Grocery Comparison

Well, tonight I started the HUGE task of comparing prices in each grocery store near me. 

Firstly, I wrote up a list of every single grocery item that I use, with the exception of spices.  I made a huge spreadsheet on my computer, printed off a copy, and waltzed down to my local Wal-Mart for my first price records.  Ugh.  An hour later I was nearly sick of looking at the fine print on each can, writing down details such as brands, units of measurement, weight or amount, and price.  I'm sure the sales people were seriously wondering what I was doing, taking hours in each aisle! 

After 2 and a half hours, I was done!!  The "Wal-Mart"column on my spreadsheet is full!  Unfortunately, it's full on paper, filled in with furiously written chicken scratch writing.  Tomorrow I will have to take the time to transcribe it all into my laptop.

I hope to spend the next two weeks doing a massive comparison of all the grocery items in each store so that I have a better idea of where to shop for each item.  I want to know when a sale is actually a good deal, or when I could still get the product cheaper elsewhere.  I want to know what I'm paying for, and I want the confidence that I'm paying the lowest possible price!

My next stop is Safeway, then the Wholesale Club, Superstore, London Drugs, and a couple of local dollar stores.  I am not intending to check Sobeys or Save-on-Foods, as I know that most of their items are more expensive to begin with.  I will still check through their catalogs to look for special deals, but in general, their prices are not in the same category as the other stores.  Their customer service generally exceeds other stores, and their products are of high quality.  But for the purpose of this comparison, I will not spend the time in their stores.

I will post my findings once I am done.  You may hear very little from me in the next week or two as I spend a lot of time compiling my research.  I hope to pass the savings onto you as soon as possible.

Birthday savings!

My baby girl is turning 1!  (The picture is of my daughter and my husband, playing at the park.) 

When my son turned 1 year old, I probably spend $50 on presents, and other odds and ends for a fun birthday party.  I honestly don't remember what I got him, and if it's still around now, I'd be surprised! 

I know my daughter LOVES cabbage patch dolls, so I've kept my eye out for a gently used one.  I found one for $1 at a local thrift store, and it was in perfect condition!  I gave it a good cleaning, found some clothes for the doll, and wrapped it up.  We also bought a nice ball at Wal-Mart for $3, and a ball for my son (2.5 years old) to enjoy this summer as well, for another $3. 

I made a scratch cake, which was delicious, made our own ice cream, and some cookies.  We celebrated as a family, and she enjoyed every moment of it.  She loves her new baby doll, and really enjoys her ball too.  She had a wonderful birthday party, and I think she enjoyed it just as much as my son did when he was one.  her entire birthday party cost us maybe $10, and that includes presents for her and my son! 

Sometimes we get so caught up in buying the newest, flashiest, and most impressive presents, that we forget that the kid is only 1, and really, a nice heartfelt gift will make them just as happy as a brand new expensive toy.  It's just not necessary to spend a lot, especially while the are so little and won't remember it anyways.  

On another note, I ran out of Pediatric Advil last night.  My little girl has been teething this past week, and as those molars break through, she's certainly needed a little pain relief to help her to sleep peacefully. 

Before I went out to buy some, I checked out Advil's website, and was thrilled to find a $2 coupon for their Children's Advil!  Normally, the Pediatric Advil is $8, but I got it for $6.  I found a few more coupons online as well, so if I had gone to London Drugs, I could have purchased it for much less, but it wasn't worth the 15 minute drive to my nearest London Drugs.  I had another drugstore within a couple minutes, and I really needed the Advil to help her relax and sleep!  Maybe next time I will get it at London Drugs for much less- BEFORE I run out completely and am in a panic to get more. 

So I did well this week, I saved a bunch of money, and I didn't spend even more. (It's good to find sales, but even better if you are careful not to spend anything on things you don't need!)

Grocery Tip #5 - Ongoing Grocery Store Offers

My next tip isn't a totally complete tip, as I've not yet done enough research to give a full list of options.  I will give you what I have, and if you can think of something to add, add it!


