Can "Junk Mail" Save You Money?

If you're like most people, you've probably been annoyed at least once by the junk mail that gets tossed on your porch or in your mailbox.  But that "junk mail" can actually save you hundreds, even thousands of dollars each year.  This may sound a bit obvious to some, and it should, but checking your store fliers each week is the first place you should start when you're trying to save on groceries.

 Every week on a certain day, usually a Thursday, all the fliers for the local grocery stores come out.  If you're lucky you'll have them delivered right to your door.  If you live in an apartment building you might even be extra lucky and have access to a whole stack of them!  Sometimes though you may have to buy a newspaper to get the latest grocery fliers.  However you get your hands on them isn't important.  What IS important is how you use them.

Using your shopping list of groceries that you intend to buy at some point in  the future, look at the front and back pages of the flier. That's where the best deals are normally found.  Then sift through the middle pages if any and see just what's on sale that week.  Add these to a mental list of things you'll pick up in store.  Don't think about buying things you wouldn't normally buy because that defeats the purpose of thinking ahead before shopping.

Once you've developed a list of the groceries you believe to be a good deal, then compare those prices with all the local fliers from the stores in your area.  You should now have a pretty good idea of which store is currently offering the lowest grocery prices. Shop for all of your items at that store.

The Grocery Guy TIP:  Many grocery chains now have a price-matching policy.  This makes your life easier because all you have to do is shop at that one store and bring the fliers from the other stores.  Simply match the prices for all the sales at all the different stores.  You save time and gas money!

Also compare your list with the coupons you have.  Plan to use the coupons on the sale items to get even more savings.  These two steps alone can often save you over 50 percent of your grocery bill for that week.  Keep track of how much you save each time you lower your grocery bill.  You'll be surprised just how much money you could have spent!