Groceries

What with all the economic crisis mess going on I thought I'd share my grocery secrets. (I know..you're all quivering with delight!) But seriously, I've cut my grocery bill in half, from around $500 per month to $200 per month, PLUS I'm getting a good stockpile. I only have maybe 2-3 months of food sitting around here, but considering I'm in a 900 square foot apartment, I don't think that's too shabby. When/If we ever get the camera fixed I may take a pic of my overflowing food closets.

My Mom got me hooked on a website called "The Grocery Game" (www.thegrocerygame.com) Basically they do all the work of correlating the sales going on at your store with the coupons taken out of the Sunday paper. Everything is color coded by how great of a sale it is: black = only buy if you need it, blue = a good sale, buy what you can and green =free. Green is most definitely my fave. :) It does take about 3 months to have a good enough stockpile to really start cutting your grocery bill, AND it does take time. I have to spend about an hour cutting out coupons, planning the meals for the week and putting my list together, plus another hour to shop, but I figure I make pretty good money with my 2 hours per week. AND it does cost money, $10 a month for the first store and $5 for each additional store, plus the cost of the paper. Anyway, IF anyone is interested you can get a 4 week trial for $1!

My receipt for this week. I saved 68 % which is pretty normal. My all time high is 77%.