VTitus2Mom Happily married mom of 2 beautiful children. View all articles | Contact author

Living in Burlington, VT was not cheap before the recession starting glaring us in the eyes.  One of the benefits of having not been blessed with lots of money before things started getting scarier is that I have learned to manage the family groceries with very little.  Hopefully my experience can be a blessing to you as well.

The places you shop and knowing what good prices are for your staple items can mean the difference between going over budget on your groceries and staying well within your means.  For me, shopping is kind of a game.  I enjoy finding good prices and refuse to buy things when they cost too much money.  A friend of mine started using the grocery game and maintains that this is a helpful way to save money.  I, on the other hand, find that doing things my way is very satisfying and saves me more money than using a computer program.

This is the method that I use:

First, find out what items you use regularly and continuously need stocked.  You may find that this is a seasonal thing, as you won't necessarily make as many soups or casseroles in the summer time, so your staple ingredients would change.

Second, find every circular you can of stores every week for a month or two.  This isn't really as labor intensive as it sounds.  You can find a lot of them online, and Burlington residents get Shaw's and Price Chopper circulars in the weekly advertiser around Thursday of each week.  (Hannaford does not put theirs out, but you can always look at theirs online or grab one the next time you wind up in the store.)  This is a research time, so you don't have to be overly concerned with what is on sale each particular week.  Look for your staple items.  Take notes of the best prices for those items and watch the cycles.  (Obviously if you need the item and it's on sale buy it.  If possible, do without the items in question until they go on sale.)

Third, take a small notebook with you into the stores when you go out.  Take down the prices of the items you buy regularly.  Doing this in each store will help you to know where to buy something when it is not on sale and you need it.  For example, I know that the best price of V8 in my area is Walmart, so if there are no sales coming up on V8, I will make sure to get some when I go there for other items.  This may seem basic, but sticking to these rules helps me to make sure that I don't have to buy something at a store where it costs well over the price I should be paying.

Once your research period is underway, you can begin to buy things in cycles.  In other words, when I see a sale on pasta, I get a lot of the item so that I am not forced to buy it at a higher price just because I need it.  When ground beef is on sale for 1.99 a pound, I buy several packages-enough to tide me over till the next time it goes on sale.  Then the next week, I stock up whatever else is on sale.  Occasionally, you may need to adjust the prices on certain items, the key is paying attention.

In this way, you become accustomed to knowing the prices of your basics and are rarely caught unawares.  You can be supermarket savvy and have money to spend on other essentials, or even have more money to put into savings.  Wouldn't that be a blessing?  You may even have a chance to eat out because you're spending less at the grocery store.  In which case, be sure to check out some of my articles on eating out family style in Burlington.  Living within a budget doesn't have to be tiresome; in fact, you may learn to enjoy your newfound spendthriftiness. 

For more thrifty tips and articles on parenting, frugality and faith, please check out my online column at Examiner.com: http://www.examiner.com/x-7465-Burlington-StayatHome-Moms-Examiner

Thanks for reading!