maybe try shopping at a store like sams club or costco where you can get thinks in bulk for cheaper, hopefully they will last longer and you won't have to stock up as much each week.My husband and I have 3 teenagers. Our grocery bill runs around $150 a week. I clip coupons but don't find
you have to get more than one kind of newspaper. then you just clip all the coupons and file them by expiration date. then wether u need it or not u buy it anyway with the coupon and just stock up on stuff. dont forget coupons you can download off the net. also you have to go to a few different grocery stores. btw with 3 teens 150 a week seems pretty good
wow, i think that sounds really awesome. we don't even have kids and we spend that much sometimes. you are doing awesome. and no, i've never had much use for coupons either. i have noticed that they are almost always for the more expensive brands, and if you just get a store brand, or a special, it is cheaper than using the coupon anyway!
my famil of four spends about 200 a week. i thin kyour doing pretty good.
I don't live with a family of 5 now- but I do know a few people who do.
Often they will buy generic goods rather than name brands, and if it's more price-effective they will buy in bulk.
Since you have so many people to take care of- 3 of them being teens- you may find it worth your while to join something like Sam's Club or Costco. That will make it easier for you to find bulk goods.
Good luck!
$150 a week comes to be $600 a month for 5 people. That isn't too bad, but where are you buying your groceries? If you are shopping on weekly basis at a supermarket than you may be wasting money. You can save money by shopping at a wholesale club (like costco) once a month. Buy everything you need once a month.
How about having your teens help you pay for groceries by getting a job.
I think this would help the most.
And buy in the shape of meals-meaning schedule out what you'll eat for that week and buy only that plus a few snacks and so forth.
Monday/Chilli
Tuesday/ Tacos
Wed./ Spagetti
You could look at that and see that you'd need around 3 pounds of ground beef/turkey for each meal.
I find that this saves me alot of money when I plan for meals.
Go to www.save.ca, you'll find free coupons there and they'll actually be mailed to you, free of charge but don't expect to find HUGE savings, maybe around $5.
Well, before my brother got his own place, we spent a lot!
He was in highschool/ college.. and im in middle school/ high school. we were both into sports.. we both eat a tremendous amount because we just do. lol. try going onto the websites of the places you buy from. they might have some good ones!
I think you are doing really well! Have you tried the grocery game. It gets pretty good reviews.
Sign up for the free news letter through Debt Poof Living by Mary Hunt. There are always some good ideas on that one.
Pam
That is about the national average according to Woman's Day. They recommend sites like www.thegrocerygame.com and MommySavesBig.
Well I am upset after reading your question (lol). My fiance and I usually spend 100 dollars a week on groceries including paper products etc. We shop at walmart and do not use coupons as we cant find any that help much. So we spend 50 dollars less than you do and its just 2 of us. You are doing pretty good I think
My family spends about a $100 weekly on groceries for the four of us,and I don't use coupons at all for the same reason as you.I shop Save-A -Lot,Aldi's,and the Dollar Tree for our groceries,paper products,spices,canned goods,and soap products.
Try joining a coupon club. I tried it once. You can find them online. You clip your coupons, keep the ones you want and put the rest in an envelope and mail it to someone. They take out what they want and put in what they dont want and send it to the next person and so on until it gets back around to you. Having people in different states helps. My mother is in another state and she and i trade off coupons. Also buying store brand or off brand saves some, as well as buying in bulk. It might cost more upfront but not in the long run. And I save alot using my Kroger card (if youre near a Kroger). Randalls is a more expensive store as is HEB. Wal-mart doesnt always have the lowest price but theyll match or beat any competitors price.
For myself, three teenage girls, and two cats; my monthly budget is set at $300. I normally send around $60 a week, so I am usually under the monthly budget. I also get a bonus, because I get 10 cents off my gas purchase for each time I spend $50 or more at the store each time.
Anyway, I bargain shop for our needs. I will only buy name brand products as long as they are the same price or less then the generic brand, otherwise I get the generic brands. I buy in bulk only if it cost less in the long run, and it wont go bad before getting used. (If you buy a product only to have to throw it away later, then you just wasted your money.) Sometimes I will find that buying the smaller can actually costs less then the larger can. Take a calculator along with you and divide the cost of the product by the size of it, and you will come up with the cost per size of the product. Such as this: if a can of beens cost $1 for a 16oz can, and 25 cents for an 8oz can. Your best buy would be the 8oz cans. $1 divided by 16oz = .06 cents an oz, while .25 cents divided by 8oz = .03 cents an oz., which is half the price per ounce then of the larger can. Of course it wouldn't always be that simple, and that is why I suggest taking the calculator along to help you out. As for meats, I only buy them when they are on sale, and usually that is when they are two for the price of one, or at half or less then the normal price. Meets normally go on sale the same days each week, so check to find out when they normally go on sale and plan your shopping on that day. Can fruits last longer, and I don't have to throw any out due to spoilage. I only buy fresh fruits and vegetables when they are in season, because this is the time they are at their lowest price. I can and freeze what isn't used right away, so they don't spoil and have to be thrown out. I also grow a small garden during the Summer, which not only helps provide food, but is therapeutic for me. I hunt in the winter, which helps bring in some meets, and being in the woods is also therapeutic to me. Use a shopping list and buy only those things on your list. Stores put products out on shelves to encourage you to buy the more expensive products, and to buy products that you really don't need, so by using a shopping list, and looking for bargains, you may find out that you don't need to clip coupons anymore, or at least very little.
