Food is expensive! I’ve talked about it ad nauseum on this site because this is an important topic to me and of course to all of you. We can’t control the values of our homes or gas prices, but to a certain extent we can control how much we pay for groceries. To that end I’ve been trying to find a cheaper solution because I just refuse to continue paying $700+/month for two people.

Then came Aldi.

Aldi is an offbrand grocery store lacking any o f the frills that you’ll find at your local supermarket chain. They pretty much have all the basics such as food, beverages, canned goods, household items, but you won’t find it in different sizes or any of the low fat variety. Just whatever they have on the shelf.

One woman stated that she fed a family of four on *gasp* $40 a week at Aldi so you know I had to go take a looksee for myself.

Ginger investigates:

Our total came out to $147 but that’s because we stocked up on some items we need for our election night party. I imagine that we would spend no more than $75 for two weeks worth of food there. Buying the same products at Shoppers, Safeway, Whole Foods or even TRader Joes would have set us back at least $350+. Easy. I’ve read on other blogs where the price differences were sllight but in our case the prices were a huge difference. Enough such that I don’t mind going there for the basics, except for milk because I don’t drink cow’s milk, but it’s cheap for less than $3 a gallon!

Curious about Aldi’s business model? According to Privatelabelmag.com:

Aldi’s business model was developed to strictly support their mission to bring consumers the lowest prices on quality food. Consider the following as you think about an Aldi store:

Aldi stores average 15,000 to 18,000 square feet in size and pretty much resemble a box. If they buy into a second-use facility that is larger, a wall is put up, the rest either leased or even left vacant.

They all look the same…a “Spartan” box with as few fixtures as necessary to perform the function. Most product is displayed on floor pallets in cut-open boxes with a retail price sign overhead. There are only three to four aisles.

Three to five registers take care of the traffic and only relatively recently are equipped with scanners. In the past, because none of the items were price-marked, cashiers were required to memorize all the retails.

They all operate the same, too: no coupons, no preferred cards, no free grocery sacks (shopping bags cost 10 cents each), and there is a refundable 25-cent shopping cart charge. And for vendors: no slotting allowances, no promotions, no advertising contracts.

Most striking is their variety, or their lack of it, in terms of how food retailers typically think of variety…only 700 to 800 items. While most sub-categories are represented, there is only one item in one size…one item in one size of peas or spaghetti or apple juice. The average Aldi does less than $100,000 per week, but think of the buying power behind each of those 700 items, compared to the typical supermarket that may carry 40,000 items in 40,000 square feet and do $280,000 per week.

Most interesting is that 90% of the items offered are offered under a brand owned by Aldi, a private label. There are different brand names for each category, but all are owned by Aldi. Seeing a “national brand” almost seems like an anachronism.

Neat!

I’ve read in different places that some are perhaps a little ashamed to shop here but I can’t imagine why. Why would anyone be ashamed of finding bargain momma deals when it comes to groceries? Especially when we just came off high gas prices and still paying $4 for a dozen eggs? For me it was like uncovering a secret treasure, yes I am that corny! I don’t care what anyone says, I’ll ride this thing until the wheels all off, in other words, I’ll make it work. I’ve been successful at trimming the fat from our budget and while I still have to kill my shopping habit a little ways to go, this works.

What are your thoughts on Aldis? Have you shopped there? What are your impressions of the place? Would you let the “off brand” products turn you off?

I don’t have to tell you that food prices have been on the rise right?  I’d be preaching to the choir so rather than go into a long diatribe about my grocery bill, I thought it best to discuss how to plan your menu around weekly supermarket sales.

First, when planning your menus around supermarket sale, you should consider menu planning and keeping your pantry stocked with basic kitchen pantry items.  Both save you valuable time and money in this area.

Menu Planning

Menu planning allows you to plan your menu for the week, every two weeks, month or for some ambitious gals I know the season and even the year.  This enables you to plan ahead for your grocery list and saves you from multiple trips to the supermarket.  This way you shop ahead, prepare the meats perhaps the night before and catch certain recipe items on sale before you’re due to make a certain meal.

Here’s what my old menu looks like:

Shopping list of staple ingredients for a well-stocked kitchen.

