Cash in an envelope to the grocery store? - Page 2

[grniys]

I need to start doing this again. Maybe it would actually keep me on budget! When I do it, I have a list of items I plan to buy and then I add the cost, rounded up. Then, after I have a lot of items I add it up. It works really well, and when I see some junk food on there costing x amount of dollars, I go "Do I really need this?" And a lot of the time I put back things I don't really need.

It's worked very well for me. I'm not sure why I don't do this anymore.

[serenetabbie]

I do not usually carry cash with me to the grocery store, but I do take my debit card. I always have a budget for groceries and cannot afford to go over, so I am very careful. Like (oh gosh, who was it?!) said, I remember most of the prices of most of the items on my list and have a clear idea of how much I will need before I leave the house. Dh thinks it is weird that I know how much the cheapest stuff is at 4 different stores within a few cents . Comes in super handy when checking the sales ads! Anyhow... I keep a tally on the grocery list since I am forever losing or fogetting my calcuator. I just round up or down from 49/51 cents and subtract my coupons as I go.

[Nora_SEA]

Originally Posted by spring978

I write in prices on my list before I go, I then take that amount. At the store I make adjustments. I am always within a dollar or 2 of my set price

This is what I do also. Works great for me. I sit down on Tuesday (when food ads come out)with a piece of paper and make 4 lists - 1 for each store really close to me - and go through each of the sale ads and make my shopping list including the prices. Then as I read the next ad, if I notice their price is better I cross it off the fist list and add it to that list. Kinda complicated, I know! But worth the savings and unnecessary spending I used to do without a list! Today I spent around $25 at Albertsons, BUT before my coupons and their member card savings it was $63!!! TOTALLY worth it for me to read their ad and clip their coupons this week. Lots of BOGO free items.

Originally Posted by serenetabbie

Dh thinks it is weird that I know how much the cheapest stuff is at 4 different stores within a few cents . Comes in super handy when checking the sales ads! Anyhow... I keep a tally on the grocery list since I am forever losing or fogetting my calcuator.

LOL! My DH thinks I'm odd! He NEVER tosses the ads anymore though!! Lesson learned...

[peytonandconner]

We do
I put all the "extra" stuff that I don't have to have at the
end of the grocery belt and have the cashier sub total it, and
if I have extra I add the bonus items (unfortunately-this has
not happened very much!!!)

[krolissa]

I remember the clicker-adding-thing!
I keep a tally in my head. It's kind of like a game to me, seeing how close I can come to the total. I'm usually pretty accurate. My other game is at Meijer, the grocery store where I shop for a lot of stuff - I consistently work (by studying ads and purchasing store specials, using coupons) to have the "total saved" equal the "total spent" of the bill. Grocery shopping can be such a drag, so I try to make some fun out of it!
Early on in the adding-in-my-head adventure, I had to have the cashier take some items off the bill. They do it all the time, and it's better than charging something that I can probably find a way to live without until the next week!

[Kaitnbugsmom]

I used to do this, and need to get back to doing it since our income will drop dramatically when hubby gets home from Iraq this winter. I also need to re-do my price book with current prices. the last one i did is like a year and a half old or so. It has bread at w-m listed as $.69 for store brand, which is currently double that.

[timneh_mom]

No, but we just put ourselves on a strict budget and I plan to start doing this.

I am not sure how to keep track of what I've got spent so far, but I tend to buy the same things week after week and I have a pretty good idea what they cost. I can tell by how full the cart is, pretty much. Now I'll go read what everyone else is doing.

[A&A]

Originally Posted by angelcollector1

I'm going to show my age here. This reminded me of those little handheld clicker things my mom used when I was a kid that you click the buttons on the top to add the price to the total you have.. anyone know what I"m talking about?

yes!

[texmati]

I used to count up the total in my head when I was in college-- but I'm awful at mental math.

I'd put everything that was under two dollars (which was pretty much everything back then) in the main part of the shopping cart. Pricey stuff would go on the bottom or in the front part where kids would go.

When I needed to know the total, I'd just count up the number of items in the main part of the cart and multiply that times two. then I'd add the large items-- usually only 1 or two things.

[KurumiSophia]

We'd do it all the time when we were living on our own. Only have X amt. to spend and keep to it carefully with a list and a running total as we shopped. Except it wasn't an envelope, it was just in our wallet.

[Jilian]

I use the DR envelope system and plan out what I'll buy (including coupons) before I go to the store. I ONLY buy what is on my list. I usually keep a rough estimate in my head of what the total is. I have a backup "unexpected by necessary" envelope in case I go over my budget but I rarely go over.

[karne]

Yes, I've been doing this for a while, and it is quite amazing the effect it's had on my budget. I really have to stick to the amount I've brought with me, and by-pass the extra's that I know we don't need. I do keep a tally in my head, and it's almost like a game to me to see how close I can come to what I have in my wallet. I was off by .26 the other day and really needed everything, so i had to run out to the car, where I cheat and keep a spare 20.00. By the time I got back a gentleman had paid my .26 and my groceries were bagged. He told me that his wife always operated on cash at the grocery store and he loved to see someone trying to stay within a budget!

[Kaitnbugsmom]

does anyone have a link to a free grocery pricebook page? I used to have a whole book of them but they got lost in the move.