CUTTING YOUR GROCERY BILLS IN HALF

CUTTING YOUR GROCERY BILLS IN HALF

There have been many articles and reports written explaining

supposed ways to cut your grocery bills. Sure, you can eat only

bargain noodles and generic beans. That will save a little money.

Wash out those plastic bags and reuse them. That will save a few

cents.

But there is one sure way to cut your grocery bills in half (or more!)

that is easy and you can still buy brand name items. By intelligently

using the system detailed in this report, you will see savings from the

first day.

First, save coupons. Too many people think coupons are a waste of

time, or that they only raise the prices that are charged on items. This

is false!

Buy a box of envelopes, and label your envelopes with the categories

of food and products you buy regularly. You can be as broad

("vegetables") or exact (an envelope for each brand of canned

vegetables you regularly buy) as you want. Clip every coupon you

come across and file them in the proper envelope.

Sunday newspapers are the best source for coupons. If you find a lot

of coupons you can use on a particular Sunday, it may be worth your

while to buy a second copy of the paper, to get another set of

coupons. If your paper costs $1.00, you can make that back with two

50-cent coupons. The rest will be profit!

Next, watch the sale flyers. When you see items on sale that you have

coupons for, that's the time to buy. Here's something a lot of people

don't realize. Say you have three 50-cent coupons for "Bill's Beans."

You can only use one coupon per purchase.

But, if you buy three cans at once, that's three purchases, and you

have every right to use all three coupons. Also, watch for stores that

offer "double coupons." That means that they will double the value of

the coupon, usually up to 50-cent value coupons.

Buy the sale items with doubled coupons, and your saving increase!

For best results, you should try to have a coupon for at least one-half

to two-thirds of the items you buy on your shopping trip. Make a

shopping list before you go and stick to it. This prevents impulse

buys.

Also, funny as it may sound, don't go grocery shopping on an empty

stomach. If you do, you'll no doubt buy extra things that sound good to

you at the time, but you may not end up eating. That's the first half of

the system. Using coupons to their fullest extent is a major part of

grocery bill cutting.

Next comes rebates.

When you use any canned, boxed or bagged goods, save the

package. Labels can be soaked from cans with warm water, and the

outside layer of a box (the part with the printing on it) can usually be

carefully peeled off.

Use a few grocery boxes to organize these. Alphabetically is the best

way. These can be stored in an unused closet or the garage.

Also, keep your receipts. You'll need them for rebates. Then, when

you see a rebate for an item you regularly buy, you can get the

required proof of purchase easily and quickly from the packaging.

Here's how these fit together: For example, you have three 15-cent

coupons for a 79-cent canned vegetable. The vegetables go on sale

for 69-cents at a store that doubles coupons. You can now buy three

cans of the vegetables for 39-cents each (69-cents minus 30-cents

per coupon).

Then, a few weeks later, the manufacturer has a $1.50 rebate that

requires three proofs of purchase. By sending in the rebate, you have

now made a profit of 33-cents ($1.50 minus $1.17). Many

manufacturers will reimburse you for the cost of postage to send the

rebate and proofs in, so you get the full 33-cents.

Think about it. If you are able to do this with at least half of your

grocery purchases (and you should, if you try), you can cut your

grocery bill at least in half, if not more! All this for not a whole lot of

work.

It may seem a bit much at the start, but once you get a good,

organized system in place, it will be quite easy.