Save hundreds of dollars a month of groceries - a vent

[artgoddess]

I really am getting annoyed by the news stories and magazine articles that entice you with the tease of saving you and your family thousands a year on groceries a year. Just follow the exclusive money saving tips inside on page 60, or stay tunned until after the break and we'll show you how. Then I get the following advice, all things I already do:

Shop with a list to avoid impulse buying. - okay really, who goes to the market and just wanders the store throwing things in their cart aisle after aisle? Short of my baby eating my list when I let her hold it, I never go shopping without a list.

Don't be embarrassed to use coupons for name brand items - duh. Are there really people out there who are ashamed of using coupons?

Buy produce in season for lower prices. - I can't imagine buying a watermelon in the winter for $4.50 a lb and not realizing I'm spending too much $$. Do people really not even look at the prices of things?

Join supermarket clubs and swipe your card. - How is this an exclusive money saving tip? The stores have glaring yellow or red labels that you'd have to be legally blind to miss telling you how much $$ you will save using your club card.

Don't shop hungry - The obvious joke here is if I didn't get hungry I wouldn't need to go shopping. But yes I am aware that shopping hungry = coming home with snack foods. I've known this for years and so has anyone I have ever met. Not new news.

Save money on non-food household products by shopping at discount stores rather than the supermarket for things like paper towels and deodorant, toothpaste. - Again, really? Are there people out there that don't know you can buy things like that for about two dollars less at Target?


Thanks for reading my little rant. This one ranks up there with the "Dress to impress for less" items on the morning news. Then they show you a blouse that is $90 (rather than the $250 designer one) and jeans that are $140 (rather than $300) and the boots for $240 (rather than the designer $1,500 ones) and all the reporters marvel at how easy it is to look good on a budget. :

[rebeccalynn]

I think the same thing all of the time. It is not hard to save 1K on groceries, clothing, etc. every month if you spend 4-5K.

[Auntie Sapphire]

I totally agree! I get so frustrated when I read suggestions for things I've already been doing for ages. Wash laundry in cold? Thanks, been doing that since 1990. I want some NEW ideas ...

[2cutiekitties]

totally agree! The only time I get new ideas is when I watch something like Frontier House, lol. How sad is that!

[Poppy Bee]

ITA... the grocery games bug me, too. Sure, I can spend 88 cents for 50 dollars worth of stuff at CVS, but will I ever use it? And why don't they make coupons for things I actually buy? I never see coupons for tofu.

[artgoddess]

but if you want to eat pringles you're in luck.

[Usually Curious]

Originally Posted by Poppy Bee

ITA... the grocery games bug me, too. Sure, I can spend 88 cents for 50 dollars worth of stuff at CVS, but will I ever use it? And why don't they make coupons for things I actually buy? I never see coupons for tofu.

[Chamomile Girl]

Originally Posted by Poppy Bee

ITA... the grocery games bug me, too. Sure, I can spend 88 cents for 50 dollars worth of stuff at CVS, but will I ever use it? And why don't they make coupons for things I actually buy? I never see coupons for tofu.

Sometimes they have coupons for tofu at mambosprouts.com

[Denvergirlie]

Originally Posted by 2cutiekitties

totally agree! The only time I get new ideas is when I watch something like Frontier House, lol. How sad is that!

OT - I love Frontier House, Pioneer Quest too!


Anyways, yeah I saw the "swip the store discount card" on the news the other day about a good tip! Ha, ha, ha, heck the clerk even asks you for it.

I've yet to see any new stories that actually could help.

I get a kick out of the morning shows... it's truly like watching the dumbing down of american live and in action each and every morning. The $75 saturday picnic or the "cheap" $120 dress shoes now on sale.

[cappuccinosmom]

Yeah, those articles are for people who just habitually spend without thinking or budgeting or planning and now realize they can't do that anymore.

I have yet to run across an article that tells me something I don't already know.

[Phantaja]

Thanks for reading my little rant. This one ranks up there with the "Dress to impress for less" items on the morning news. Then they show you a blouse that is $90 (rather than the $250 designer one) and jeans that are $140 (rather than $300) and the boots for $240 (rather than the designer $1,500 ones) and all the reporters marvel at how easy it is to look good on a budget.

I hate that so much! I want to jump up and down screaming at the TV that I STILL CAN'T AFFORD IT, IDIOT!!!!!

[GoBecGo]

Ha, i loved this thread!

This morning i saw on UK tv some feature about dressing for less with a £190 dress which had a tiny short puffball skirt, drop waist and horizontal pleats in the top and sleeves. It was neon pink. If i wanted to look too-pink, too-manly and too-fat i could save the £190 and just take my clothes OFF! :rofl

Also there are two features in the magazine i just bought about saving money. One begins "always check prices" - seriously? Checking prices means i'll spend less!? The other was a recipe for chicken curry which consisted of opening a tin of storebrand chicken curry and eating it!

[avendesora]

If someone were to think of an idea that could apply to those of us here, it wouldn't be some article buried in the middle of a magazine, it would be front page news!! It would be the top story for all newstations!! When you think about how much "news" is out there (magazines, cnn, nightly news), how could it all possibly be new?

[Bluegoat]

I think a lot of people, especially in their early 20s and men, just buy what their parents bought, but yeah, I find the whole advice thing useless.

Coupons are not worth the time, I find, it is still usually cheaper to get the store brand. I am planning to make a price book, but I have been procrastinating - perhaps the real enemy of saving money.

[elephantmargaret]

yeah I agree. But BOTH my parents and my ILs go to the store and just wander through the aisles picking up stuff-they'll have a list of staples that they've run out of but no meal plan. Boggles my mind! Well, actually, having eaten my mom's cooking it doesn't boggle my mind so much.... My MIL gave me a small round of motzarella cheese the other day. She had impulse bought it and didn't know what to do with it...

[Amys1st]

I think for people like us here on this board, yes this is hysterical at best. But for some uneducated folks out there, well yes they need to hear this.

I get tofu for about a buck so I get over the fact there is no coupon. My ILs and I always LOL because about twice a year they are presented with celery from their neighbor. They have a party/brunch and make bloody marys. After the party they give my ILs the celery because they will use it. So basically they do not keep fresh produce in the house at all. Literally. Maybe these type of headlines are for the neighbors like this and their offspring who are basically in the same boat.

[songbird45]

Originally Posted by artgoddess

Shop with a list to avoid impulse buying. - okay really, who goes to the market and just wanders the store throwing things in their cart aisle after aisle? Short of my baby eating my list when I let her hold it, I never go shopping without a list.

while I totally agree with your rant, there are LOTS of people who go to the market without a list, throwing things that look good into their cart. my mom shops 2-3 times a week for her family of 2 because she does this. Also, some stores (particularly farm market type produce stores in the winter) are not conducive to list shopping - sometimes the produce looks good, other times it doesn't, so it's better to go and pick out what looks good after you get there.

[GoBecGo]

Another thought. We freegan a lot of our stuff, there's no point having a list in a skip

[PenelopeJune]

YES!!! It's very annoying.

And you are right, the worst is the 'dress on a budget' things. Seriously, I've felt like I've majorly splurged if I spend $12 on a shirt. I think I would keel over if I ever spent $40 on one clothing item.

And the other 'budget' tips: Stop buying coffee, make your own. Duh. Like who doesn't know this will save money? Borrow books at the library instead of buying at the bookstore. No crap? That will save me money? Ya think?

[Ellp]

I think those tips are for the young folks just out on their own for the first time. They never had to shop for food before so yeah, its news to them.