How to fight back against grocery store price inflation
Inflation is causing prices to go up on all kinds of things, especially at the grocery store, but you can keep it from busting your budget.
If you are paying attention to your grocery bill, you already know prices are going up.
Supply shortages created by the pandemic are partly to blame, and if families are not careful, they will be spending a lot more.
So to fight inflation, get back to the basics.
First, keep a log of the prices you see at the store so you can learn the sale cycle.
"You may notice one week Coke is on sale and the next week Pepsi is on sale, and you will see that over a period of time every three to four weeks," said Gary Weiner of supersavingtips.com. "So when you buy, you want to buy it at the lowest possible price, and the way to do that is to keep some type of a notebook."
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Weiner spent years in the grocery industry, and says it may take a few weeks, but once you learn when items go on sale, you can then move on to step two: Buy in bulk when the price is low, but only when it's appropriate for you.
"It depends on the size of your family and the amount of food that you actually buy. I know a lot of couples that join warehouse clubs, and they wind up overspending a lot," said Weiner.
Finally, use coupons and reward programs religiously, but only for the items you normally buy anyway.
"This is a sample of coupons that I got at the register at checkout, and the reason they are great, they are not for a specific item. They are for categories like 'Save $1 on the next $5 vegetable purchase,'" said Weiner.
For more tips, check out Weiner's website, supersavingtips.com.
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