Grocery Smarts

Last night was my first trip into the grocery store to see how much money I could save. I attended a free class a few weeks back and learned how it all works. I was very anxious to try it out. Me and 2 of my buddies went in together, learning the ropes and giving each other moral support. I have to say that grocery shopping is waaayyy more fun with friends than with kids.

This is all the food that I came back with. Sorry it is dark, but it was almost 1 a.m. when I arrived home and was taking the picture, and at that time I didn't care about quality. :)

I spent - $95.44

and

I saved - $116.60!

The first thing I learned from this experience was how overpriced food is, I mean really... I could have spent $212.04 for that food on my counter! Second, is how easy it is to save money if you get organized and buy what's on sale. Thirdly, how darn fun it is to see those coupons deduct money from the total. And lastly, how much I still have to work at this. My goal is to get my grocery bill down to $50 a week. So, I am looking forward to even better numbers to share down the road, (I hope!)

As a side note, I was not the only one who saved money in our late grocery run last night. My friend Sara spent $62.85 and saved $64.06 and my friend Sheila spent $56.92 and saved $91.06. All in all, we spent $215.21 and we saved $271.72! Not too bad for first timers. By the way, if you are interesting in learning more about grocery smarts go to www.sheshopssmart.blogspot.com

and you can go from there.