Baking
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Brown sugar
Condensed Milk
Corn meal
Corn starch
Evaporated Milk
Vanilla
White Sugar
Yeast

Herbs & Spices
Black pepper
Chicken bouillon cubes
Cilantro
Cinnamon
Crushed garlic
Garlic powder
Green seasoning (found in the international aisle of grocery store)
Nutmeg
Oregano
Onion powder
Sea salt
Seasoned Chicken Breader by House Autry

Oils, Stocks, Condiments

Mayonaise
Beef stock
Chicken broth
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Red wine
Soy sauce

Tomato sauce
Vegetable oil
Vinegar
White wine
Worcestershire sauce

Miscellaneous
Cream of mushroom/celery/chicken soup (canned)
Pasta
Rice/Couscous

Menu Planning Around Supermarket Sales

Tips:

• Plan your menu, preferably for a month or so ahead, this way when you see sale items you can buy them before a meal is due or even switch it out to prepare it early if a perishable item is on sale such as bell peppers.
• Check for sales online, then check your menu to see which recipes call for a particular sale item.  I recommend keeping your menu on your computer and printing them weekly due to changes you may make due to changing weekly sale items.
• Consider adding one pot meals to the mix, as this is another time saver.  Here are a few from iVillage.com:

Chicken Provencale
• Cuban Chicken and Yellow Rice
• Emerilized Tuna Casserole
• Louisiana Gumbo
• Pot Roast and Winter Vegetables
• Yummy Vegetarian Pot Pie
• Hearty Minestrone with Pesto
• Greek Chicken with Onions, Oregano, Olives and Feta
• Strata with Goat Cheese, Tomatoes and Herbs
•Tuscan White Beans with Sausage and Sage

When planning your menu, consider the basics, meat + starch + vegetables = Balanced meal

Meats: Chicken, beef, turkey, fish and meatkind or tofu for our vegetarian readers.

Starches: Rice, Potato, Sweet Potato, Pasta, Yams, Dinner Rolls/Bread etc

Vegetables: Lettuce, Spinach, Broccoli, Bell Peppers, Green Beans, Sweet Peas, Squash, Pumpkin etc

Tonight’s Dinner Menu:  Southwest Chicken with Potato Salad, Cranberry Sauce and Salad

Looking at this week’s sale circular, I chose Shoppers as they have the best deals hands down in our area. The main items to shop for are chicken, potatoes, sweet peas, salad and eggs since I already have the Southwest Chipotle Spice from Mrs Dash which is a must have staple in our house.  Other items like salt, pepper, mayonnaise, mixed veggies and cranberry sauce are staples as well.  This is a meal that get’s recycled at least once a week so I buy what I can to last through 2-3 recipes

Here are this week’s ingredients that happened to be in the Shopper’s sale circular:

+


+

+

+

Voila!

Southwest Chipotle Chicken with Potato Salad with Cranberry Sauce with salad on the side:

This is just an example of one meal planned via the supermarket sale, think of how many more meals and snacks you can plan all while saving money.

Question:  Are you using supermarket sales to plan your weekly menu?  Do you find it useful?  If not, tell us why in the comments.  What other food saving tips can you share with us?

photo credit: ralphbijker

Today we went on our biweekly shopping trip to Trader Joes.

I am pissed!

Our grocery bills have been inching up for a little while now but dammit if this didn’t take the cake!  Now, granted we have been out of town so we didn’t go food shopping for a week or so before the trip but, now a week after returning we had nothing in the pantry, well we did but not the basics.  So we needed to buy all the basics and goodies that keeps our pantry stocked to get us through the next 2 weeks.

Back in January our grocery bill was $99 at Trader Joes.  Today that same bill is $247.07.

Color me just a little confused and, well just pissed off!  This doesn’t even include the fruits and vegetables as we have those delivered by Washington Green Grocer at $42.75 for a large organic box.

This is where I start to balance health vs. my pocket book as I’m sure so many of you do already.  On one hand I could just say screw it an go back to Shoppers and deal with their less than fresh, often spoiled non-organic foods but I just don’t feel that I should have to sacrifice health for my pocket book.  Our grocery budget is $350 for the month.  That leaves just over $100 left for anything grocery related.  And Im not saying that we can’t go over the budget but after July’s $650 grocery bill, we had to cut back on the random trips.

