I'm a huge advocate of using coupons to save money. It's my job, of course, but I also go home and practice what I teach. I clip paper coupons, load digital coupons onto my store loyalty cards and match coupons to sales to make our money stretch even farther.
But coupons are only one way to save money. If you really want to live the frugal life -- or circumstances are requiring a more frugal lifestyle -- take a good hard look at what you're putting in your grocery cart.
Would your purchases pass "the grandma test?"
In other words, would your grandmother or great-grandmother have spent her precious household money on some of the items in your cart -- or even recognize them?
I'm most definitely not into deprivation so I recommend looking for things you can do without -- no sacrifice required.
In addition to saving money, you'll reap environmental fringe benefits by reducing the amount of trash you're sending to the landfill.
If you have a reluctant spouse or kids, try eliminating one item from your grocery list at a time. With any luck, they won't notice.
Here are a few suggestions of what NOT to buy at the grocery:
Paper napkins. Switch to cloth. It's classier, cheaper and far less wasteful. Toss them into the washer with your towels to avoid an extra load of laundry.
Paper plates, cups and plastic utensils. Use the real thing. With dishwashers in the majority of homes and apartments in America, there's really no excuse.
Paper towels. I'm fairly certain this is one of those items that great-grandma would shake her head over -- folks spending hard-earned money on rags that fall apart after a single use. We use cloth rags made from worn out t-shirts and other old clothes not worthy of donating to charity. Wash and re-use.
Laundry detergent. Instead of buying it, make your own. For a $7 investment in three basic ingredients, you can make 10 gallons of home-made detergent. If you have a front-loader, as I do, that translates to 640 loads. You can easily spend seven bucks on a single 32-load bottle so it's a huge money saver. And think of all those plastic jugs being diverted from the landfill.
Click here to read a post on DIY laundry detergent I wrote last year during my Dollar Diet series, which chronicled my family's quest to spend no money during the month of February. The post contains the recipe and a complete cost breakdown.
Stain sticks and sprays. Not only are they heavily packaged, they're pricey. We've recently crossed this off our grocery list in favor of a $1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap. It is one of the century-old ingredients in homemade laundry detergent, but it can also be used as a stain remover. Wet the stained garment, rub the bar of Fels-Naptha into the stain and toss into the washer.
Hand soap. This is another easy DIY project. Click here for the recipe and you'll go years before buying any more hand soap.
Swiffer cloths. Replace these with reusable microfiber cloths from the dollar store. Even better, cut up an old flannel shirt into Swiffer cloth-size pieces. Wash with your rags and re-use.
Bottled water. This one is obvious. Get everyone in the family a quality reusable water bottle and put their names on them.
Juice pouches and boxes. This one can be a hard sell for those of you with kids accustomed to sucking down several of these in a day. Think about the minute amount of juice contained in these and the huge price you're paying for convenience. Water is always the better choice. (see above)
