Save money by buying more

To this day, I still remember the first big grocery bill after we got married. It was about $200 and I cried on the way home. I didn’t get anything fancy – just the basics. We were poor students, newly married and the expense of food was a necessary evil that I could not overcome.

Grocery shopping was my responsibility in marriage and I was determined to live within our shoestring budget. I got straight into the challenge and years later found myself teaching community lessons on “coupon” (“yeah,” I had to tell my sisters, “coupon is a word”).

I no longer spend hours searching for, printing, cutting, and organizing coupons, but there are some valuable shopping principles I learned from those studies that I will never change. My favorite is buy more to save more.

The simple idea behind the strategy is to buy more of something when it’s on sale, so you don’t have to pay full price for it later when you need it. Applying this principle will look different in each person’s home. Take some time to think about the following questions so you can increase your savings.

* How much space do you have to store food?
This may seem like an obvious question but this has put me at risk more than once when it comes to frozen foods. I got a little more organized (and creative!) with my freezer space out of necessity. While it’s clearly not the solution for everyone, we invested in a deep freezer as a result of one of the best sales we’ve ever seen on cheese and meat. I convinced my husband that after some additional sales like that, we would pay for the freezer with the amount we saved.

* How much of this item will we use?
No matter how good the sale is, it’s never a good deal if the food goes to waste. Make sure you don’t buy more than you can use. Take into account the expiration date, your schedule, and meal rotation. I always try to make meals where the bulk of my ingredients are things I’ve already stored so nothing gets lost or forgotten, but that’s another principle entirely.

* How good is the sale?
This is something you will get better at over time. The worst feeling is when you stock up on a favorite item because it’s on sale, only to find out the next week that the same item is selling for a much better price at a nearby store. You will get acquainted with the prices in your area and begin to figure out the right price for different items. Also, don’t be afraid to ask people! I’ve talked to my butcher at my grocery store several times about prices. I don’t know of a grocery store where they pay their employees commissions on sales so they will tell you honestly if you should wait for a better sale or when an upcoming discount can be expected. Be nice and friendly to the staff – they have a wealth of knowledge!

* How often is it for sale?
This question is one of my favorites because it is a game changer. Rotating sales. Not only can you expect certain items to be discounted at certain times, you can plan to stock your food around them! For example, my grocery store has two-week meat sales. This means I only need to buy enough chicken to sustain my family for two weeks before I know it will be for sale again. It also gives me a reason to never have to buy full price chicken between these sale prices because I can simply take it out of the freezer.

Another very useful selling cycle to be aware of and monitor is seasonal sales. For example, barbecue sauce bars are usually at their lowest on the Fourth of July, and nutrition and health bars are usually at their lowest in January for everyone’s New Year’s resolutions. Often, these items don’t expire more than a year, so if you have the space, buy enough to last your family a long time.

Once your inventory stacks are in successful rotation, you will find that you shop very differently. It’s not unusual for me to come home from the store with 25 boxes of cereal, 10 bags of cheese, and then a handful of other essentials like bread, milk, and bananas. I don’t need to buy every item on my list for meals that week because I already stocked them when they were on sale. As a result, I can prepare the same delicious meals for a much lower price for my family. Buying more to save money is about timing your big purchases at sale prices, and ironically, you’ll soon find that buying more can actually help you spend less.