Since I can't shop right now, I thought that I would make today's consumerism blog about shopping the grocery store.
Today, I read a great quip about the grocery store vs. the supercenter. Many of us have been trained that buying food supplies at the supercenter is way less expensive than buying them at the grocery. News flash! These supercenters with their everyday low prices seem very attractive, but the only way they outbeat a grocery store is when you are not buying what's on sale.
If you are like me, shop the sales and use coupons, we save an average of 60-75% at the grocery store than the 25-30% we would at a supercenter. Our average grocery bill is about $40 a week. If we bought the same stuff at a supercenter it would, well believe it or not, it double that. Don't forget this is for a family of 4, $120 a month, organics included! Most people spend that much in a single trip to the grocer or the supercenter!
The week prior to our Anti-Consumerism Challenge, our grocery receipt was for a grand total of $18 and we got meat! So no, we are not depriving ourselves from eating nutritiously. We here at Chez Stoneford live by the philosophy, if God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat! Sorry, if I offended any vegetarians.
A good portion of our grocery bill goes to milk. You'd think being so close to cow country it would be a lot or at least reasonably priced. No matter where we shop for milk, it's always the same here in cost. Well, I consider around $4 a gallon a little um up there. But, we like milk, and since "it does a body good" there has been no way around paying for it. Do we pay the inflated milk price? Nope. We use a coupon for it. Yes, they even make coupons for milk! And, not just for the stuffy yippie brand milk, they issue coupons for regular people milk! It's called save .75 off ANY BRAND of milk! Woo Hoo!
So, why don't we shop at a supercenter? Our grocery store doubles coupons, super centers don't. Taking into account our $4 gallon of milk, our .75 coupon, we pay $2.50! Back to being reasonable!
I know many people think that shopping with coupons is a tedious process and I must be nuts to do it with kids. News flash...again...we spend probably the same amount of time if not shorter than most people do, at the grocer buying the same things. List in hand, I know what we are going to buy, which coupons we are going to use and how much my total is going to be. Very few modifications are made in store. No, I am not one of those extreme coupon crazies. I understand the fact that this good deal is going to cycle around again in 6-8 weeks, so no hoarding allowed!
Disclosure: The only grocery hoarding allowed in our house or freezer is when buy 2 get 3 free deals come, and sometimes those are on an annual cycle. I know that this is going to sound crazy but I love November in the grocery store! Veggies & Skinless boneless chicken breast go on sale at rock bottom prices and well, we rack up! So, we get enough to last us at least 3/4 of the year. As for the veggies, a whole shelf is devoted in the garage to holding oh about 150 cans of veggies as well as the big basket at the bottom of the stand alone freezer. It being mid October, our veggie & chicken rations are getting low, but November is acomin'!
So, why not use coupons? These manufacturers are putting these little pieces of paper out there for you in a convenient carry size, saying hey here is XX cents or dollar/s off our product. The grocer is saying hey, carry that little paper in and we will double the money. Not using coupons to me is like buying a winning lottery ticket and never cashing it in! I mean seriously, if someone offers to sell you something at $500 and the person next to them says 'I'll let you have it for $250' are you really going to shell out the extra $250? Nope, what sane person would? God, I hope that my grocer doesn't decide to do Super Doubles or Triples while we are on our Cash-cation!
I have never really understood why people today think so frivolously. The value of a dollar is in it's earning. Personally and for our family we like the money Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer makes. We use it for you know paying the bills, and well if we can save money on groceries and the like by using coupons, why let someone else's pocket get fatter for laziness? Over the course of the last 20-25 years the dispensability mentality started being incorporated into the American household. Paper plates are one thing, but throwing away your hard earned $$$, when you don't have to...stupidity. The mindset of everything can be replaced should only be thought upon in times of disaster.
(I know I got off topic here towards the end, but passion I tell you...passion)
Today, I read a great quip about the grocery store vs. the supercenter. Many of us have been trained that buying food supplies at the supercenter is way less expensive than buying them at the grocery. News flash! These supercenters with their everyday low prices seem very attractive, but the only way they outbeat a grocery store is when you are not buying what's on sale.
If you are like me, shop the sales and use coupons, we save an average of 60-75% at the grocery store than the 25-30% we would at a supercenter. Our average grocery bill is about $40 a week. If we bought the same stuff at a supercenter it would, well believe it or not, it double that. Don't forget this is for a family of 4, $120 a month, organics included! Most people spend that much in a single trip to the grocer or the supercenter!
The week prior to our Anti-Consumerism Challenge, our grocery receipt was for a grand total of $18 and we got meat! So no, we are not depriving ourselves from eating nutritiously. We here at Chez Stoneford live by the philosophy, if God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat! Sorry, if I offended any vegetarians.
A good portion of our grocery bill goes to milk. You'd think being so close to cow country it would be a lot or at least reasonably priced. No matter where we shop for milk, it's always the same here in cost. Well, I consider around $4 a gallon a little um up there. But, we like milk, and since "it does a body good" there has been no way around paying for it. Do we pay the inflated milk price? Nope. We use a coupon for it. Yes, they even make coupons for milk! And, not just for the stuffy yippie brand milk, they issue coupons for regular people milk! It's called save .75 off ANY BRAND of milk! Woo Hoo!
So, why don't we shop at a supercenter? Our grocery store doubles coupons, super centers don't. Taking into account our $4 gallon of milk, our .75 coupon, we pay $2.50! Back to being reasonable!
I know many people think that shopping with coupons is a tedious process and I must be nuts to do it with kids. News flash...again...we spend probably the same amount of time if not shorter than most people do, at the grocer buying the same things. List in hand, I know what we are going to buy, which coupons we are going to use and how much my total is going to be. Very few modifications are made in store. No, I am not one of those extreme coupon crazies. I understand the fact that this good deal is going to cycle around again in 6-8 weeks, so no hoarding allowed!
Disclosure: The only grocery hoarding allowed in our house or freezer is when buy 2 get 3 free deals come, and sometimes those are on an annual cycle. I know that this is going to sound crazy but I love November in the grocery store! Veggies & Skinless boneless chicken breast go on sale at rock bottom prices and well, we rack up! So, we get enough to last us at least 3/4 of the year. As for the veggies, a whole shelf is devoted in the garage to holding oh about 150 cans of veggies as well as the big basket at the bottom of the stand alone freezer. It being mid October, our veggie & chicken rations are getting low, but November is acomin'!
So, why not use coupons? These manufacturers are putting these little pieces of paper out there for you in a convenient carry size, saying hey here is XX cents or dollar/s off our product. The grocer is saying hey, carry that little paper in and we will double the money. Not using coupons to me is like buying a winning lottery ticket and never cashing it in! I mean seriously, if someone offers to sell you something at $500 and the person next to them says 'I'll let you have it for $250' are you really going to shell out the extra $250? Nope, what sane person would? God, I hope that my grocer doesn't decide to do Super Doubles or Triples while we are on our Cash-cation!
I have never really understood why people today think so frivolously. The value of a dollar is in it's earning. Personally and for our family we like the money Mr. Bacon Bringer Homer makes. We use it for you know paying the bills, and well if we can save money on groceries and the like by using coupons, why let someone else's pocket get fatter for laziness? Over the course of the last 20-25 years the dispensability mentality started being incorporated into the American household. Paper plates are one thing, but throwing away your hard earned $$$, when you don't have to...stupidity. The mindset of everything can be replaced should only be thought upon in times of disaster.
(I know I got off topic here towards the end, but passion I tell you...passion)
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