Tips for Financial Success - Part IV

Last time, we took a look at reducing or eliminating costs for non essential items. Now, we turn our attention to the essential things. These are products we must have in order to live. We cannot eliminate these costs, but we can drastically reduce them. Let's take a look.

Food: you can save by cooking at home, preferably from scratch, and packing leftovers for next day's lunch instead of eating out. If you work full time and don't have time to cook every night, use the weekend to prepare large batches to then freeze and use throughout the week. If you feel that, by doing so, you would be eating too much of the same thing, check on-line. There are cooking sites that teach you basic meal preparation and give you tips on how to use the leftovers to make different enough meals from the original one.

Buy fruits and vegetables that are in season, as they cost much less than other produce. Shop for fruits and vegetables that are on sale, let's say from $0.98 to $1.00 per pound when the regular price is well over $1.00. Most chain stores have on-line sale ads and have a price match guarantee. Check them out. If you generally shop at store A but store B has a big sale going on, you can choose to go to store B, or you can go to store A and ask for a price match.

Shop for meats by due date. Some of the meats are on sale when they are due within a couple of days. Use the purchase right away or freeze. Watch for sales, such as chicken for $0.99 per pound. If you buy large quantities, make sure to divide them in portions you regularly use, before placing them in the freezer.

Buy other items on sale, but buy the products only if you would have bought them at regular price or if you are absolutely sure that the difference does not matter. Money spent on items on sale but that you are not accustomed to eating is only money wasted.

Non food items are those we still need in order to function. Some of these are toilet paper, diapers, hygiene products, and regular cleaning products. Stock up when on sale, if you can. If there are no sales going on, check different brands or off brands products. Many times off brand items are less expensive than brand items, and, many times, there is no difference in the products. So, when you shop, ask yourself the question if the product is worth the difference in price.

When it comes to cleaning supplies, check on-line for home-made products. Many sites offer recipes and reviews of these home-made concoctions. The same goes for dish-washing detergents and laundry detergents. You can save a bundle by making these products yourself.

On all these food and non-food items, always do a cost comparison. Just because the package is bigger, it does not mean that it costs less per unit than the smaller package, especially when items are on sale. So, always check to see what the unit price is.

Most stores have the unit price marked, but learn to bring your calculator so you can do your own figuring (aside from keeping track of your spending, if you only have a set amount to spend). To find out what the unit price is on any item you need to take the total cost of the product and divide it by the quantity in the product (oz., lbs., sheets, etc.).

If you follow these suggestions, your total monthly grocery bill will shrink. It will become a new way of life and, even though it may take a little while to get adjusted to it, the benefits will outweigh the extra work.

With the next article will take a look at other necessary variable costs that we incur in our lives. Stay tuned for the article Where and How Can I Save Money on Other Variable Costs?