The Grocery Game: It Works, but Not for Everyone
The Grocery Game was first established by Teri Gault for members in Southern California. It has since expanded to stores in 48 states. It professes to help people save money on groceries (including food products, baby and pet products, paper products, drug store items, and other toiletries) by using a database to track product prices and coupons and by giving a weekly list of which sales at your local grocery or drug store are truly "rock bottom" prices. It costs $1 for a one-month trial to see any or all of the "List stores" in your area. After the trial period you pay $10 for one List store for every 8 weeks plus an extra $5 for each additional List store during that same time frame.
On the public message board for The Grocery Game (www.terismessageboard.com), you will find many posts by people who really do appear to be saving money. Each week, members can report their savings which might range from, for example, 35% to 90%. Some of the savings members report on the message board may seem unbelievable, but I can confirm what they are saying because I'm experiencing it, too. After these five weeks, I've saved more than 80% at some stores and am averaging about 43% savings overall. I expect my average to go even higher as I get better at the Game.
I attribute my success to being willing to spend more time getting ready to shop and more time organizing my coupons. If you really want to save money on groceries with The Grocery Game, you have to be willing to follow a few unwritten rules. The Grocery Game works if:
1. You have coupons or are willing to get them. The Grocery Game offers access to online coupon clipping services and coupon trains (where people exchange coupons by mail). Although I have not done this, it also recommends getting more than one Sunday paper so you can get more than one set of coupon inserts each week.
2. You're willing to organize and use your coupons. It takes time to do this, and you have to be willing to spend that time. Grocery Gamers use a variety of methods to organize their coupons and they often discuss those methods on the public message board.
3. You have room to stockpile the products you buy. The Grocery Game works on the concept of buying in bulk when there's a great deal so you don't need to buy the product again until the next great deal comes along. You don't need a lot of room, but if you're going to buy 4 packs of toilet paper, 10 cans of green beans, 8 bags of frozen broccoli, and 5 bottles of hair spray, you may want to have someplace to put it all.
4. You're willing to spend time getting ready to shop each week. Each week you'll need to print off The Grocery Game List, decide what you're going to buy, and find the coupons for those products. At first I spent upwards of 2 extra hours a week because I also compared the List to my store's weekly sales circular. After five weeks I'm now spending about an hour extra to get ready. I see myself spending a little less time as more time passes, but I also expect that I'll always spend more time getting ready to shop than I spent before I joined The Grocery Game. I'm willing to spend that time because I'm saving enough money to justify the extra time.
5. You don't know the rock bottom price for products or you don't want to or have the time to keep track of them. I thought I knew good prices for some products until I got the List. Now I know for example that where I live, I should never have to pay anything for some products (like toothpaste and toothbrushes) and I should never buy deodorant or brand name cereal if it's going cost me $1 or more for the product. I still have no idea when a meat sale is a good deal because for some reason those prices just don't stick in my head. The Grocery Game makes it so I don't have to clutter my mind with all that information.
6. You know rock bottom prices, but you don't have time to pore through the store sales flyers to identify the best deals of the week.
7. You can control yourself when a good sale is in your line of vision. The Grocery Game will show you the rock bottom prices on a lot of products. If you're the type of person who can't pass up a good deal, you may actually end up spending more on groceries or at least spending money on unnecessary products. The art is to know which products your family needs or uses and to focus only on getting those products. Don't get caught up in the game, so to speak.
The Grocery Game is working for me and I expect to remain signed up and paying for the Game for some time to come. If you think you can follow these unwritten rules, then I encourage you to sign up for the trial month. But if you know you can't follow the unwritten rules, be honest with yourself. The Grocery Game just might not be the best game for you.