So what am I going to do?

Well, for one I think that we have to develop an actual list of items that are bonafide staples in our house.  We sort of know what we want but we are the type to try something new every time we go to Whole Foods or Trader Joes which switches things up a bit.  We aren’t brand loyalists but we really only shop at Whole Foods and Trader Joes at this point because we are being more health conscious and with the recent increases in grocery prices, we might as well shop there anyway.

Here’s the plan:

1.  Make a list of staples and adhere to that list.

2.  Make sure that list of staples when totaled keeps us within our budget

3.  Get Evert bags because we spend WAY too much money on fruits and veggies only to have them spoil quickly before the weekend gets here.  We end up having to go to the supermarket often during the week because the spoil too quickly.

4.  Try to use EVERYTHING in the pantry before running to the supermarket.  By everything I mean anything that can be used to make up a meal.  I think we are so used to certain foods that if those aren’t stocked then we feel that we have nothing to eat.

Here’s the grocery receipt:

$#@%@%

*sigh*

What say you: How are you managing the fast rising costs of groceries?  Can you share any tips with me?

Click the image to enlarge

Let’s face it, school starts in a few days, the summer is coming to a close and you need to get back into a routine for the fall and winter months. Why not make it easier by getting started on your menu planning now? Here are some tips to get you started with some recipes from a previous post on saving money by utilizing your kitchen pantry staples.

1. Start with the current year spreadsheet, just make sure that it has tabs for each month for easy navigation.
2. Decide how often you want to cook dinner during the week. Personally, I don’t cook everyday, even though I like cooking, I just don’t have the time as I’d like to at this point. So I cook every other day, leave leftovers so that we can have something for the in between days. IF you choose to cook everyday, great, if not that’s fine too.
3. Enter your meals in each day/cell of the spreadsheet based on your time schedule and level of difficulty. During the week I like to add meals that will take no more than 1 hour to completion because I truly hate slaving over a pot.
4. Research meals that take no more than 30 minutes from start to completion, these will be a life saver when you have those unexpected derailments and just need to whip something up quick and easy.
5. In the notes section, add your WEEKLY shopping list of the things you need to purchase. You can start by adding Week 1…Week 2…and what have you…this way you know exactly what you need to buy at the start of each week. You can also find print shopping list templates here.
6. Extra: Add recipes to your spreadsheet like this: Right click on your day/cell, click on insert comment, a text box should pop up, then copy and paste your recipe or make adjustments as needed. Hit enter and your done. Hover your mouse over the cell and VOILA you now have your recipes within the cell for easy reference
7. Email your spreadsheet to yourself or print it out to put in a folder for safe keeping. I like to email mine since that works best for me.

Now for the good stuff:

Click the easy button, pass go and collect ready made recipes!

I found a neat site where users can find recipes by entering an ingredient or keyword. This can be the main ingredient in your recipe or if you have a few items in your pantry and not sure what to do with them. The results give you the recipe and the fat calories, carbs and protein count for each serving. You may need one or two extra ingredients but overall the recipes are pretty basic.

Here are two of the recipes I came across:

Baked Garlic Lemon Chicken

Homemade Beef Stew

Check out a search I performed here for of all things “basil” and “tuna”, I got some pretty tasty results:

(Click to enlarge)

Why menu planning?

• Saves time and money
• You put more thought into creating healthy meals and not last minute fast food options
• You can buy in bulk knowing what you’ll be having for dinner two weeks from now
• Discover new recipes that are healthier and faster to prepare

Here’s the previous post where we shared the basic kitchen staples. Now it’s your turn, share your favorite recipe that you can whip up within 30 minutes to 1 hour.

The Whole Foods gods must have been listening this week as we adjusted our food budget to only include organic foods.  This means only shopping at Whole Foods and after reading this article, it cinched the decision as the following statement blew us away because my husband and I really try to live a healthy lifestyle:

The FDA estimates that 20 pounds of pesticides are used per person per year in the U.S., and at least 50 of these are classified as carcinogenic.

This was a decision that took some thought given the rising grocery costs but we want to be more responsible in the area of what we put into our bodies.

So what’s a girl on a budget to do?  Well the Whole Food gods made it easier by creating Value Tours!

