Financial Planning

Unlike a fixed monthly cost such as your mortgage or car payment, the amount you spend on groceries each month is somewhat flexible. While the common advice of clipping coupons and buying generic brands to save money while shopping is sound, by far the best way to truly keep your grocery shopping expenses under control is by understanding how grocery stores entice you to spend more than you really want. By fully understanding the ways grocery stores encourage you to spend, many of which you probably never even noticed before, you can combat their strategies and spend money only on the merchandise you really need.

Although a grocery store may appear to be simply a place to purchase food and other household necessities, in reality it’s a cutting edge example of “how to sell more than consumers really need.” Since you are the consumer, it’s important that you realize these sales tactics so that you walk into a grocery store to get only what you need while avoiding everything else that the grocery store wants to sell you. Here are some ways that grocery stores manipulate you into spending more than you had planned and some simple steps you can take to counter them:

Smell: One of the first things you’ll notice when you enter a grocery store is the mouth-watering smell. There is a specific reason why grocery stores smell of freshly baked goods, and also why the bakery is almost always found near the store entrance. The reason is that a bakery making bread and desserts gives off an enticing smell, and that smell is likely to make you hungry. The grocery store also knows that if you feel hungry while you shop, you are likely to spend more money – a lot more – than if you are not hungry.

A simple way that you can combat this is by going grocery shopping only after you have had a meal and are full. If timing doesn’t allow for you to do this, at least drink a couple of glasses of water before leaving to make you feel full before shopping. Shopping while you’re full makes it much easier to resist the great smelling temptations that the grocery store will flaunt in front of you.

Overall Store Layout: Did you ever notice that when you only need to buy a few staple items, you have to travel the entire grocery store floor in order to get them? While one might assume that the convenience of putting basic staple items in the same general area would make happier customers, grocery stores know that the longer that they can keep you in the store, the more money you are likely to spend. They also know that making you walk as far as they can inside the store will make it more likely that you’ll pick up impulse items. Stores are specifically designed in such a way as to make you spend as much time as possible inside them and walk the entire store floor to get the basic staples that everyone needs.

Although there is no way around going to the far corners of the store to get the groceries you need, you can avoid the trap of impulse purchases on the store floor by taking the time to make a list of the items you need and sticking to it when shopping. Getting into the habit of making a single trip once a week to take care of all your grocery shopping needs instead of several smaller trips throughout the week will also greatly reduce your time in the store and the chances that you’ll buy items you don’t really need.

Item Display Layout: Manufactures of brand named products pay hefty stocking fees to stores to have their merchandise placed on the shelves at adult eye level (and child eye level in the case of products aimed at children such as cereal). Manufactures are willing to pay these prices because they know that you are much more likely to purchase something that you can easily see as you are walking down the aisle than something you have to stop and search for. The result is that the products placed at eye level are usually the most expensive.

Before grabbing the first item you see, take a few seconds to look at the upper and lower shelves. Similar products are placed together and simply looking will often reveal the same product at a much better price.

“Sale” Merchandise: Grocery stores will advertise a certain number of items at rock bottom prices (called “loss leaders”) to get you to come to the store. While these can be genuine bargains, don’t get fooled into thinking that everything that has the words “sale” or “bargain” above it is really that. While aisle ends are reserved for these “bargains,” they aren’t always the deals they seem to be and the discounted products are often displayed along side higher price products. You can sometimes even find similar products in the regular aisle section that are less than the end of aisle “sale” merchandise.

The important thing to remember when grocery shopping is to focus on the price of the product and not all the fancy advertising and slogans promoting the product. Take the time to check the other brands and see if there is a better deal. Also, remember that if you weren’t planning to buy the item and you don’t really need it, then it really isn’t a bargain for you no matter what the price. Only consider those items that you regularly use and you have a need for.

Product Appearance: Product packaging at grocery stores is bright, usually in red and yellows since these colors attract the eye. Just because something grabs your attention, however, doesn’t mean that you have to buy it. Keep focused on your shopping list and don’t get distracted by products you don’t really need.

Packaging will also be much larger than the actual product for many food items. Manufacturers know that shoppers assume that larger sized packaging equals a better deal. It would make sense since bulking items together saves the manufacturer on packaging, shipping and stocking which they can pass along to you. With a mantra “buy in bulk” now firmly grounded in most people’s minds as a way to save money, manufacturers are taking advantage of this. While still not the norm, more and more larger sized packages are less of a deal than their smaller sized counterparts since manufacturers know you will make the above assumptions and probably not compare the per unit cost.

