Proper Planning Equals Simple Saving | Family Economics

By Andrea

A little planning and preparation with your shopping plan helps your budget go a long way! You will rarely find me in a store without a list of some sort. It’s partly because sometimes I just can’t remember, but also because it helps me stay focused on what items I need.

Here are a few steps to plan your shopping trip to save time, sanity and hard-earned cash!

List it!  

Creating a list before you step into a store helps with your efficiency and savings. You resist the urge to pick up tempting items more when you have a list.

My list also includes the non-negotiable items (milk, eggs, produce, etc.), items for completing the weekly menu plan, as well as any great sale items to consider for those stockpile opportunities or donation. This helps to minimize those last-minute runs to the store for that missing ingredient.

Clip it!

Clip your coupons then simply go to your coupon system and get your coupons ready to shop. Once your coupons are ready, clip them together so you can hand them over during checkout in one stack, completely organized!

Shop!

Hitting the stores with your list and coupons in hand will help you save quite a bit of time.

Using the three steps above truly helps me save so much time each week! A question I often get asked is how long all of the cutting and planning takes. While the time can be different for everyone, it typically takes anywhere from one to two hours a week. When you can save $200 or more at the store that is time well spent!

How do you plan for your shopping trips?