Today I’m featuring this great guest post from Shaunta Grimes of Going Reno. She blogs about “the good life for the rest of us” and I’m really digging her 31 days of self-sufficiency series she has going on right now! There are so many things you can cut down on permanently or temporarily to get ahead of the curve with your debt and savings, but food is always such a tough one to scrimp on. Shaunta is here to help you keep costs down on this budget line… and make you see how much worse things could be!
Grocery Shopping is My Side Hustle
I have a weird relationship with food and especially food shopping. I grew up, until I was fifteen, in a solidly middle-class home. I never thought a whole lot about food (at least about whether or not I’d have enough of it.)
Until everything changed, food was something I could always count on having enough of.
My dad went to prison when I was fifteen. I am the oldest child in a very large family (I have eight younger siblings) and suddenly we were food insecure. I found myself trying to figure out how to feed eight people on six frozen burritos so often that more than 20 years later, I still can’t have them in my house.
The burritos. Not the people. I have always loved feeding the people.
I stayed very poor until I was thirty. I got married and had a baby in my very early twenties, and then another one 16 months later. And then I got divorced and I was a single mom with an autistic child who couldn’t go to the kind of daycare I could afford.
I learned how to be resourceful. I learned how to make do with very little. When I got married again at 30, suddenly my (very meager) household income quadrupled. For the first time since I was 15, I didn’t have to sweat every single dollar I spent at the grocery store.
Fast forward a dozen years, and I’m embarrassed to tell you how much my family spends on groceries and eating out every month. It’s as much (or maybe more) as my entire mid-1990s income. It’s a lot.
Or it was until a couple of weeks ago when I started The Great Grocery Experiment of 2014 (okay, I know there isn’t much left of 2014. I like a deadline.)So far I’ve been able to cut our grocery bill in half.
In half! That’s crazy, right? And we aren’t struggling or anything. It hasn’t been hard, which makes me want to weep a little for all of the money I’ve spent on groceries that I didn’t have to.
I think about grocery shopping like a side hustle. I’m saving enough (about $600 a month—I told you it was embarrassing) to make a big impact on my family’s bottom line. If someone offered to pay me $600 for the amount of time I spend saving money at the grocery store, I’d jump on it. It comes out to more about $75 an hour!
One reason why The Great Grocery Experiment of 2014 started in September is because this is the time of year when money gets tight for my family.
My husband is a table games dealer in a local casino (we live in Reno) and his income makes up the bulk of our money. His work is seasonal and it slows way, way down in the winter and picks up to more than full time in the summer. And it’s tip-based, so fewer players means less pay per hour that he does work.
That means starting in October, the amount of money we spend on food (which was already ridiculous) starts to feel really crazy. So we start to spend less, but it’s not very well thought out and we don’t do very well at it. And when things pick up again, we’re right back to our old bad habits.
I am determined to figure out how to spend a reasonable amount of money on groceries, cut way back on eating out (which we often do just because, despite what we spend at Winco every week, it feels like there is nothing to eat), and free up money for better purposes.
Like getting out of debt so maybe someday we can buy a house.
Or surviving the winter, for the first time ever, without going deeper into debt.
So grocery shopping has become my side hustle. I think about what I normally would spend, and I consider every dime I spend under that amount as income.
Yep, income. As in—grocery shopping has become my part-time job. That I pay myself to do. I know how convoluted that sounds, but if you think about it, that’s exactly what I’m doing.
And it helps, because when I’m contemplating making a stop at the store to pick up that cheese I really like, I have a conversation with myself about whether I want that cheese, or I want six more bucks in my pay check.
Do I want to figure out a way to make left overs into something my family will eat, or do I want to spend $15 of my pay check on pizza?
You get the idea. If you want to try turning grocery shopping into your side hustle, too, here are some tips to get you started.
1. Forget about coupons. Seriously, if you’re like me and you’re not used to messing with a thousand little squares of paper, you’ll get overwhelmed and the cheese or pizza will win. Instead…
2. Find the grocery stores in your area that offer the best comprehensive prices. For me that’s Winco and Grocery Outlet. If I only shop at those two stores, even if I don’t shop loss leaders or use any coupons, I save a significant amount of money.
3. Use cash. One of the things I’m struggling the most to get a handle on is getting over stopping off to buy one or two things, which often turns into $20 or $30 worth of things. Only paying cash has helped with that.
4. Make a meal plan and a grocery list. This one thing has helped so much. Make a meal plan, and use that to make a grocery list, and (this is key!) stick with them. Don’t turn into a rigid food police-type-person, but do your best not to stray toward something else just because it sounds good in the moment.
5. Watch for sales. I don’t use coupons much, but I do look at the sale flyers when they come in the mail on Tuesdays. Every week the different stores in my area have sales on one or two items that are low enough to warrant stocking up. Apples for 59 cents a pound or chicken legs for half off. You get the idea. Also, when I’m at the store I look for things on clearance. I dedicate $20 of my grocery budget each week to stocking up or taking advantage of these sales.
I agree with the list. Since we are a family of 5 we spend a lot on food too, and we typically go to the store at least once a week. My tip would be not to over buy and waste food. We have done that several time were we but to much fresh food or meat and it spoils and we throw it away. Throwing our money away too. So we try and plan better and not over shop, and freeze fresh food to use for later. Good luck with the challenge.
Brian @ Debt Discipline recently posted…Commission
I agree, wasting food is probably my biggest money waste. I’m terrible about thinking to freeze things – honestly, I’m not really sure what you can freeze.
YES. This is so important. It makes me a little sick to think about how much food we throw away–either because no one eats the left overs, or because we buy something and it never gets made. Terrible.
Shaunta recently posted…Day 22: Build Community
I shop at Trader Joes which makes things super simple. They operate on the premise of every day low prices rather than sales or coupons or anything.
