We all wish we have more money to spend. More money to do more things in life. But for most of us who are on a fixed monthly income, having more money sounds like a dream. But that doesn’t mean it’s an impossible task! The quickest way to have more money with a set monthly income is to bring down our monthly expenses. But does that mean we have to compromise? Not necessarily. We don’t have to compromise, rather be smart with our spending patterns.

Groceries can easily beone of the biggest monthly expense for all of us. The monthly grocery cost can go as high as 30%of the income of a regular family and in rare cases, can even go beyond our monthly income. Managing this cost efficiently could instantly uplift your living standards with the least amount of effort. Check out these simple steps that we have identified as the best practices to bring down your grocery cost drastically without compromising on quality and living standards.

1.Start by Setting Up a Grocery Budget

Most of us know exactly what we need to continue our lifestyle.We waste money only when we don’t know what we exactly need. Setting up a monthly budget and making sure we stick to it would allow us to live a happy life with minimum compromises. By having a budget, we know that if we exceed our grocery budget, we will have to bring down our budget for clothes shopping, entertainment or travel.

2.Always Make a List Before You Shop and Stick to It

Making a list before we go shopping will give us an idea of what we exactly need for a given period. This list should consist of the products and quantities you need for the set period.Check with all your family members whether they have anything to add to the list.

DO NOT, and we mean DO NOT buy anything which is not in the list.Remember that the list should only have the most essential items and not unnecessary items.

3.Avoid Frequent Shopping

We shouldn’t shop for groceries every day. Grocery shopping should be done maximum 4 times a month. Best is to do grocery shopping during the weekend for an entire week. Remember to buy everything you need.

4.Avoid Buying Groceries from ‘Sillara Kade’

The best value for money options for grocery shopping are economic centers,Pola (markets), wholesale shops or supermarkets.‘Sillara Kade’ is usually the most expensive though they are our friendly neighbourhood ‘mudalali’.

5.Check for the Unit Price

We’ve been conditioned to think that bigger is always better. This is not always the case.We should only buy what we need for a set period.Nothing extra. For an example when buying carrot for a week you shouldn’t buy a big quantity like a 1Kg because you probably won’t eat carrot for all 3 meals,every day. Check the unit price and buy only what is needed for the set period.

But if you are buying label products off the shelf, then it makes sense to buy in higher volume packs as companies tend to price high volume packs at a lower unit price.

6.Buy Small Quantities from a Variety of Products

This will give us a lot of options within our budget, while price being balanced between high cost items and low cost items. No compromise on lifestyle!

7.Buy Store Brands

Store brands usually are cheaper than other brands because the price to the customer does not consist of any advertising costs or retail margins. But low price doesn’t mean those items are low in quality, so you aren’t compromising quality for low cost.

8.Compare Prices of Labelled Products vs Unlabelled Products

When purchasing dry rations like rice, sugar, dhal, grains, etc… usually it is much cheaper to buy the unlabelled products. Although we know that fact we tend to buy the labelled products over the cheaper options for either convenience sake or quality reasons. Unlabelled products when purchased at supermarkets, still maintain higher quality and can be a smarter option.

9.Buy Products Which are on Offer

Give priority to the products which are on offer whether it is a loyalty offer, bank offer or a clearance offer. This will definitely bring down the grocery bill drastically. Most supermarkets have credit card offers for fresh fruits, vegetables and meat during weekends.

10.Avoid Buying Anything Unnecessary

The aisles of a supermarket will always entice you to buy products which you really don’t need. It’s a science! Think twice before you buy those products. If you don’t need them,just don’t buy them.

I am sure some of you practice some of these steps. If you don’t, just try these steps out and rest assured you will see a drastic difference in your grocery bills.

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