frugal

It's no secret that I love to cook, so it also shouldn't be a surprise that it order to do all my experimental cooking, I spend a lot of money on groceries every month.   For a while, I justified my purchases by rationalizing that there are far worse things to spend my money on, and as far as hobbies go, at least this one helped meet a need as well as offer a creative outlet.   So, really there is no issue with this not-so-little expense of mine, right?   Um. . .not exactly.   You see, the groceries I purchase are dictated 100% by the recipes I want to cook in a given week, not by sales or even need.   It was a harsh reality to accept, but I consider purchasing groceries on a want basis, not a need basis the same as being an impulse shopper.   I want to spend my money responsibly because I earn it responsibly.  Sounds logical enough, right?  But how do I gauge responsible shopping?  To start: be smarter (and more practical) about the groceries I buy and consume.  

Um - not super excited about all of the work involved in spending less money on my groceries. . .

In theory, this is a great starting point, but then again, I had to ask myself "how am I going to learn to spend less then I was previously when I felt like I was already pretty reasonable about what I was willing to spend?" I talked to a few friends about it and they all agreed that they felt like they too should be spending less money on their groceries but weren't sure how to accomplish that goal.   So - in true Erica fashion, I turned to the library for some answers and here's what I found:

How to Cut Your Grocery Bill In Half

How to Cut Your Grocery Bill In Half by Steve and Annette Economides.   What I learned?  My mom totally could have written this book.   Also, my greatest take-away was to know my "buy price", meaning, many grocery stores sell the same/similar items but most of the time they are priced a little differently.  So, to know your "buy price" you need to know where you can purchase the item you want for the best price.  That price becomes your "buy price" and any time that item is at or below your buy price you can purchase it, but if it's above, you can't.   Steve and Annette recommend going to the store you do most of your shopping at and creating an inventory of prices for yourself so that when items go on sale, you are able to quickly identify the sale for its true value.   This book is a goldmine of tips, tricks and frugal principles that support responsible spending habits, but I think for me, the one thing I need to do the most is learn my prices so that I will recognize the good (and not so good) prices when I shop.   There isn't a person out there who doesn't love a good deal on clothing, so why wouldn't we also strive to grocery shop the same way?  As any good retail shopper knows, hunting for deals doesn't compromise the quality of your purchase, it simply gives you freedom to buy more for less.