Plan Shopping Trips (Guest Post)

Plan Shopping Trips

By Natasha @ Saving A Bundle

“One of the best things you can do to maximize savings is plan out your shopping trip before you get to the store. Writing a Shopping Plan will help you to stay within your budget, get you out of the store faster, and you will maximize your savings.

This is especially important when you plan on completing multiple transactions or if you’re shopping a Kroger Mega Event. Here are some suggested steps to writing a shopping plan:

Menu Plan
I first start by writing out a basic menu plan for the week. I DO NOT find a recipe and put all the ingredients on my list. I check what’s in my pantry, review any sales, and then decide what items I need to buy. I typically only need to buy a few items, the rest comes from the stockpile in my pantry.

Write a Ruff draft
I view the weekly ads, ad-matchups for each store(blog), and e-coupons and write down everything I would like to get and the price.  Those things that are most important get a star next to it.

Check Your Budget In order to stick to my food/household budget of $350.00 I have to be sure I’m keeping it as I shop. As I prepare for my final list I eliminate things that really aren’t necessary so that I do stay withing my budget.

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•Write your Final List
Now it’s time to write the final list(s). As I write the list I pull out any coupons I plan on using and stick them in the stores folder, that way they are ready to whip out at checkout.

I usually shop at more than one store in each week so each store gets it’s own shopping list. Those shopping trips that require a little more planning  would be: Kroger Mega Event Sales, Multiple Transactions, CVS ECB deals, and Walgreens Register Reward deals. These trips require that I have the exact amount of items needed and if I’m using a $/$$ coupon I need to be sure I reach the maximum amount so I can use that coupon.  Here is an example of a CVS Shopping Trip List.

Transaction 1

1 Aussie 2.99 – $1, = $1.99  * earn $2 ECB

2 Nutrashield SS $13.98 -$5= $3.99

1 Schick Slim $6.99 – $3.00, = $3.99 * earn $ ECB

Subtotal $9.96

Use $4/$20

Use $5.96 ECB *adjusted down from $6

Pay Only Taxes! (about $1.50)

Transaction 2

2 Schick Quattro BOGO –  $8 = $1.99

2 Covergirl products BOGO-$1, earn $2 ECB =$3.99

Subtotal $5.98

Use $4/$20

Use $1.00 ECB

Pay $0.98 plus taxes about $1.20

I ended up paying a total of $3.50 for both Transactions, I was about $0.18 over.

I find that without a shopping list I go bananas in the store. I can’t think very well and get distracted easily, by my boys or other sales in the store. With a shopping list I can get in, get out, keep my budget, and maximize my savings-things I would have a hard time with, with no plan.”

Natasha is a busy stay-at-home mom of three boys. She enjoys educating and encouraging others to live frugally on her blog, Saving A Bundle.

Tagged as:  guest post