3 Simple Tricks to Stick to a Grocery List and Stay Under Budget: Frugal Fridays

I’ll admit it, when I was in charge of going grocery shopping years ago, I was VERY bad about purchasing items that were NOT on the approved grocery list my wife so diligently prepared.

I know what you’re thinking and I’m not an impulse shopper! Not that I’ll admit, anyway. 😉 It was never really about the impulse buys walking down the aisles or even at the checkout counter–though I’m sure there was some of that–for me it was always more about having a stocked pantry and having more… of everything, from food to hygiene supplies and more. If they sold it, I bought it.

You see, even though my wife made the list of what we needed for meals that week, she never really made the list of what we NEEDED. And by “needed” I mean continuing to add to the pantry nearly anything, including more caned goods, boxed goods, seasonings, and so on.

Thankfully, I didn’t double our bill but it wasn’t unheard of for me to spend another $50-100 each week on extras. These days we can’t afford that whatsoever and so I’m never, ever, ever allowed to go grocery shopping…. ever again.

To be honest, my wife has been the one doing the grocery shopping for quite some time now (years, in fact) and so it’s not much of an issue anymore. That said, I have been known to take my Walmart list and expand upon it once I got there knowing full well what I was doing.

Anyway, the entire point in this post is to make you fully aware of your (and your spouse’s) tendencies when grocery shopping. Since we know full-well that I’m happy to spend more money and NOT stick to the list, she’s the one that should go shopping these days so that we stay on (and within) budget at all times.

With that in mind, here’s three additional tips to stick to your shopping list:

1. Shop on a full stomach, always. This is where the impulse buying often comes into play. You’re hungry and that bag of chips is calling your name! So buy them… and the bags of chips sitting next to them… and the beef jerky as you walk out the aisle. Wait, the jerky’s always ok to buy. 😉
2. Plan your grocery list to follow the layout of your store. This not only helps you stay on task but saves time too! So, if you know that the fruits and veggies come first, then the dairy section, then the meat counter, write out your grocery list in that order. Better yet, plan to go through the center of the store first (where the canned/boxed/bagged goods are) to get them out of the way while you still have some willpower left, and then go through the outside of the store where you know you have specific items to buy.
3. Buy with cash only. This happens to be what my wife prefers to do. Me? Can you say credit card with a capital C? I can and did. So, if you know that you expect to spend $100 that week and you ONLY bring $100 to spend on groceries, you’ll be adding up your purchases and throwing things back on the shelves faster than you can shout “hey, wait… I wanted that!”

I’m sure there are plenty of other suggestions but these are the biggest ones I can think of to help you keep your budget where it belongs: in your pocket. So, what suggestions do you have? I would be happy to hear of anything you do that helps to keep the shopping list under control.