You Need Equipment For 'The Game'

Now that you’ve gotten your head in 'the game' of saving money at the grocery and established a budget, you need the right equipment. In all honesty, if you are going to the store without these things, it’s kind of like putting yourself in a basketball game, while wearing high heels. Yikes! Am I saying it can’t be done? No. What I am saying is that it’s going to be difficult and you’re probably going to make a few choices because it looks like a good deal, but you don’t want to compare items because you’re worn out from stomping up and down the court (read: aisles) in your heels.

STEP 2

EQUIPMENT LIST: Item #1: Coupons

A few days ago, we discussed the importance of getting your coupons together and keeping them in a notebook, plus loading eCoupons to your grocery store cards you use at check out to 'save' money (Financial Guy and I laugh because the stores market the cards like when you use them, you're getting a better deal. If they'd just give you the stinkin' deal to begin with, there'd be no need for the card!). Coupons are truly the way to save money, but patience has to be involved. Many times something will appear to be a good deal, but it's a marketing scheme [shame on you, marketing majors! :)]. Here are a very few ideas of places to find them, outside of the newspaper:

• Coupons.com for printables
• Kroger for eCoupons
• Food Lion for printables and eCoupons
• Red Plum 
• Target

This listed is very limited and primarily for the greater Nashville area, but might give you some ideas of places to look in your area. Also, you can subscribe to an email like Money Saving Mom,  Faithful Provisions, or Southern Savers and they will send out alerts of where coupons can be found. No more rummaging around the Internet doing guesswork! :)

Did you know that many name brand items even have Facebook pages and when you "like" them, there's a coupon section on there? Rockin'! I've had several people say lately, "I just buy the store brand. It's usually cheaper than buying with a coupon." My reply is always, "not if you pay attention." By now, I'm sure you will totally not be surprised when I admit I am a complete dork and used to keep a spreadsheet of which stores had the least expensive items. While this is a good idea in theory, prices change so much with sales, I've learned it really doesn't apply. However, what is a good idea is to start a system like that and put normal prices at your stores on it, so when the item goes "on sale" somewhere else, you'll know if it's really a good deal... or not. So regardless of your source, get some coupons!

EQUIPMENT LIST: Item #2: Calculator

A few years ago, some of the grocery stores in my area went through a phase of putting calculators on the grocery carts handle. It was fantastic! That was one less thing I had to keep up with, as I meandered around the store; my cart overflowing with children.

Get a calculator and carry it with you! Most cell phones have one made in them. Many times, something will appear to be a good deal, but that might not actually be the case. Also, sometimes stores will have unadvertised sales. If you don't have your coupons (mentioned above) and calculator with you, you won't know if you're paying too much.

My friend Catherine and I had a conversation when our twins (she has a set, too) were babies, about the unit cost of diapers. I told her I was figuring the individual diaper cost and divided the total cost by the number of diapers. I revealed she was paying about $0.27 per diaper. Her eyes got about as big as plates, then she said, "well, why don't I just throw 2 quarters in the toilet, let them poop on them, then flush them!" (the quarters, not the twins). If you're not figuring out unit costs, you may very well be flushing yours, too! Example: Seemingly, things at Dollar General are inexpensive. I noticed a small package of diapers for $5 one day and ran the numbers. They were actually more expensive per diaper than if they had been purchased at a major grocery store and not on sale! I was floored!

Back to my marketing friends. They really are geniuses, you know? Financial Guy is convinced that because couponing is such a big 'thing', that they're going to come up with ploys to make you either 1) spend more than you intended to, to get the 'deal' or 2) make the 'deal' seem good, when it's really not and for those who can't do simple math in their heads (or don't bring a calculator), they'll just pick it up & say, 'it seems like a good deal'.

If you were playing defense in a basketball game and you knew someone in front of you was about to score, would you stand there, not doing anything, or put your hands up? Here's hoping you'd try to keep them from scoring. In the store, you're playing defense. Get your equipment together and get out there-- only you might not want to walk around with your hands up. People may stare. :)