Make it a game!

I get asked all the time how many stores I visit and how much time I spend, when I grocery shop. At the risk of sounding like a complete nut, I'll tell you, but not before I tell you why. I'm a pretty competitive person and do not like to lose-- at anything. Do I ever? Sure, but it kills me. Am I a sore loser? Absolutely, which isn't really a trait you want your kids to see in you. :)

About the same time I started putting together my menus, I started looking at grocery shopping like a game, to see if I could come home having spent a less each time I went. The only problem was the quality of products I bought sometimes was going downhill. I have decided I will eat just about anything, regardless of quality. However, the breaking point with Financial Guy was when I bought some store brand cereal at a major retailer. He poured the milk in it for breakfast and a film rose to the surface. "That's it!" he declared. I thought the game was over, until I visited Aldi (we'll talk about that another time).

Since that fateful, filmy cereal day, I have tried different strategies of how to "play the game" and win with buying groceries. There is truly a site called The Grocery Game, and they are played similarly, but that's not exactly what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about making your trip to the store a personal savings game. If you're a runner, this would kind of be like shooting for your PR (personal record) every time you go to the store. Not to see how much you can save by getting the worst possible quality products (like the filmy cereal), but by getting good, quality, name brand (or even good store brand) stuff, but saving money while doing it! It hasn't been that long ago that I would have never even considered buying many name brand products, because I was convinced there was no way I could save money on them, even with sales and coupons. Au contraire!

So, to answer your question of how many stores do I visit every time I do my major grocery shopping? Four and sometimes 5-- and that's with 4 kiddos in tow. How long does it take? About 3-4 hours. Am I crazy? Dont' answer, but probably. Do I save money? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Well, that's up to you, but I think so. In reality, most people probably shop at 2-3 stores, but they don't think about it. I'll leave you with you to think about how much of a goob I am for not participating in "one stop shopping", but next time, I'll lay out the rules of "the game", so you can play, too.  :)