You can’t live without groceries, but you could live without spending a fortune on them every single month. You don’t have to obsessively cut coupons and hunt for sales to trim down those receipts.
Read these five tips to see how you can easily save yourself money when it comes to your groceries.
1. Make a budget
Without a budget, you’re spending blindly whenever you go to the grocery store. You have no way to know how much is in your bank account, or how much you need to leave in there to cover essentials like phone bills and car insurance payments. Every time you load up your shopping cart, you risk pushing past your financial limits.
A monthly budget will do more than help you calculate your total income and track your expenses. It will protect you from being financially vulnerable, too.
You don’t want to find yourself at the checkout aisle and have your credit card declined. You don’t want to pay by cheque and have it bounce.
You don’t want to drain your account and then get stuck with an expensive surprise, like a flat tire or a clogged sink, and wonder how you can afford to fix it.
Read finance resources with everyday budgeting tips to help you shrink costs for things like groceries, schooling, utilities and more.
It will also show you resources for online installment loans and lines of credit that can help you cover unexpected emergency expenses that you don’t have the funds for.
2. Make a Grocery List
One of the easiest ways to save money on groceries is to think about what you need to buy ahead of time and write a list.
Without a grocery list to follow, you’re going to be basing your shopping on impulse instead of need. This means that you’re going to forget important recipe ingredients and everyday essentials.
When you get home, you’ll realize that your shopping trip was not completely useful. So, you’ll have to go back to the store and spend more on everything you forgot.
To get it right on the first try, bring a grocery list. You can also bring a calculator to check to see that your list stays within your budget.
3. Go Meatless
Meat will be one of the most expensive items in your cart, especially if you plan on eating it every single day.
So, consider putting alternative proteins like tofu, beans or eggs in your cart. If you’re not sure what to cook, look up easy meat replacement recipes to…
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