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Archive for May, 2008

Last night my fiancee and I were at the grocery store and we actually got near the end of our trek through the store and we realized we spent a lot more than we planned to. True we did buy 4 Rib eye steaks for $25(hey we did have a $1 off coupon). I was having trouble justifying buying steaks that cost so much when the economy has been struggling lately and many of my investments are down right now.

How did I rationalize this purchase? Well I did save $1 and the coupon was expiring(I know not a very good rationalization), also I haven’t had a good steak in about a year and a half. I was planning on making one today, but of course it was raining outside. Will have to wait for a nice sunny day.

Anyways, how can you save money at the grocery store?

This will even work if you hate budgets!

1) Buy In Bulk

When possible buy items that will not spoil in bulk quantities. We belong to a local wholesale club and we buy plenty of items that make the membership worthwhile. Make sure you know your prices as not every item is a better deal.

We usually pick up large packages of paper towel, toilet paper and a lot of our meat products(ground beef etc)

2) Buy Clearance Items

Often many grocery stores will discount perfectly fine items that we not selling that well to make shelf room for top sellers. I often pickup very inexpensive TV Dinners this way, and other items like hot sauce and salad dressings.

3) Comparison Shop

It really does pay to know your prices, I visit 3 grocery stores in the local area and save money on products at each one. Some may ask about the extra driving, I usually do not make special trips and stop when I am heading in that direction anyways.

4) Plan Your Meals

If you plan out your meals you can save a lot of money. If you know you are going to be using ground beef twice this week you can buy a larger package which will be cheaper than if you buy a small package at the beginning of the week and another one mid week.

5) Check Out The Farmer’s Market

Again you must know your prices but shopping at a local farmers market is great on many levels. You are supporting local farmers, the items are fresher and often times you can find great deals on produce.

Check back in a few days for our 5 Tips To Save At The Gas Pump

One of the most difficult things to see is when a fairly young person 18-25 gets a large(or large to them) sum of money. For example a 19 year old kid getting $50,000. Now in the grand scheme of things that really is not that much money, but to a broke college kid that is like hitting the lotto.

What would the average kid do?

1) Buy a new car

2) Buy a nice sound system for the car

3) Buy a bunch of clothes

4) Take friends out to eat or pay for other things.

How would the smart kid handle $50,000?

Assuming the kid has no debt(I would payoff any or all debt first).

I would recommend putting at least $25,000 into a good growth stock or growth and income mutual fund with a long track record. Second I would put another $15,000 into a Roth IRA that was in a good growth mutual fund.

Finally $1,000 would go towards a spending fund, where the kid could buy a few things, with the understanding once it is gone it is gone.  If we do not allow any fun money the kid will likely find a way to blow the rest of the money.

The rest of the money would go into a 12 months CD, I know the interest rates are terrible but it would force the kid to have a “cooling off” period where the money would be hard to touch.

Obviously at 19 the kid can do what he or she likes with the money but hopefully they realize what $50,000 could amount to with compound interest and time on their side.