A New Way (To Me) To Save On Groceries

Posted by Lorren on October 13, 2008

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that I’ve been bearish on the economy… although some people say that they didn’t see this coming, I was blogging about it since at least January. But I also don’t think that we should be running around, freaking out and playing the victim. I feel that we should be good stewards of what we have, and wisely prepare for the turmoil that is to come. Joseph, for example, knew that there was going to be a famine in Egypt. So did he decide to live it up while the times were good, knowing that when the famine hit he would be toast? NO! He prepared for the famine during times of plenty, so that when things were bad, the nation of Egypt (and also his people) were okay.

Since for many of us, the pinch might already be starting, we might be having a little more difficult time preparing… but it might not be too late. I was just at Mervyn’s yesterday, and they had summer sandals and backpacks on clearance for 50% off. If you have a little extra and you have kids, you might want to take advantage of that for next year. At the grocery store, pick up a pound of dry beans or a bag of rice (and learn how to cook it).

If you’re already struggling, how do you find some spare money to prepare? One thing that almost all of us have to buy is groceries. I’ve been saving on my grocery bill for years by using The Grocery Game. Last week’s groceries came to a total of $51. I then spent another $19 at Walgreens, but I’m getting a $15 rebate from what I spent, so I actually only spent $4 (I used my rebate money from last month, so no cash left my pocket). My grocery spending includes Pull-Ups, cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc.

The Grocery Game is something I’ve been using for a long time though. I recently found a new site that can add to your grocery savings: Shortcuts.com. You can digitally load coupons onto your shopper’s card at home, and from what I’ve heard, they stack with paper coupons! How cool is that! So let’s say you’re buying Huggies Diapers. You have a paper coupon for $1.50, and a digital coupon on your shopper’s card for another $1.50, and you save $3 off the cost of diapers!

Proctor and Gamble also has a similar program called P&G eSaver. You can have 25 coupons loaded onto your shopper’s card from that site at a time. The digital coupons currently on the site expire December 31st.

So even though things are rough right now, you can save a little money… maybe enough to buy your kids a new coat for next year.