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Lisa our resident fine living expert answers your questions each Thursday.
If you are a blogger, this is a great chance to have us feature and link to your blog!
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Whenever I go grocery shopping, I get overwhelmed and always end up spending more money than I intended. Do you have any tips to help me stay focused and keep things organized while shopping?
~Angela
Set a Budget
Every family should have a working grocery budget. If you don’t have one then that should be the first thing on your to-do list. To determine your grocery budget, keep track of receipts on shopping trips over the course of a month. Tally those receipts and determine if your monthly spending is in line with what you can afford.
Depending on what the monthly figure is, you may need to do some adjusting. Divide that monthly figure by the number of shopping trips you take a month (depending on how often you shop) and determine your grocery budget.
During shopping trips, keep a running tab of the amount of money that is being spent by calculating as you shop. Some grocery stores even make it easy for shoppers by having built-in calculators on shopping carts and others offer their own scanning devices for consumers.
If your grocery store does not offer these conveniences, you can always keep a running tally in your head or use the a calculator on any mobile device. Setting a grocery budget is like your life vest when going grocery shopping. The only way it will work is if you use it.
Make a List
Grocery budgets and grocery lists go hand-in-hand. Think of your grocery list as your plan. Just like an architect has to draft a “plan” before he/she can design something stellar for a builder, you should have a plan if you want your grocery shopping to be successful. The items included on that list should not only based on your family’s likes and needs, but it should be based on the meals that you plan to make.
Organize Your Coupons
Now, I am not sure if you use coupons but since you did mention, “spending more than you intended”, I would like to address this here. It is imperative that you keep your coupons organized. It just keeps things simple and your savings ready and available for use. Think about it, how motivated would you be to use coupons to save on your groceries if you had to search for them every time you needed to use them?
You can easily make a coupon organizer at home with just a few simple tools.
These are just a few simple tips that you can start using today that will have a big impact on your next shopping trip.
Come back on Thursday for another edition of “Ask The Domestic Life Stylist”.
You can also tweet a question to Dlifestylist on Twitter or email me at ask{at}thedomesticlifestylist{dot}com. I will select one question to answer every Thursday.
If you are a blogger, this is a great chance to have us feature and link to your blog.
Lisa is a pharmacist turned fine living writer & founder of The Domestic Life Stylist, following her passion for all things food, family and travel. You can read more of her grocery shopping tips to learn effective shopping strategies and follow along for more lifestyle and fine living tips.
Lauren says
I am so bad at using lists! I always make a list when going to the grocery store, but I often leave it in the car! LOL I am usually able to remember most of the list, but sometimes, one or two things get forgotten!