I also make all my own sauces, dressings, etc which cuts back on the extra cost and calories of processing.
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted…Relative Materialism: Redefining “Need”
There’s a Trader Joe’s near me, which I would probably shop at more often if I didn’t have Winco–which beats everyone for basic everyday low prices.
Shaunta recently posted…Day 22: Build Community
Serious question, what do you buy at Trader Joe’s? I mean, especially if you’re making a lot of foods from scratch. Every time I go to TJ’s, there’s just nothing there. $2 cereal? Okay, sure. People generally rave about their prepared/frozen meals. But I don’t buy things like that. I don’t know. They have good peanut butter cups but I’m certainly not waiting in that line just for peanut butter cups. Just curious what you actually buy from them.
Leslie Beslie recently posted…What Have You Done That You Didn’t Think You’d Do?
Trader Joe’s definitely has fruits, vegetables and meat. I don’t like them as much as a regular grocery store like ShopRite or A&P, but they beat the heck out of Whole Foods price-wise.
I’ve found TJ’s meat to be more expensive than a regular supermarket. I’ve never been to a Whole Foods so that’s not in my comparison (but I know it’s pricey!)
I love making grocery shopping challenges for myself and my clients. After our homes, our next biggest monthly expense is typically food, and it’s the “easiest” thing to adjust, you just have to be more mindful and have fun along the way.
Shannon @ Financially Blonde recently posted…Do You Offend Easily?
DH and I don’t spend a crazy amount on groceries for the two of us but I know that I can still do better in this department. Thanks for sharing Shaunta’s story and perspective!
Kassandra recently posted…Making Good On My Investment – Part II
#4 is golden. I’m sure sticking to my grocery list is the ONLY reason my grocery bills aren’t bazillions of dollars (only half a bazillion). I’d add centering your cooking around meatless meals or meat-light meals can also help chop down grocery costs.
Taylor Lee recently posted…My Theory On How To Buy An Affordable House: Pay Attention to Realtor Commissions
Wow I never though of the money I would save as a side hustle, but when you put it that way it makes the effort more enticing!
Tonya@Budget and the Beach recently posted…Wacky Wednesday
No kidding! I think saving that much totally does make it a side hustle.
I think overbuying is my worst grocery habit. Throwing out food is the worst. I like thinking of it as a side hustle — good grocery shopping habits saves a TON of money.
Genevieve recently posted…My Year of Change
Definitely. I know I’m majorly guilty of overbuying. Shopping for one is kind of difficult.
Rule #1 for us is never shop hungry.
We do use coupons but only for the things we would buy anyway. Sometimes its for a different brand and with the coupon it is less than what we spend normally but many times it isn’t so we won’t use it then. I agree it is probably more cost efficient to shop the sale items from the their ads and we put our menu together based on sale items sticking then to the list. Your impressive savings amount is definitely in the side hustle range.
LeisureFreak Tommy recently posted…Pay Yourself First is More than Money
I know, Shaunta’s kind of incredible, right?
I get pretty intimidated by people who are so good at shopping sales and knowing how much things should cost and able to alter their cooking plans on a whim when they see better deals. I’m such a lousy cook.
While you said you don’t do this, I’m always fascinated by the extreme coupon crowd. I know that Amanda at Frugal Confessions does the Walgreens/CVS drug store games for big money savings.
Joe Saul-Sehy recently posted…Does Middle Class Mean Middle Saving? Apparently Not
Based on the insane number of coupons that regularly print out with my CVS receipts, I bet it is pretty easy to do well over there if you track them.
I’m such a goober, I don’t even remember to use the rewards money half the time before it expires and that’s like just throwing away free money.
This is one of those cases where being anxious is an advantage. I mean, if anxiety were completely terrible all the time, we would try harder to get rid of it, right? But sometimes it “helps” us. And I trick myself into saying it “helps” me because think of all the money I’m saving by not grocery shopping often because grocery stores make me super anxious. Thank you anxiety for saving me money! I hope I’m anxious forever! Even though I have gotten a lot better, I still wouldn’t even consider running to the store just for one thing. Ugh!
Leslie Beslie recently posted…What Have You Done That You Didn’t Think You’d Do?
LOL. Personally, I don’t hope I’m anxious forever.
But way to find a silver lining.
Really interesting idea! I never thought of saving money as a side hustle, but I guess saving money is like making money? I also shop at TJ’s and get bread, cheese, veggies and soups. The cheese is usually my budget buster.
Melanie @ My Alternate Life recently posted…This Weekend’s Declutter: The Spare Bedroom
It is some of those instances where by being troubled is usually an advantage. Come on, man, if nervousness ended up completely terrible at all times, we may test tougher to remove this, right? Yet occasionally this “helps” all of us. Along with My partner and i trick myself straight into stating this “helps” everyone since imagine of all the funds I’m protecting through not really trips to market typically since grocery stores produce everyone tremendous troubled. Thank you nervousness pertaining to protecting everyone funds! I really hope I’m troubled once and for all! While We have got much better, My partner and i still wouldn’t also look at running for the store simply just in whose sale benefits. Grrr!
I think you’ve got a great system going. For us, meal planning and making a list are key. We also work hard not to waste any food. Once we’ve bought it, we eat it! I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well we’re doing in that area. Saves so much money not to have any waste!
Mrs. Frugalwoods recently posted…Frugal Hound Sniffs: Club Thrifty
I am like you. I have tried to coupon and it’s just not my core competency. The digital one’s have a much better chance, but I do shop in the less expensive stores with less ad budgets to pass along to me. Very interesting story. Thanks for sharing it!
Toni @ Debt Free Divas recently posted…Holiday Survival Guide: Frugal, Festive and Fabulous