From the NY Daily News:

Faced with rising food prices and a national recession, Whole Foods has launched free value tours, leading groups of bargain hunters through the aisles of natural, sustainable and organically made goods.

Other Whole Foods’ deals include their house line of 365 shampoos and conditioners (16 ounces for $1.99; 32 ounces for $3.79). There’s their Whole Catch line of frozen prepared foods ($3.99 for a 10 ounce box of fish sticks) or their fresh, 6-ounce individually portioned filets of fish for roughly the same size per pound as bigger cuts, nice for one or two people.

For all proteins — like chicken, beef, pork or fish — there’s a case of family-sized “value packs” that are at least a $1 per pound less. And for literally any dry good item in the store — meaning everything from diapers to spaghetti sauce to bottled water to energy bars — you can get a 5% discount if you buy it by the case.

Beyond these specific deals, however, the tours are also designed to highlight overall strategies for cutting costs on your bill.

They got the message! What this means for the budding Bargain Mama is that Whole Foods is finally recognizing that even those who live on a budget want to eat healthy.

Value Tours are conducted by Whole Foods employees who guide budget conscious consumers through the aisles showin them how to shop at Whole Foods.  Honestly?  I didn’t think that Whole Foods had sales because they are a bit on the expensive side.  I’ve never seen a sale circular so when we shop there, we know to take the hit and keep on moving.

But now, we know that there are sales cards as I like to call them stationed throughout the store in for consumers to pick up as they go along.  Now, they aren’t as in depth as what you’re used to at your neighborhood grocery store, but it suffices in addition to the yellow signs that indicate sale items throughout the store.

Why Whole Foods?  Because Shoppers, Giant and Safeway have all increased in prices significantly in my neck of the woods.  What used to be a $100 grocery run is now $165.  If we’re going to spend that much then we might as well go to Whole Foods and get our main items there.  Non food items we can still get at the grocery or Dollar store.

Before our trip to NYC this weekend I stopped by to pick up some sushi, salmon and my favorite, fruit parfait straight from their bakery.  I did have a talk with the Store Manager on duty and she agreed that it’s important for shoppers to be on the lookout for their favorite and routine items on sale.

Here are some more tips from the article on how to shop frugally at Whole Foods:

USE WEEKLY SALES FLYERS: Like most other markets, says Whole Foods’ value tour guide Allison Smith, the store puts out its new yellow weekly sales sheet on Wednesdays, marking each sales item in the store with a large yellow sale sign. So once you learn what tags are used for sales at markets, you can easily scan the store for deals.

SHOP SEASONALLY: “In produce,” says Smith, “the really big thing to look for is seasonally and locally.” When you buy local food some of the transportation costs have been cut out, she says, and when you buy what’s in season, there’s more of it, meaning the price goes down.

BUY STORE BRANDS: Many house brand items are just as good as brand names, and some stores even contract with the same people who make brand name products to create their versions. They’re often much cheaper than sales items or even post-coupon prices.

BUY IN BULK: If you can buy just the amount you need from bulk bins, says Smith, food won’t go to waste and you’ll save on packaging costs. Or if you can buy in larger quantities, you’ll save on cost per pound or unit, too.

CONSIDER COUPONS: Many times store brands are cheaper than items bought with a coupon, but you should still check out weekly newspaper circulars and mailings for brands you buy regularly.

Great news right?  Do you shop at Whole Foods?  If yes, is it for health reasons?  Do you have any bargain mama tips to share?

photo credit: ninjapoodles

I wrote about this last week but the continued coverage of those who receive food stamps is starting to piss me off.  Forgive me as I am a bit hormonal, but come on!  Food stamps were never meant to be the whole food budget, it is supposed to be a supplement!  If I read one more story about how they are feeling the pinch from only receiving $300+  for a family of 3 when there are a plethora of FREE or low cost food programs in their city I am going to SCREAM!

Those of us who work for and spend that money are paying taxes on it and they are not.  I am also assuming that if you are able bodied enough to go to the supermarket then you can get a part time job to make up for the difference!