Here are some of the ongoing in-store offers you can take advantage of:


Save-on-Foods :

• 15% off your bill on the first Tuesday of every month
• Free membership card that offers additional savings on select items
• Redeem store points for rewards
• Free baby gift package when there's a new baby in the family

Safeway:

• 10% off your bill on the first Tuesday of every month, OR 10x air miles
• Free membership card that offers additional savings on select items
• Very recent campaign (as of June 2010) to lower prices and compete with Wal Mart
• Air Miles members can earn points and bonus points on many items
• Coupon mailing list online

Sobeys:

• 10% off your bill on the first Tuesday of every month
• Free membership card to collect points
• Redeem points for grocery discounts at the till or rewards online
• Convert Sobeys points to Aeroplan points

Real Canadian Superstore:

• Online coupons
• Often some sort of free product or gift card if you spend a specific amount ($150-$250)
• Member points system, but I believe you need have a PC bank account or credit card in order to join.

Personally, I've found that though the first three stores have excellent quality product, friendly service, and the "cheap Tuesday" option, Superstore tends to beat their prices by a good chunk, especially if you purchase the "No Name" brand groceries.

Any other ongoing store deals that you can think of?

Grocery Tip #4 - Make it yourself!

So one of the most recurring bits of advice I've received is to do my own cooking and baking!  I love to cook and bake, and I do most everything from scratch.  In fact, just as I sat down to write this, my oven timer went off and I had to get a couple loaves of fresh whole wheat bread out of the oven.  (I must take a moment to brag... I make the best bread ever, it comes out beautifully fluffy and soft.)

In the past two days I've done a lot of baking as the weather is unusually chilly right now.  I figured that I'd better get the freezers stocked before the summer really sets in and I feel too hot to bake.  I've done 2 doz apple-cinnamon rolls, cinnamon buns, 6 loaves whole wheat bread, puffed wheat squares, 2 doz bagels, and a bunch of granola, all in the last 2 days.

Here are some of my very favorite recipes!  (Click on the link to view the recipe)

Soft tortilla shells (they stay soft!) 
Bagels
Granola - I have changed this one to suit my family
Glazed Yeast Doughnuts
Potato Chips
Puffed Wheat Squares

That's just a few of the recipes I use regularly.  I never actually keep a recipe the same twice, I love to add bits of this and that, and change the amounts to be what looks good to me.  Things usually turn out, so that makes me happy!

What's your favorite recipe?  Thanks!

Grocery Tip #3 - Online Coupons

Grocery tip #3 is one that I started to discover some time ago.  As I mentioned before, I didn't have much luck with coupons in the past as I only saved a dollar here and a dollar there each month.  I know dollars add up, but really, I never saved more than maybe $5 in a month, and that just didn't seem worth it.

However, since I've found that London Drugs does coupon stacking, I may use these coupons to save more money now.

Here are some sites where I found great online coupons and deals!

Frugal Shopper (Excellent ideas!) - http://www.frugalshopper.ca
Brand Saver: http://www.brandsaver.ca
Brand Sampler - http://www.brandsampler.ca
Brand Sampler for men - http://www.brandsamplerformen.ca
Go Coupon - http://www.gocoupons.ca/
Coupon Click - http://www.couponclick.ca/
Flyer Land - http://www.flyerland.ca
Save.ca - http://www.save.ca
Live Well, Save Well - http://livewellsavewell.ca
Canadian Shopping Deals - http://www.canadianshoppingdeals.com/
Deal Street - http://www.dealstreet.ca
Web Saver - http://websaver.ca
Red Flag Deals - http://www.redflagdeals.com
My Savings - http://www.mysavings.com
Canadian Free Stuff - http://canadianfreestuff.com/
SC Johnson - http://www.rightathome.ca
Freebies 4 Her -  http://freebies4her.com/ (A personal favorite of mine!)
Smart Canuks - www.smartcanucks.ca
Budget101 - http://www.budget101.com/forum.php

Many store websites also have a coupon page where you can print out your coupons before going into the store.  Make sure you check your store's website for special offers, or even sign up to receive special offers by email.  Sometimes the email offers bring in useless junk mail, but if you have an email address dedicated to these offers, it won't bother you so much.

Another good place to find coupons is by going to the product website.  For example, you can find coupons for diapers at the Pampers and Huggies websites.

