Tuesday's Tips

Hello again everyone! It's time for another edition of Tuesday's Tips. Being that my brother is starting grad school in a week I thought it would be a good time to review smart grocery shopping trips. It'll help you avoid spending a lot, and you'll probably eat healthier too because you won't be buying fast food very often.

1) Make a list. This is probably the most important thing, in my opinion, to smart grocery shopping. If you go into the store knowing exactly what you need to buy, and you stick to it, you can avoid impulse purchases that rack up a hefty bill. As a side note, I have been shopping with a list for over a year now and it gets easier every time to stick to it.

2) Allow for one "special" item on your trip. I know it can be hard to stick to a list, and sometimes you need to mix it up so shopping doesn't become mundane. That's why my girlfriend and I decided to implement the special item rule. When we go shopping we allow ourselves to purchase any item ($5 or less) that isn't on the list. So if we have a craving for cookies we can get those. This makes the shopping trip a bit more fun because you can feel good about sticking to the list and get a little reward without breaking the bank.

3) Don't shop when you're hungry. This makes list shopping even more difficult because everything you walk by looks delicious. Even if you have a small snack before heading to the store it will make the trip up and down each aisle less tempting.

4) Check for coupons in the paper and online. This doesn't mean you have to buy only items for which there is a coupon. It simply means there are coupons available for so many items and you're likely buying one of them on any given trip. So take 10 minutes and do some searching because those $0.40 coupons add up (especially if your store doubles or triples coupons).

These tips ought to help some of you out there shave a bit off your food budget. My girlfriend and I spend about $50-$60 each time we go to the store, which means we're eating for around $4/day. But that doesn't mean we're eating canned ham - our meals include salmon, steak, pork chops, fruits and vegetables.So do yourself a favor and analyze your grocery store habits and see where you could make some small changes and possibly save big time!

I'm on a 168 hour break, so until then Stay Tuned...