• Work at the supermarket for a discount
• Go to the food banks BEFORE food runs out so that you can plan your meals for the month
• Cook smaller meals, most of us are eating 3 times the amount of food we need to live
• Save leftovers

I am usually on the side of the folks that are on welfare because there are some who truly need it.  However, the ones that try to work the government to the end that ALL their expenses are paid for and then cry foul when prices go up instead of  trying to get a job to make up the difference, frankly, well pisses me off.

My advice?

SPARE ME AND GET A JOB! 

photo credit: CarbonNYC

May is around the corner which for some means graduation from high school, college or graduate school. I remember the feeling well. And, while it meant being released from the bosom of self discovery into the arms of adult responsibilities, I looked forward to it with enthusiasm.

I moved to DC in 2003 and I remember talking to my Uncle about all the things I’d need to take into consideration on my meager salary. He wanted to make sure that I was well informed about the realities of adulthood which meant being independent and paying for everything on my own. Now its my turn, for those of you that are graduating high school, college or even graduate school, here are 8 frugal and cost cutting tips to take into consideration when spreading your wings.

Apartment

Consider the cost of living wherever you are headed. After living in NYC for most of my life and then moving to DC, for some reason I thought apartments were dirt cheap since I was moving to the “south”. Ha! I told my uncle that I’d found an apartment for $580 per month in NE DC (not knowing a lick of information about the area mind you…) he just agreed to take me over to the area to judge for myself. While he got a hearty laugh, as I realized we were now in the not so great part of DC, I almost broke down when I realized that where I actually wanted to live, Alexandria/Arlington, VA was more like $1100 per month.

I knew that was out of my budget and regretted taking the position because I wasnt able to afford to live in one of the better parts of town. I didn’t want a roommate and settling for NE DC (no offense anyone) wasn’t in the cards. Looking back I should have considered a roommate in a better part of town. What did I do? I chose an apartment in an OK part of town for $750 per month and lived solo. I’d never live there again but it worked for the time being and I was able to save money.

Lessons Learned:

• Visit the new city before signing a lease or settling on a particular part of town.
• Consider having a roommate or two, as this greatly subsidizes the cost of living in a better part of town while meeting new people
• If you aren’t splitting utilities, find an apartment that includes utilities in the rent. With rising utility costs you’ll avoid paying the high heating/energy bills depending on the season.

Transportation

DC is very different from NY in that people who move here aim to live near their place of employment, while in NYC, its pretty normal to have a 90 minute commute to work getting from Queens to Manhattan. Imagine my excitement when I figured out that my commute would be 20 minutes max! Well that’s because my apartment was walking distance to the metro and I was also 5 minutes from the beltway. If I drove in then my commute increased to an hour because of the traffic getting into DC.

Lessons Learned

• Choose an apartment or house within walking distance of public transportation the metro
• Forgo purchasing a car if you live near a metro as this will save you money on a possible car note, parking, fees, gas, insurance and maintenance
• Before signing the lease, take public transporation around your neighborhood and to work as you would on a typical day. As you get settled in, you’ll be familiar with the area and hopefully not skip a beat as you make your way around your new neighborhood.

Set Up Automatic Bill Pay for all Bills

This includes student loans and credit cards. Don’t risk getting hit with a late fee because you’ll get so caught up in your move that financial obligations fall through the cracks. As I got settled into my new apartment a few bills didn’t get paid because I totally forgot. Why? the credit card company hadn’t sent the statement to my new address and it slipped my mind to call and pay the bill. Also keep in mind that when you pay over the phone, most credit card companies charge you a convenience fee and using checks opens yourself up to identity theft and possibly not mailing the payment to the correct address. If you must use snail mail, use the envelope that accompanies your statement.

Lessons Learned

• Set up automatic bill pay to ensure on time payment of all monthly financial obligations
• If you must use snail mail, use the enclosed envelope that accompanies your statement

Compare Cost of Living with New Salary

This was one of my biggest mistakes when moving to DC,not understanding what my salary would afford. I saw $23, 000 and thought, oh Im rich! I was sadly mistaken and in for the shock of my life when I realized I didnt have enough money to go shopping for new clothes or eat out for lunch with my colleagues. Had I known how to negotiate a better salary I might have been in a better position once I moved here. While I know some believe in paying your dues, I believe strongly in paying the bills. And, after spending 4 years and amassing thousands in student loans, college graduates should command salaries that will keep them just above the working poor, ie living paycheck to paycheck.

