Shop Alone to Save Money on Groceries
I remember the first time I tried to go shopping with my first baby. I composed a meticulous list and tried to plan it around her nap time so she would fall asleep in the car and would slumber peacefully throughout the shopping trip. I envisioned triumphantly returning home with a trunk full of groceries and bursting with pride that I could tackle the grocery store while my baby was in tow.
It didn’t happen quite like that. In fact, she woke up the second I put her carrier in the cart and she screamed through the whole thing except for when I threw my hands up in resignation and plopped down in front of the freezer case to nurse her (true story, really). When I got home my husband asked me what I had bought and if I remember right I burst into tears and replied with, “I don’t know!” I hadn’t used my coupons and had discarded the shopping list pretty early on in the trip because I couldn’t attend to her while also shopping from a list.
I look back on that with amusement nowadays, mostly because that same baby is now five years old and can actually help me at the store. I also try to go shopping by myself as much as I can because I find there is a direct correlation to the number of family members I have with me and the total amount I spend on groceries.
For example, the other day I managed to get to the grocery store by myself and wasn’t in any sort of rush. I wrote a list of groceries I needed for an entire week and was armed with a bunch of coupons. I took my time, compared prices, and walked out of there with having saved almost $20 in coupons on a $100 grocery bill.
Part of the reason I saved so much money was because I had the time to look at prices since there were no kids to stop from smashing jars or running down the aisle. I think a lot of it also had to do with the fact that nobody was standing there asking me for treats. Nobody begged for a certain type of cereal, nobody screamed and pointed at the goldfish crackers, and my husband wasn’t there to glance lovingly at the expensive steaks in the meat department before batting his eyelashes at me in an attempt to get me to buy the pricey meat.
I always save money on groceries when I go alone. While it’s true that there are many other things I would much rather do when I have the opportunity to have someone else watch my kids, in the long run I know it’s going to save us money.
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Kelly G says...
LOL From the title I immediatly thought of my hubby! I spend way less in a store if I am with him.
Lindab says...
I try to always go without the kids and on a full stomach too! Have you tried FoodSupport before? They offer a $250 gift card for many popular grocery chains after you fill out the requested info. http://www.foodsupport.org