Do you know of any more coupon and deal sites that I may have missed or overlooked?  Let me know!

*Update on July 7, 2010
As of today, I have received a few samples in the mail which have included:

• 2 Gillette Fusion 5 blade men's razors
• Head and Shoulders shampoo sample
• Pantene Pro V sample
• Cover Girl samples
• Gillette Body Wash Sample
• And many, many more little things!

Grocery Tip #2 - Wholesale Club

My second grocery tip comes from another response I received from my ad on the kijiji website.

I haven't checked it out for myself yet, but I've been told that the Real Canadian Wholesale Club (www.wholesaleclub.ca) is pretty much the least expensive store for bulk items.  Pasta, large cuts of meat, cases of soup, and many other things are said to be far less expensive at the Wholesale Club than even at Superstore or Costco.

There are a few good reasons to shop at the Wholesale Club:

• There is no membership required
• Buy product individually, in a club pack, or by the case
• Multi-unit discounts
• Extended hours of operation
• Fast Check-out

The Wholesale Club website has a page where you can print off coupons to bring into the store.

Just by glancing at their site for a few moments, I can tell you that I noticed they have their 4kg boxes of chicken breasts for nearly $10 less than I've found at Safeway, and still cheaper than I've found at Costco or Superstore.  Very interesting!

Come back for more tips!  I have many more, including a whole bunch of websites that offer coupons that you can either receive in the mail or print for yourself, depending on the site.

Grocery Budget - Tip #1 (London Drugs)

As a mom with two small kids (both in diapers) it's very difficult to keep the grocery bill down!  My "grocery" items consist of everything from diapers and wipes to baby bottles, to household groceries, to food.  Pretty much anything that can be purchased at the grocery store is part of my grocery budget.

We currently are having difficulties getting our grocery costs down past $550, even though we'd like to budget for closer to $400 each month.

I posted an ad on a local buy/sell/free board, asking for any tips on couponing and other ways to save money for groceries.  I have learned so much, I've had at least 30 responses to my request, most of them offering excellent tips and amazing advice!  I will be compiling these responses very soon, but for today, I wanted to give you possibly the most valuable tip I've received so far.

London Drugs does coupon stacking!!  That means that if I gather all my Huggies coupons, I can put them all towards one box of diapers and get it for FAR cheaper than paying for discount diapers at Costco!  I had no idea!  People are getting things for free at London drugs simply by stacking coupons!

You can learn more about the ins and outs of London Drugs coupon stacking at http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/71990-how-stack-coupons-london-drugs-beginners-guide-canada/


Before this, I was not aware of any stores that would allow more than one coupon on an item at a time.  This meant that most higher end things with a coupon were still more expensive than the store brand without a coupon.  But as I proudly cling to this new piece of advice, I shall attempt to get one free (or nearly free) item at London Drugs this month.  When I do, I'll let you know all about it!

What about you?

So I've given a few ways of saving money so far, I'd love to hear from you now!  What are you doing today to save money?  What are some of your money-saving secrets and ideas?

Use the comments box to tell me what you think.

-Beki

Come into money? Save it!

So every year, my husband and I really look forward to doing our taxes.  At this point in time, we pretty much always get a good chunk of money back, and this year was certainly no exception.  In the past years we've had plans for that money before it even came in.  Vehicle repairs, car insurance, home renovations, it all seemed to eat that extra cash very quickly.

This year, we used a couple hundred dollars to pay off our last remaining debt (except our house) and used the rest on the mortgage.  We had an open variable rate mortgage at the time, and the majority of that money went directly to the principal.  We cut off 10 years from our mortgage with that one big payment!  It was really encouraging to know that this year we were wise with that money and actually used it to make our future brighter.

We still have all the other payments and repairs, but this time, they are already in the budget.  It sure would have been "nice" to use the cash for a vacation, or something new, but I doubt that you can find anything that will be worth 10 years of mortgage payments.

If you come into money, whether it's the government repaying your hard earned cash or something else, be wise!  Decide where it will go and stick with it.  Think about your future, not about the latest sale at your favorite store.  If you take care of your future now, it will take care of you later.

Like Dave Ramsey says, "Live like no one else so later, you can live like no one else!"