Command what you are worth and don’t settle for a salary that will limit you in terms of quality of life and being able to pay your bills, save and live comfortably.

Lessons Learned

• Master the art of negotiating your salary if the offer falls below your target goal
• Compare the cost of living with your salary offer and determine if you will be able to save and cover your monthly expenses without having to eat Ramen Noodles every night
• Use the Paycheckcity calculators to determine how much money you will actually take home every pay period

Sign up for a Local Food or Grocery Charity

The cost of groceries here in DC is higher than NYC. *shrug* Don’t ask me why as I thought the opposite would be true, I was quite surprised after leaving my local Giant supermarket one afternoon. Neighbors told me about Sharedc.org which allowed me to get groceries on the cheap at $18 a bag. This included fruits, veggies, meats and some snacks. It was enough to subsidize my grocery spending significantly. I still toy with the idea of doing the same thing now given the rise in food expenses.

Lessons Learned

• Compare prices of your food staples and create a price book to help you keep track of your favorite items
• Sign up with local food charities like ShareDC.org or Angel Food Ministries
• Cut coupons from the Sunday newspaper to save even more money
• Utilize sites like The Grocery Game to compare local sales in your area
• Buy in bulk in addition to utilizing food charities
• Plan your meals for the week and use leftovers for lunch

Decorating Your new Diggs

While I was on a Ms Independent kick, my mom did purchase my first bedroom set and my uncle purchased all of my kitchenware, bedroom and bathroom linens. I went for a while without real living room furniture because I refused to go into debt for furniture I wouldn’t take with me to the next apartment. I advise you to o the same. I scoured Craigslist for a futon frame and bought a cheap futon mattress from a retail store, bought a 20 inch TV for $30 and a coffee table set for $55. My living room was now complete! All courtesy of Craigslist.org. My futon doubled as a bed whenever friends stayed over and I had a working TV along with a semi new coffee table set. Had I gone out and purchased a new living room set it would have set me back over $1000.

Lessons Learned

• Check into semi used furniture to cut on the cost of furnishing your new space

More Lessons Learned….

• Spend Less than you Earn while Devising a Plan to Earn More
  • Create a budget and stick to it. Know how much you need for monthly bills and how much you have remaining for discretionary spending. While keeping this in mind, remain focused and purposed in devising your next step. Set career goals that will enable you to be promoted by learning new skills through graduate school or taking on extra responsibilities.
• Buy New Work Clothes on the Cheap and Recycle What You Already Have
  • Stores like Charlotte Rousse, Forever 21 and H&M are a godsend in helping a fab fashionista remain updated on the cheap

While this is a new and exciting time in your life, make a serious attempt to reign in your spending habits as this will be useful as you learn to make better decisions when it comes to money. What are some tips you have for the new graduate in a new town? How did you handle your finances in your first year after college?

photo credit: CarbonNYC

Groceries

With the rising costs of food it’s become harder to maintain our grocery spending. Here are a few sites that provide coupons as a way to save money.

• Sign up for coupon sites:
  • Grocery Game
  • Coupons.com
  • Printable-Coupons
    • Printable-Coupons is an awesome site which goes into great detail about how you can use coupons to cut back greatly on your grocery bill. Here are a few sites the site author recommends:
      • Local Restaurant Coupons
      • Save on Groceries
      • The Coupon Book Organizer
      • Local Printable Grocery Coupons
      • How To Save On Groceries
      • Coupons On Ebay
• Food Co-oop
  
  • You can typically save between 20-40%by using grocery/food co-ops. The savings result from members participating in the set-up, bagging and distribution process which results in passing the savings on to the consumer.
  • The Frugal Duchess has a really informative article on how she saves money by going using an organic food co-op. This is a great option for those of us who don’t want to bust the budget at Whole Foods.

• Nonprofit organizations
  • This is another option if you just need the basics and not much more. For example, ShareDC.org and Angel Food Ministries are two organizations that I have worked with and referred others to in a time of need. Keep in mind that not all organizations require that you have a financial need, but for the frugal bunch, saving money constitutes a need See their menu here.
    • ShareDc.org – $18/bag of groceries
    • Angel Food Ministries $30/box

Make-Up/Cosmetics

As a woman who wears some form of makeup everyday I am always looking for deals in this department because it can get expensive, especially if you have problem skin. I stick to what works for me so I am always able to find my products on Ebay and Craigslist. This way I get really low prices which results in a savings of at least 30-40% off the normal price.

