Give me your grocery $-saving tips

[Vishenka69]

I'm afraid to even add up the numbers. Ever since we moved into attending world, I've stopped paying close attention to how much I spend on food. There are tons of local farms and I try to buy meat and produce from them as much as possible, which easily doubles what I would be spending in a supermarket. We're good about staying away from junk food though but alcohol makes a hefty dent in our budget.

As for going out, we've significantly cut down on that because after trying most of the places in the area, we realized that we only like a handful of small family run restaurants and going to same 5 places quickly gets old. Once or twice a week I get take out from the various ethnic stands at a local market. I'm sure we spend at least as much as Alison if not more.

[houseelf]

OK. This thread is chaping my lily white bottom.

DAMN YOU coupon clippers! The guilt! LOL! Good thing I don't get competitive or obsessive about the small stuff in life. ha ha ha....

Also damn whoever on this site turned me onto Mint.com. I really needed another internet site to frequent and analyze how I can do better! Don't EVEN think about getting me hooked on pinterest, you all. I will hunt you down.

Who said dawktor spouses tended to be control freaks? NOT ME!

[alison]

I won't go to Pinterest. Mint messes with my head. Especially when I set unrealistic goals and I have red bars up and down the screen.

[houseelf]

I know, Mint.com gives me that Bridget Jones-voice-in-the-head feeling: "You have overspent your coffee shop budget by $100. You are a loser. You suck". ha ha ha ha

[scrub-jay]

I dropped Mint after one of our tuition payments. "You have exceeded your education budget by $40,000" (It didn't handle loans/savings/payments well) Yea... all done.

[alison]

Oof! That is cruel!!!

[bobk]

My favorite Mint alert is when we have a "low" balance of $400 in the checking account. That actually sounds pretty good to me. I would consider low to be around $12.

[ides]

My favorite Mint alert is when we have a "low" balance of $400 in the checking account. That actually sounds pretty good to me. I would consider low to be around $12.

Lol. Me too!

[samssugarmomma]

I use couponing blogs to help me match up the items that are on sale and the coupons that are available. This has helped me take advantage of which stores have the best price for certain items each week. Most blogs that I've found do the local grocery stores and drug stores.

You can find on in your area/state here - http://my-frugal-lifestyle-guide.blo...directory.html or doing a google search for "coupon blog *enter your city name*".

[MrsK]

Yes! I do that too. I also created a seperate FB profile just for couponing. I can "like" products and get freebies without messing up my real FB account. And I can read all my coupon blogs through my FB news feed.

[spotty_dog]

When I was serious about grocery budgeting I was glued to the hotcouponworld.com forums for my area and chosen stores. But they're not very active for my new area...thanks for the tip!

Thanks to this thread I shopped from the circular today, grabbing the one-day-only sale and clipping the relevant coupons. Good news: I (nominally) saved over $54 on my bill, and I'll get another $18 for my rebate. Bad news: I didn't give the cashier my coupons! Paid about $3.20 more than I meant to.

[SoonerTexan]

Haha we have multiple savings accounts and one is named "loan savings." Mint sees the word loan and assumes its negative so the more we save, the less it looks like we have.

[alison]

I picked up my seeds today. Holy start-up costs, Batman! I have to basically start from scratch, because city girl here doesn't even have potting soil! I bought chives, parsley, and basil.

I'd started looking online for seeds, but then decided that I wanted to buy seeds from a reputable company. And what's with organic vs not organic seeds? Huuuuh?

So we'll see how this goes. Start-up costs for my windowsill herb garden: $25!!!

[Michele]

I'm attempting lettuces. But I suspect it's too warm already. It's been in the 80s.

[HouseofWool]

I'm attempting lettuces. But I suspect it's too warm already. It's been in the 80s.

Yep, most likely too warm and the lettuce will be bitter.