The use of coupons are not what they are cracked up to be. Some stores offer double coupons, but they only honor up to $1.00 total for each coupon. They fixed the loophole they used to have where one could go into the store with a hand full of coupons, and come out of the store with over $200 worth of groceries while paying very little or nothing at all. I remember a time when a store actually had to pay the customer money back, because of the store's policies and the types of coupons the customer used at the time. The store quickly changed their policy after that incident, and it never was repeated again. There is still one trick you can do at some stores, and that is taking along the store's competitors advertisements. If the competitor is advertising the same product for less, you can show it to the cashier and get yours for the same price if they still have their ';Beat the Competitor's Price'; policy in force. Buying in bulk is only useful if you can get a significant savings for the extra travel, and that is getting harder to do with each increase in the price of gasoline. Even so, you could save yourself much many if you can buy a years supply of paper product, and other non parishable products at a significant savings. The question remains if you have a large enough vehicle to transport all these products home, if you have the room to store them at home, and enough money to purchase them all in one shot. There are many other more tricks, but they are too numerous to mane them all here. These are the most common ones that you will need to help you out to start saving now. Good luck.
Try http://www.mysavings.com/free-coupons-pr鈥?/a> they have free printable grocery coupons. I save around 20 bucks every time I grocery shop.
Your doing great! But if you apply yourself, and check on the internet for suggestions you can save allot more with coupons. Check this site out--www.wow-coupons.com/grocery.php - 131k - Cached - Similar pages
Coupons, Grocery Coupons - TheGroceryGame.comCoupons and grocery coupons by thegrocerygame.com. ... Frugal Grocery Shopping | Grocery Discounts | Grocery Bargains | Smartsource | Coupons Info ...
www.thegrocerygame.com/ - 29k - Cached - Similar pages
150? thats great!
my family of 3 spends 250 every 2 weeks.
try aldi if you have on near you
that saves my family tons of money!
http://www.aldifoods.com/us/html/service鈥?/a>
My family of 5 about 100 a week. Its actually really tough to cut it down to that much. I started at 150 too, but then I decided to cut back. Instead of cupons look for other ways to cut down. Brand name items are more expensive, but they are the same thing. Its all physcological. If you really feel you cant do without the Brand name then just go ahead and buy it. Other things are buy the things on sale. Sometimes things are really on sale, try to stock up on those. Also, go to a better grocery. Not the local Stop and Shop. Try Costco or Sams club. They buy things in bulk so it is easier for them to sell it at a lower price. Hope it helps.
There are several sites like this.. http://grocerycoupons.net/ and Kroger doubles on certains days. I save a lot of money on groceries by buying stuff like sugar, flour, cereal at Sam's club.
I think that with three teenagers and all of your non-grocery products, you are doing pretty well if you do all of your shopping at the supermarket. We are also a family of five with two teenage boys (basically living, breathing food vaccums) and I spend about $100.00 per week on all of those items. I buy paper products, laundry items, and cleaning products at warehouse stores(Smart %26amp; Final, Costco, San's Club) although I generally make my own cleaning products using mostly amonia and white vinegar (much cheaper and no dangerous chemicals-recipes are easy to find on the internet). I also buy many of my groceries at the local Grocery Outlet (it is a store that sells overstock items), the prices are very much lower than the usual supermarket. When I buy groceries, I buy on sale and stock up my pantry. I also buy meats and cheeses on sale and pop them in the freezer. When the turkeys go on sale at Thanksgiving, I usually get three and put two in the freezer. Around Christmastime, flour and sugar go on sale, so I buy enough to last for the coming year and I store it in those big buckets that frosting comes in at the store bakeries (they will give them to you for free if you ask- they need a special opener that you can buy ay Home Depot and the buckets and lids last for years and years). After New Year's Day, spiral sliced hams usually go on sale, so I buy two or three and freeze those also. I find that there are very few coupons that I can use, but by planning ahead, buying on sale (sometimes by the case) and using my pantry and freezer, I can keep our grocery costs down.
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