If you generally can’t find your items online via Ebay or Craigslist then track local sales in your area and rack up when the prices drop. This weekend, we got spaghetti sauce on sale at Shoppers, 10/$10. Can you say DEAL?! As with grocery shopping, you create a price book and make a section for cosmetics. Track the prices and when something truly goes on sale you’ll know that it is a good time to buy. This is especially good or those things that you buy often, like we are always tracking Green Giant Sweet Peas.

Here’s an example of how it works from No Credit Needed:

I’ve been tracking the price of Canned Corn at my local grocery store. For months, the price of Canned Corn hovered around .50 per can. In September, the price dropped to .40 per can. A great time to buy, right? Nope. I knew, because of my grocery price book, that they tended to drop even further nearer Thanksgiving. So, I waited – and last week, Canned Corn was on sale for .25 per can! I stocked up, and now we have enough Canned Corn to last the winter and enough to donate to the local food drive.

Try out your local pharmacy/drug store because I know for a fact CVS is good for their end of season sales on certain items which always include cosmetics.
Daily Newspaper/Magazines

My husband is guilty of this, we get the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal delivered only to have them pile up on our magazine rack. He reads most of his news interests online most of the time so we really don’t need to pay for the newspaper to be delivered. Still, I know he likes to read while on the metro going in to work.

With the advent of the World Wide Web it just makes sense to use it to your advantage. Here are two alternatives to buying the paper:

• Read them online at the respective websites
  • Wall Street Journal
  • CNN
  • New York Times
  • WashingtonPost
• Check out niche blogs if you want to read about gossip, fashion, political and things that might interest you.

Mobile/Cellular Phone

Wanna beat the mobile phone giants at their own game? Then try one of the following alternatives. If you use your cell phone infrequently then there is no reason to carry a large cell phone bill each month. The benefits include no credit check and no monthly bill making this area of your finances a cake walk.

• Prepaid Phones
  • AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile, TracFone, Verizon Wireless, and Virgin Mobile.
• Skype
  • This service has proven to be invaluable to us because we have family overseas and my husband often makes conference calls using this service. Its cheap and reliable as long as you have a consistent cable internet connection. So if you’re looking for a reason to dump your cell phone and save money, you’ve got your reason right here!

This concludes our 2nd installation of the Cheap Alternatives series. Let me know what works for you and what doesn’t. What are some cheap alternatives you employ that aren’t listed here?

The Wall Street Journal has a great article-Higher Food Prices Start to Pinch Consumer, and while it seems rather dismal there are things we can do to reduce the rising costs of food prices. To some this may seem pretty simple but not only are we battling ourselves in this area (buying things we don’t need or won’t use in two weeks) but we’re battling the rising costs of food which over which we have no control.

• Make a list
  • Be realistic about what you plan to eat for the week. Don’t buy something if you know that you won’t eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner within the next 2 weeks.
  • If you use menu planning then gather your ingredients for the week and add them to your list. This prevents you from buying things you won’t need for the week.

• Don’t go to the supermarket hungry. You’ll only end up spending more because as you’re going through the aisles thinking of all the foods you can make once you’re home. Mmmmhmmm that Betty Crocker Pineapple Cake looks gooood!!

• If time is an issue for you, the order your groceries online, there are services like Peapod and Door to Door Organics that can take care of everything in one order.

• If you have a family of 4 or more then buying in bulk helps tremendously and cuts down on random trips to the supermarket saving you time and gas.

• Go to a retailer that accepts competitor coupons.

• Compare prices. Shop once for everything at 3 local retailers and compare prices. We all have different needs so my shopping at Trader Joes may not work for the person who lives near Pathmark or Food Lion.

• Keep your receipts. Note which items are going up in price and then begin to look at alternatives or check for manufacturer coupons.

Try them out and report back! With the rising costs of food prices its becoming harder to keep this item under budget, but with careful planning it can be done!