Before grabbing the largest box of a product, take the time to calculate the per unit or per weight cost. More often than you would expect, smaller packages of an item are actually a better deal than buying the same item in a larger package.

Check-Out Layout: The check out aisle of a store is like a mini mart in itself. This is because grocery stores know that they have a captive audience while you wait in line to pay for your groceries. They squeeze in every little thing that might remotely peak your interest to rack up a large amount on impulse sales.

The best way to avoid these temptations to is plan your shopping during off peak hours. Avoid the weekend if at all possible since this is when grocery stores are most crowded, as well as the evening when everyone has just gotten off work. With many grocery stores now staying open 24 hours a day, late night and early morning trips when the aisle and check out lanes are practically bare are the perfect time to get in and out of the grocery store as quickly as possible.

By taking the time to understand how the grocery stores try to influence your shopping and spending habits, you have now put yourself in control. Utilize the suggestions about how to counter the grocery store’s selling techniques and you will be able to control your grocery spending to a much greater extent and should have a much easier time keeping to your monthly food budget.

Copyright (c) 2004, by Jeffrey Strain

This article may be freely distributed so long as the copyright, author’s information and an active link (where possible) are included. A complimentary copy of any newsletter or a link to the site where the article is posted would be greatly appreciated.

Personal Finance Tips for You includes twenty-four topics covering an array of areas. The author states in the introduction “it is important to know as much as you can about managing your personal finances in these economic times.” Some of the areas covered are credit card traps, keeping on track to pay your bills, handling your checkbook, the price of gas, identity theft, catching up on retirement planning, what to do if you receive a lay off notice from your job, checking your credit report and talking about finances if you are planning to get married. These are just a few of the topics. There are many more.

The first topic covered is Don’t Get Caught Up in The Credit Card Trap, Stop Yourself Before That Happens. This is a very important chapter for everyone to read because it is so easy for this to happen in tough economic times. The author offers several excellent tips to help anyone who has this problem. It is clearly explained why it is so important for you to pay down the credit card debt.

Another important topic covered is How Do I Keep On Track to Pay My Bills on Time. The author gives the reader some tips on creating a budget and keeping track of your income and expenditures.

How do you survive the high cost of gas? We all know, not long ago the price of gas kept soaring. The author gives us many tips on how to save money by doing some simple things like consolidating trips just to name one of the pointers. There are many tips mentioned that I never thought of myself.

How do you establish your credit if you are young and just starting out on a job? Nocita Carter tells you exactly how to go about doing this.

Do you think you can save any money by just saving your change? This is one of the tips made by the author. I can personally vouch for this one because each day when I purchase an item, I take the change and add it to an old coffee can. After a few months, it gets quite full. I am always surprised by the amount of money I saved from my loose change.

I could go on and on with each chapter because there are so many good points in this book but I think you get the message and would get more out of Personal Finance Tips for You if you purchase it and read it yourself.

There are several aspects of this book that I really liked. It is written in language that is very easy to understand. It is not like some of the other books on finance that require you to have a dictionary by your side as you read. The book is very organized. Each chapter starts with an introduction to explain the topic. Once that is done, the author lists several tips to help the reader accomplish these tasks. Nocita Carter has written this book in a manner that makes the reader feel like they have a personal finance expert right there beside them. Personal Finance Tips For You is recommended for any age. It will be a valuable tool for younger people who are starting their first job. On the other hand, one is never too old to find something they did not know in this book. After reading this book, I learned quite a few tips to help me with my finances. You will find this an excellent resource guide to keep by your side at all times.

Busy cooks are faced with the dilemma of how to save money on their grocery budgets when tempted by the array of time saving, convenient prepackaged food. Sadly, the convenience food on your grocery shelves is more expensive and less nutritious than food you prepare from scratch. Yes, cooking from scratch is more time consuming but it does not have to be overwhelmingly so. With careful shopping, menu planning and some basic organization you can save up to one third of your weekly grocery budget without having to spend endless hours in food preparation. The following tips will help you realize big savings and you may actually find cooking is more relaxing and enjoyable.

