So, this month, this is how I have changed things just a little bit and I believe I will save both money and time.
Taking the most advantage of Senior Discount Day
I copied and pasted my "what I bought" section from February's journal into a Word document. Then, I went through the list, item by item, determining if I bought too much, too little, or just the right amount of each item. For the items that I buy at Fred Meyer, if they are house-brand, I save 10% if I buy them on the first Tuesday of the month. If I don't buy enough of the item, then I find myself back at the store paying that 10% extra. So, after going through my list, I adjusted the amounts accordingly, so that I can buy closer to the right amount, and take advantage of sales and discounts on specific items. Here's an example, I save 10% on soy yogurt at Fred Meyer on Senior Discount day. Soy yogurt is expensive stuff, so that can add up to a couple of dollars of savings if I buy enough to get through the entire month. On Senior Discount day in February, I did buy some soy yogurt, but not nearly enough to get through till March. I subsequently bought more at the full price. Misjudging how much I would want cost me 93 cents.
Comparing prices between what I paid this past month and Cash & Carry's online info
After adjusting amounts (and deleting any items that I don't want for March), I used my price paid info for Fred Meyer in my journal and the product/price search on Cash & Carry's website to see which store sold each product at the best price. Cash & Carry is not always the best-price store, even when buying in institutional sizes. I noted on my list where I would be buying each item. My list now entails 1 stop at Cash & Carry, 1 stop at Fred Meyer, and 1 stop at Dollar Tree.
By doing just these two things, adjusting amounts to what we actually need for the month, and sourcing the better store for each item, it looks like I will save about $10. This is on top of savings that I already realize each month through sticking to a mostly "basics" shopping list, and shopping at the low-cost stores and shopping loss-leaders.
Saving time making my list
The time-saving aspect is that 80% of my list was generated by my previous grocery journal. The other 20% will be items which come up on sale in March, and the few items of which we completely ran out. How simple is that for making out a shopping list -- cut/paste into a Word doc -- easy-peasy done.
I made my stop at Cash & Carry, as they had items on sale through yesterday that I wanted to be sure to pick up. Tomorrow is Senior Discount Day at Fred Meyer. My list is long, but at least I am organized. Up and out early it shall be!
