drinks while away from home. If you spend $1 a day, 5 days a week, you’re spending over $250 a year for your drinks. This price can easily be reduced by 75% by simply purchasing the drink yourself and bringing it from home. Best of all, it takes little effort to do so.

If you drink soft drinks, you can get brand named cans for $0.25 a piece or less (an non brand names even cheaper) by purchasing them on sale or at a warehouse club.

If you’re a coffee drinker, you can get premium grounds for a fraction of the cost of buying coffee at a coffee shop. Buy yourself a good thermos and an automatic coffee maker you can preset the night before so that the coffee is ready when you leave each morning. These investments will pay for themselves in no time.

If you drink fruit juice, purchasing individual containers on sale or at a warehouse club will greatly reduce their cost. You can save even more by purchasing them in large containers and putting the juice into a thermos or making the fruit juice from concentrate.

Taking a few minutes to decide to get what you already drink from the least expensive source will put a couple of hundred dollars in your pocket at the end of the year.

Financial Challenge – Day 19

February 22, 2006 By Jeffrey Strain 4 Comments

Find a grocery store that matches competitor's advertised prices

As we continue our Financial Challenges to save money, we still have a number of areas where we can accomplish painless saving – getting the things that we’d normaly purchase, but at a better price. Today we are going to focus on grocery shopping.

While many people know that gathering coupons and shopping at different stores for the best prices can save a lot of money, there is actually a simple way that you can do all your shopping at a single store and get the best prices from all around your area. The key is finding a grocery store that will honor competitor’s advertised prices.

While many stores will do this to keep customers from going to the competition, most will not openly advertise that they do. You can ask the sales clerk and if the sales clerk can’t give you an answer, you can ask the store manager. If you can find a store that will accept competitor’s advertised prices, in most cases you’ll have to bring the competitor’s weekly sales advertisement to provide proof. These will come in your Sunday and /or mid-week newspapers, sometimes in the mail and you can also check out all the weekly advertised grocery prices online. You most likely won’t be able to switch similar items (to qualify it must almost always be the exact same item), although stores will often match prices on competitor’s store brand for their store brand.

In addition to getting the best price on all the items you purchase, you will also save yourself time and gas. Since you will only have a single store to shop at, you won’t have to drive all over town to get the best prices saving the cost of gas between locations and the time of going from place to place.

While this Financial Challenge can’t be done at this minute, in the time you have set aside for today you can get prepared to ask the next time you go to your local grocery store:

1. Start at the most convenient store near you and ask the store clerk or manager if the store will accept competitor’s advertised prices.

2. If they do, ask exactly what you need to provide to receive the competitor’s price when shopping. If the policy is one that is at the manager’s discretion and not the cashier’s, ask him to write a note so he or she doesn’t need to be called to the register each time you check-out.

3. If the first store won’t match competitor’s prices, move on to the next most convenient store until you find one that does.

4. Set up a system where you check all the weekly price circulars either online (and print them out) or when your newspaper comes so that you always have the circulars with you to take advantage of the savings.

5. Once you have located a store that will accept competitor’s advertised prices, you have instantly turned several trips into a single one while saving yourself a significant amount of both time and money – and still getting the exact same items you would have purchased anyway.

There are a couple of ways you can calculate the savings to place toward paying down your debt or into your simple investing plan. You can take the price difference between the grocery store where you purchase the item and the one where it is the least expensive. You can also calculate how much you save from not having to drive to several different stores and use that set amount each time you go grocery shopping. The most important thing is to make sure to place the savings toward your chosen plan rather than leaving it mixed in with your everyday spending money.