Dear Just Be: My finances are tight and I need to figure out how to stretch my dollar. Help!

For many of us the recession has taught us we need to make our money last longer. There are several ways to stretch your money, but one way is with groceries. Groceries are a necessity, they aren’t one of those items you can stop purchasing or cancel your subscription/membership. So here are some steps in making your money go further when buying groceries.

1.) Make a list. It sounds simple, but this first step will go a long way. Take an inventory of what you have in home and mark down only what you need. When you just go in the store empty handed you are sure to buy more items than you need. This is what we call impulse buying.

2.) Shop around. What I mean by this is take the grocer’s circular/flyers you get every Tuesday in the mail and look to see who is having what deal. Then mark on your list where you are going to get that item. It might not sound convenient to go to multiple stores to get your groceries, but it can mean the difference of hundreds of dollars each year, which over time adds up to that shirt, skirt, dinner or electronic item you have wanted to purchase.

3.) Go in with coupons. Coupons can come from Valupacks, Sunday’s paper, you can even download them from your grocer’s website and have them on your loyalty card ready to use. Also, know when your local grocers have double discounts. For instance, when you go to Sunflower Market on Wednesday they honor discounts from the previous week’s circular as well as the current week’s circular. Talk about saving money!

4.) When you are in the store only shop the perimeter for food items. The food items in the middle of the store are not good for your wallet or waist line. Many think fruits and vegetables cost more than the processed food, but that is not true. Even if you can find an item or two in the processed food section that is less than the fresh items, know that you will be paying more for this item down the road through medical bills.

5.) Eat before you shop. Never shop when you are hungry. You are guaranteed to spend more when you are hungry because you are purchasing items that look and sound good rather than what you need.


6.) Shop once a week, or better yet every two weeks. Designate one day to go shopping and make it the only day you go shopping. This exercise will be hard to do at first, but over time you will see how it saves you money and time. It is estimated that changing your shopping schedule to once a week or once every two weeks will shave a minimum of $50 off your shopping bill.

7.) Watch the scanner. As you are standing at checkout or checking yourself out make sure the prices are coming up correctly.

For more information on saving money while you shop check out Grocery Coupon Guide