Published by Wendy Burger
Wendy K. Burger is a freelance writer and owner of Write on the Dot, LLC (www.writeonthedot.com). Burger writes a wide variety of copy for businesses and corporations. She has over 18 years of experience in... View profile
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22 Comments
Post a CommentI tried the grocery game a few years back. At the time I was a single mom with barely any money. I wanted to use this site more, but I needed to choose food over toothpaste and things like that at the time. So, if you are desperate for money and need to use it on the very basics just to feed your children then this won't work for you. I have been thinking about joining again being that I can afford it now. It was hard paying $15 that could have gone into food for my kids tummies at the time and I felt so bad for wasting it like that. When you are that broke, even $2 means a lot.
I'be been doing the Grocery Game for about 6 weeks now. I used coupons before and used the free sites but for me,the GG is easier because they tell me when something is a rock bottom price. I'm not good at keeping prices in my head. Also the free sites take a lot more time to mine them for all the deals because random people usually add the deals throughout the week and sometimes they are only good for their area or you don't have the same coupons they do. GG just puts it all in one place for you at one time. AND they include unadvertised sales. I've found so many deals on GG that never showed up on hotcouponworld or couponmom or some others.
hi there. I use the grocery game and it really really works. Today, my bill was $101.00 at the market. After scanning my club card it went to 54.00 and then after giving my coupons it went down to 38.00.....woooo hoooooo!!!!
The Game is working for me...!!!!!!
It also works if you eat a lot of processed/factory food. If you don't, it doesn't work very well.
I have been using the "Game" for two months now and it has definitely been valubale to me. Here's why:
1. Time - With a young family, social, etc. I don't have the time to manage coupons and sales on my own. The "Game" does this for me.
2. Organization - The "Game" will rely on coupons from weeks past. I personally couldn't manage this on my own. But now I simply keep the paper inserts (I don't cut out the coupons) and save them for when they are needed.
3. The List - I use the list backwards. I sort by amount saved and start at the bottom with free items and move up. I do stock pile and after two months, I really see where I am saving money because I have things I may normally run out of like paper towels, tin foil, rice, noodles, toothpaste, etc.
4. Multiple Stores - CVS and Walgreens should be a must have. They have freebies every week. And on things like White Strips, I normally save 50% on those 40% buggers.
I spend 10 minutes Sunday morning and I am off
I've been a Grocery Gamer since October 2003 - that's 6.5 years ago. The amount of money I have saved our family of 5 on groceries (food, paper & cleaning products, health & beauty, etc.) is astounding. My average savings is about 70%. Our budget for groceries (all of which I mentioned above AND our dog's premium dog food) is $400 a month for our family of FIVE. We eat well (YES, there ARE deals on healthy items on the List!) and save big.
The nice thing is that even if you don't want to buy the processed foods, you still save SO much on other areas - cleaning products, toilet paper, dental care, etc. - that it is completely worth the cost to subscribe. Also, more and more, manufacturers of organics & other healthy food options are realizing the potential of reaching customers by providing coupons.
The thing to remember with the Game is to buy what YOUR family needs to get through a 12 week period. Not what Joe Schmo's family needs, as each family goes through things differ
I tried this game for the first 8 weeks but found it doesn't help so much when one is trying to avoid processed food and eat healthier.
I've been doing The Grocery Game for over a year...I've tried the free websites, but they are just not as good as The Grocery Game. Yes, it takes a lot of work staying organized, etc., but well worth it. I actually MAKE money on it. I love it, and have never had any problems with billing, adding deleting lists, etc. Very happy customer here!!
The grocery game took money out of my bank account AFTER I canceled the membership. It ended up costing me $20 to learn not to trust these sites, I hope others take the warning and don't give them your debit info- I now have to change my card to avoid future fraudelent charges from this rip off company.
I just cannot see why anyone would pay money to save money when there are free websites that will teach you how to get the same savings (or better). I personally use http://hotcouponworld.com (IT'S THE BEST, but if you Google "Grocery Coupon Forums" you may find others that suit your needs too.
Don't waste the money that you are trying to save by subscribing to information that you can get for free.