Keeping your grocery spend low

Anyone who has shopped at a supermarket in the last twelve months will probably tell you that grocery prices have gone up. A lot.

The major supermarket chains tell a different story and have 'shelf price reduced' stickers all over the store and will happily tell us that over a hundred items have had the shelf price permanently reduced.

So, who do we believe?  Both are actually correct but there are ways to stretch your grocery dollar further.  We manage to keep our overall grocery spend for two adults, one child and numerous pets to an average of $125 a week.

GuitarMan and I both work and saving time is often as important as saving money.  I have a rough rule of thumb that each hour I spend on reducing our spending should give me a decent sort of return for my time investment.  On that basis there are things that I have done to save money in the past that I don't bother to do now as my time with my family is important to me.

Things I (almost) always do to reduce my grocery spending

• Shop around.  Don't buy everything in the one store.
• Have a weekly budget set aside for stockpiling bargains or bulk items.
• Shop with a list
• Don't shop when I am in a rush e.g. I have to pick up TootToot or be somewhere in half an hour
• Never spend more to achieve fly buys, reward points or fuel dockets
• I have the ugliest trolley in the supermarket and I'm prepared to buy generic or store brand.  No pretty labels for me.
• If I try a generic or store brand and nobody likes it or the quality isn't as good then I'm happy to buy the brand name.
• Compare the unit cost or cost per kilo.  Sometimes a brand name on special can be cheaper.
• Take advantage of manufacturers cash back offers.  You can get some great one's for new product lines.
• Never buy prepared cooking sauces etc.  I buy basic ingredients and cook from scratch.
• Bake cakes, biscuits and savoury snacks at home.
• Consider more vegetarian meals.  Pulses are cheap when compared with meat, chicken and fish.
• Buy marked down, meat, bread etc if I am at the store anyway and if it's something I want.  We will not eat lamb's fry no matter how cheaply I can buy it.
• If I only need one or two items, I think about what can be substituted from items I already have.  Every day I can delay that grocery shop saves money.
• Shop outside the supermarkets.  I buy fruit and veg from the local market, meat from a wholesale butcher and pulses from an Indian grocery store.

Things I've done in the past to reduce my grocery spend but no longer do

• Go to the store at the time they will be marking down produce.  My local supermarket is across the road from the primary school.  The meat and bakery items are marked down just before school lets out for the day. It's like the first day of the post-Christmas sales and if you can get any reduced items it takes 15 minutes to get through the checkout.  Not for me thank you.
• Buy five of an item on special only to discover we don't like it or have no real use for it.
• Drive distances to buy a bargain.  There are certain places e.g. COSTCO that I know are cheaper for me but I will only shop there if in the area anyway.  When you add the cost of fuel in sometimes there are no real savings in going too far from home.
• Buy from factory outlets.  Love it but I'm generally at work when they are open.
• Make my own bread all the time.  We still enjoy home baked but for everyday, we will buy a loaf at the supermarket for our toast.
• Grow some fruit, vegetables and herbs.  We are planning to start this again in the spring.

Things that have never worked for me

• Maintaining a Price Book.  You can read about them on most frugal living websites but for me personally it was an absolute drudge and a complete waste of time.
• Preserving foods.  I just have no knack for this at all even though I'd like to.

Getting the best price

Sales are so tempting aren't they?  We all love a bargain, and that feeling of victory because we've somehow walked out with something so cheap it was almost free. 

I rarely pay full price for any major purchase and that includes travel, cars, major appliances or furniture and real estate.  How do I manage that?  Well, I almost never buy items when they are on sale and I don't read junk mail.

I've found from experience that you will rarely gain any major discount on an advertised 'special' or 'sale'.  The salespersons view seems to generally be that the price is already discounted and they are less inclined to go much lower.

Here's my tips for getting the best price?

1. Do your research on line and then follow up by calling around stores and visiting only those where you're likely to get a good deal.  For example some stores say they will price match but then when you read the fine print it's only on items in stock and that's no good if item you want has to be ordered in.
2. Do your call around and store visits in the last week of the month or quarter.We saved $9,500 off the list price of GuitarMans car because the salesman wanted the sale before the end of financial year.  We paid for the car on 30 June! 
3. Consider smaller retailers and not just the bigger chains.  Suprisingly they will often have more flexibility as its their business and they have direct relationships with wholesalers and distributors.
4. When you go into a store, travel agent or real estate agent always dress appropriately.  Sales people will respond better and be more open to doing 'business' if you are dressed in a similar manner to them.
5. Always ask "is that your best price you can offer me today" or at the very least "will you include free delivery please".  Please remember to be polite, you'll be more likely to get that free something  included if you are pleasant.  Sales people are there to make a living and you don't need to demean them just so you can save a buck.
6. I know it sounds old fashioned but thank the sales person and shake their hand.  Trust me they'll remember you and you'll get an even better deal next time you go back.  We saved several hundred dollars on a dining table and chairs because the salesman remembered we had bought a bed ensemble from him four years earlier.