Here’s the cold hard truth.If you don’t spend some time planning your shopping trips, you will spend waaayyyy too much money! If you don’t plan your menu’s, even just a couple of days in advance, you will spend waaayyyy too much money! Do you want to know how I know this to be a fact? Because, until a little over a year ago, I did just that! I did not plan and I spent way too much money. Bear with me for a minute and tell me if this has ever been you….
I spent $10 for all this!
Skip lunch…put dinner off until later…go grocery shopping. Your stomach is all growly and you could eat anything. A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G. So, you move very quickly thorugh the store, paying virtually no attention to prices. You throw stuff in the cart to satisfy the meal requirements for the next couple of days. You stand in the check out line adding things in your head (come ON, you have sooo done this!!). Wondering. Hoping. PRAYING that you have enough on the trusty ol debit card to cover it! All the while you’re thinking, “Wow, I didn’t mean to get so much. I’m hungry. It’s only Tuesday. I’m hungry. I hope I have enough for gas in the car to get to work the rest of the week. Good grief, I am HUNGRY! Let me see, the husband spent $8 on lunch yesterday. I had to give the kids $20 for lunches at school. H U N G R Y. Oh no, I don’t think I have enough. What can I put back….” At this point, you start to scan the items in your cart to see what you can put back in order to save money. You WILL NOT put back the peanut M&M’s! You understand what i’m trying to say? I have done this! This exact thing! I used to do it all the time! After checkout, I would walk out of the store feeling utterly defeated! I spent EVERYTHING I had! I would literally sit in the car and go over and over the receipt hoping against hope that the computer had made some mistake. I wanted to cry. From there, it’s a toss up. Who are you borrowing money from to make it through the week? Where is the money coming form to get that extra gallon of milk? Yeah, sadly, I have been there more times than I would like to admit. BUT, not anymore! Now, when I shop, I know exactly how much I’m spending I know exactly what i will be eating for the week and Praise the Lord, I am NEVER hungry at the grocery store!
I spent $23.77 for this!
First, never go to the store hungry. Bad mojo. Period. Second, you have to plan. Plan with Lori’s List. Plan with your coupons. Plan your menu BASED on sales for the week. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE THE SALES FIT YOUR NEEDS! MAKE YOUR NEEDS FIT THE SALES! This is the ONLY ONLY O N L Y way to maximize your savings. Look for coupons that will stack with your price matches. YES YOU CAN DO THAT!! If you are purchasing something that is insanely cheap for the week, grab a couple extra. The pictures in this post are my own. I did these shopping trips with a minimum of planning. Part of the whole process is KNOWING what the sales are, the other part is taking advantage of them. YOU can do this! Lori’s List can help! listbylori@gmail.com for more information!
I saw your Lori’s list on our daughter’s Facebook. We save tons of $ a week using comp ads. We have to skip our Aurora wal Mart because they are pretty aweful about their attitude and changing policy and they do NOT do store brand fro store brand. Republic Wal Mart and Sunshine street Wal Mart are SUPER. BUT where can we find cheaper milk? I hear save a lot has it but we do not get an ad to confirm and the one online does not show milk?
Hi Joyce. The only way I know to get cheaper milk is to watch Dillons or CVS ads. Occasionally, they will have it on sale and you can match at Republic Wal Mart. Other than that, Braums milk is about 50 cents (on average) a gallon cheaper than Wal Mart and the milk itself is SO much better tasting! I actually make the effort to stop at Braums to get the milk there. It really is worth it!