If it is instant or labor saving, it will be much more expensive, so avoid buy it. Long grain rice is half the cost of minute rice and hardly takes much more time or effort to cook. The same is true of quick oats versus instant oatmeal. Learn to shop and cook smarter. For instance, buy a chuck roast and cut it into stewing or stir fry portions yourself. Grate your own cheese rather than buying pre-grated. Make your juice from concentrate or squeeze your own rather than buying premixed cartons. These are just a few suggestions, many more will come to mind. Buy foods in bulk quantities, taking storage space and shelf life into consideration. You can realize substantial savings this way. Buy economy sized or family sized packages of meat and poultry and divide them at home. No name and generic brand foods are usually less expensive and of good quality. Do cost comparisons when you shop for groceries. Calculate the cost per meal by dividing the number of meals you expect to get by the price of the item. For example, a particular cut of boneless meat might be more economical than one with a bone in, even though the cost per pound is higher, if you can get an additional meal from the leftovers. For some foods, like fruit and vegetables, it makes more sense to figure out the cost per serving. Try to make from scratch some of the things that you traditionally buy ready made like salad dressings, stuffing, pancake or dessert mixes, etc. The homemade versions will cost less and taste better. Buy sale and seasonal items. Check out the specials in your supermarket flyers and plan menus accordingly. Local and seasonal produce is generally less expensive than imported goods. Check out farmers markets in your area and, whenever possible, follow the 100 mile rule by purchasing food produced within a 100 miles of your home. Casseroles, soups and stews containing pasta, rice, beans and vegetables are excellent low cost meals and best of all they can be put together in advance and left all day in the slow cooker. Make extra for additional meals. Avoid waste by freezing leftover veggies, gravy and meat to add to homemade soups. Plan a couple of meatless meals each week with fish, eggs or legumes providing the protein. Cook pancakes or frittatas or omelets for dinner occasionally. Consider joining a food co-op in your community. Food co-ops provide members with a mechanism to collectively purchase food in bulk. You can save a great deal of money although you need to be well organized to use the produce when it arrives. Finally, buy a good cookbook that features economical recipes and use it as a guide to planning your menus.

It’s finally happened. The moment that you’ve been worrying about for so long. Your daughter is growing up and it’s become clear that she needs braces. When you weren’t looking, she has developed the tell tale overbite.

While it may not have mattered to her as much a few years ago, it does now because she’s a lot more concerned about her appearance than she was then. However, the thought of getting braces is nothing short of terrifying to both her and to your wallet! With the right dental plan and the right orthodontist, you both can rest assured that your needs will be met, without breaking your budget too badly.

The cosmetic dentistry field is one of the most heavily used areas of dental care today. People are coming in with all types of crooked and misshapen teeth and having a complete “smile” makeover performed, as they are so fondly referred to. This will not only improve their personal appearance, but also boost their self esteem at the same time.

The only problem with this scenario above is the cost of having anything cosmetic done to your teeth. Dental insurance simply will not cover any type of cosmetic dentistry, unless it’s a special case where the procedure to be performed is deemed to be necessary in order to return the persons appearance back to the way it was after an accident. The accident must be provided for within your insurance policy.

Another option that you have for saving money on orthodontics treatment is called a discount dental plan. These plans are not like insurance policies, so you can be seen for an existing condition. Discount dental plans offer substantial savings on braces and other orthodontic dental care. Some discount plans even offer big savings on cosmetic dentistry!

If you or one of your family members are in need of braces or need to see an orthodontist for any other reason, you should take a good look at what discount dental plans have to offer. If dental insurance won’t cover it and you’re going to be forced to pay 100% of the costs out of your own pocket, you’ve got nothing to lose, except maybe a few hundred (or thousand) dollars by not checking into it? So what are you waiting for?

The habit of saving start within you, only you can determine how to save more money by developing a saving habit, ever if you are broke. Now the question is how can I save money? The answers are not far fetched.

1. Check your spending: What are the things you spend your money that are not necessary for you at the moment, or the places that you go and you spend unnecessary money there, cut it and save your money for something valuable.

2. Do away what you don’t need: Look around your house, pick up those things that are not needful, sell them, this will create more money and more space in your room.

3. Create a saving method: Building a saving habit is just like climbing a ladder, first you develop a method. You need it for the future. Open a saving account and determine how you will be saving everyday, month, quarter, mid year and every year. You can do the same for your children, and invest part of your savings in the stock market to boost your savings.

4. Patience: This is needed to grow your money, especially when you just start, the urge to spend out of your saving will be high. Remember the saying “the patient Dog eat the fastest Bone”.

Attend seminars: There is a saying that go thus “What you know four years ago has gone four years ago”. Knowledge of how to be successful is more valuable then the success itself. You will get more knowledge by attending seminars, show that talk about finance and buy books including ebooks, there you will get more tips on how, and these will always give you an edge over what you don’t know.