Found at Harrisonburg’s greatest thrift shop, the ‘Gift and Thrift’.
Many of the techniques in this book I’ve used for years, such as going to the store alone during off hours, using a grocery list system, purchasing produce only when in season, etc. But now I have ideas for more.
Thanks to their advice I’ve just created a spreadsheet, accessible on my phone, that allows me to compare unit prices for regularly purchased items across stores. This list has already been incredibly helpful for decision making. It isn’t always obvious which stores will have the best prices on which items, and in many cases my intuition was wrong.
Good advice from this book:
– Go to the store as little as possible. Try to reduce trips to once a month. (I now go every two weeks.)
– Know your prices. Compare unit prices only! Bring a calculator to the store if necessary. (I’m now using the spreadsheet mentioned above.)
– Establish a ‘buy price’ for frequently purchased items. Wait until they are on sale at or below your ‘buy price’ and then buy them in bulk.
– Use coupons when possible. Avoid purchasing items that you wouldn’t normally purchase just because you have a coupon. Use coupons on smaller containers for a better unit price.
– Avoid warehouse clubs and memberships. Go occasionally with a friend who has a card to check for occasional deals. Most prices at warehouse clubs are not a deal! (I just found out that this is true after visiting Costco with my aunt. By using my spreadsheet with unit prices I saw that most of the sale prices at my usual store were lower than the Costco prices, often for better quality items.)
– Use ‘rain checks’ if the grocer is out of a sale item. Pick up the item later at the sale price.
– Watch closely at the checkout and carefully check all receipts for errors.
– Bagged produce is usually much cheaper than per-piece produce items. Bags are often slightly over the declared weight. Check carefully for damage however.