Save $3,700 Challenge - July: Grocery Budget

THE SAVE $3,700 CHALLENGE JULY SAVE $150 ON SS$ GROCERIES BY THE END OF THE YEAR $$$$ ШШ The average American household spends $3,838 per year on food at home! This works out to about $320 per month. If you've been following the advice since January and you've replaced some of your restaurant meals with home-cooked ones, chances are your grocery bill is slightly higher. SAVING ON GROCERIES USUAL SPENDING ON GROCERIES FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR: It turns out that grocery expenditures are a rich field to mine for savings. Though many of us make a conscious effort to be frugal with groceries, there's even more you can gain by transforming this effort into an organized approach and formulating a checklist of strategies to help you save each week. We included a few tips for saving on groceries in the January installment, but now let's start exploring in depth a few of the best to save. $1,919 - MINUS - 8% SAVINGS = $153.52 • Buying in bulk • Shopping at the right stores Planining meals to eliminate waste • Designing meal plans around weekly ads If you stick to these smart habits and you're able to reduce your grocery costs by 8 percent from now on, you'll save $150 by the end of the year. Summer grilling season is a prime time to begin the saving! = EQUALS = 92% $1,765 (THE NEW AMOUNT OF GROCERY EXPENDITURES) CHOOSE THE RIGHT STORE(S) FOR YOU Sometimes it's amazing how much prices can vary between stores. One store may have great prices on meats, while another has great deals on produce. So how do you decide which one to frequent? The best way is to compare prices on a variety of the items you consistently buy every week. Assuming their food is of good quality, choose the store that gives you the best deals on the foods you tend to buy. But don't be afraid to split your shopping between multiple stores if that makes sense; going to Costco or Sam's Club once a month can help you stock up not only on bulk foods but other items like paper towels and toilet paper that can save you a bundle. STORE 2 VS. STORE 1 ITTTTT ITTTTI (E 13% of our spending went toward groceries in 1982 PLAN YOUR MEALS compared to Would you like to save time and money at the grocery store, eliminate wasted food, and have your meals for the week decided ahead of time? Planning the week's meals in advance allows you to accomplish all these things. It only takes a small investment of time before your weekly grocery run, which will be made up for in time saved at the store and during the week. 8% of our total spending in 20122 PAY ATTENTION TO COUPONS X X X X If you arrive at the grocery store with your weekly stores post their ads online, so by visiting your store's website you can decide on a meal plan meal plan all set, and only then take a look at the store's weekly ad, you're not likely to save without leaving home. And even when certain very much with the coupons in the ad. If you items aren't on sale, be sure to compare per- form your weekly meal plan around the store's pound prices to make sure you're getting the ad, however, you'll save a lot more money. Many best deal. 1982 COMPARED TO 2012 BREAKDOWN OF MONEY SPENT ON GROCERIES? PROCESSED 31.3% MEATS 22.9% FOODS & 21.5% MEATS FRUITS & 14.5% VEGETABLES 13.2% GRAINS & BAKED GOODS FRUITS & 14.6% VEGETABLES 13,2% DAIRY 14.4% GRAINS & BAKED GOODS PRODUCTS PROCESSED 11.6% FOODS & 11.1% BEVERAGES 11.0% BEVERAGES 10.6% DAIRY 5.3% OTHER FOODS 5.1% OTHER FOODS Reader's Digest author Janice Lieberman priced a hypothetical shopping cart of goods across several different stores and found that shopping at the cheapest store yielded an amazing 56 percent savings over the most expensive store. It just goes to show that how and where you shop can be just as important to your total cost as what you buy! SAVINGS: $150 OR $25.00 PER MONTH CashNetUSA. EMoney's on the waye References 1) Consumer Expenditure Survey. (2012, Sept.). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 6 Dec. 2012, from http://www.bls.gov/cex/2011/Standard/age.pdf 2) What America Spends on Groceries. (2012, June 8). NPR. Retrieved 11 Dec. 2012, from http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/06/08/154568945/what-america-spends-on-groceries 3) How to Save Money When Buying in Bulk. (n.d.) Reader's Digest. Retrieved 15 Jan. 2013, from http://www.rd.com/advice/saving-money/how-to-save-money-when-buying-in-bulk/