5 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill

Shopping for groceries can put a big dent in any family's budget. With the price of food going up, and the economy going down it's more important now than ever to stretch your grocery dollar. Here are five things you can do to help you cut your grocery bill.

Plan your Trip to the Grocery Store

One of the best ways to waste money at the grocery store is not to plan by creating a shopping list before you go. Without one, you'll find yourself throwing things in your cart just because they caught your eye or because you're hungry. A shopping list helps you plan exactly what you need before you get to the store and you're enticed by all of displays.

Clip Coupons

Back in the day, my parents used to clip coupons out of the Sunday paper. Sunday mornings were devoted to clipping and sorting coupons. Now days, you just need to go to the Internet to find exactly the coupon you need and print it out. There are many sites like Hot Coupon World (www.hotcouponworld.com) and SmartSource (www.smartsource.com) where you can find a plethora of coupons.

In fact, I wrote an article just on this topic. You can read it by following the link below.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1024450/where_to_find_printable_coupons_online.html

Buy Generic or Store Brands

Most store brand or generic brand products are made by major manufactures and just labeled as generic or with the store's own label. They cost less because there is little or no advertising budget for these items. So, the can of soup that you pick up from a well-known soup company might actually be the same soup that's in the lesser-priced store brand.

Buy in Bulk

When something is on sale, or you have a coupon for something you use, you should buy multiple quantities when you can. By stocking up during a sale or when you have a coupon, you're locking in that great deal. Just be careful, however, if the item is perishable that you use it before it goes bad.

Check Out the Clearance Items

Often tucked away in the back of the grocery store are shelves or bins of clearance items marked way down. Most times, these are perfect and fresh items, but may be overstocked or seasonal items. Recently, I found Pepsi marked down in the clearance area just because it had a Christmas label on it and Christmas had just pasted.