Here are 5 strategies for getting the most out of your grocery budget each month.

1. Pay attention to your weekly grocery store circulars. (more…)

Welcome back!

Being frugal can involve a lot of planning and organizing. But it doesn’t have to stress you out. Let technology do the work for you. Two words. Google alerts.

Google alerts is a tool that shoots out an email to you on any subject you want when new content is published online with those keywords. You can set an alert for ’saving money on groceries’, select the type of content you want (news, blogs, video, etc.) and choose how often you want an alert sent to you. Set it up and any time new content is found, you receive an email letting you know.

If you know you are in the market for a big ticket purchase soon, use Google alerts to track market news for the product, keep up with the latest product reviews or look for the latest coupons/rebates/sales.

This is a great way to find coupons or sales from your favorite store or product or finding even more creative ways to save some money while saving you time. No more spending hours researching something you want (I’m guilty of this). Let google do it for you.

It’s redundant to keep saying the economy is bad or in times like these everyone is cutting back. But, it’s true. My most popular posts are those where I share frugal tips and ideas. So, I’m pulling out something I’ve been meaning to share for a while. You can save money on groceries when you shop to stock your pantry versus shopping randomly. And here’s why.

When you have a list of regular staples you can stock them in one of two ways. 1) Keep an eye out for those items being loss leaders at your grocery store, buy a lot and save a ton on things you know you will use. A loss leader is a very low price designed to bring customers in the store. The grocer then hopes to keep you there and spend money on items that aren’t so cheap. Or, 2)Just keep tabs on all your staples and regardless of whether you plan monthly menus or not, you always have something you can whip up to eat because you always have basic ingredients on hand. (Your savings comes from those nights when you look and say, “I don’t have anything to eat at the house” and then head to McD’s  or another trip to the grocery store.) You’ll always be prepared and save time and money by eliminating wasteful trips to the store.

Here’s a sample list to get you started.

Do you have favorite tricks for saving a buck? Let us know!

Several days ago, I posted my list of 7 meals I could feed my family of 5 for $7 or less per meal and started a breakdown, by meal, of cost with recipes. Now to finish this list….. (more…)

Several days ago, I posted my list of 7 meals I could feed my family of 5 for $7 or less per meal. And by meal, I don’t mean each individual serving. I mean the entire MEAL. For all of us. I promised you the breakdown showing the cost of each meal with recipes and in the meantime got caught up in blogging about presidential debates and foreclosures and all that other stuff that really makes learning how to make meals for under $7 important.

So – on to the stuff that WE can do to help save our families and our country; being frugal. (more…)

With prices rising and the economy falling, I want to save as much as I can to pay down debt and invest in savings. To that end, I have come up with 7 meals for under $7 per meal.

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