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There are two ways to save money on your groceries, buy less or pay less.  But it doesn’t end there because there are lots of different ways to do these two things. 

Buying less always sounds like you have to cut down on what you buy but this isn’t always true.  Spending less always sounds like going into the supermarket with a bag full of coupons.  True, these are ways to cut down on your grocery shopping bills but with a little bit of thought you could probably cut down your spending many other ways too.

You may be able to buy less because you are using less or reusing the same things more than once like plastic bags and containers.  You can also buy less by making things last longer like diluting fruit juices.  This will help you save money and calories.

Another way to buy less and save on your grocery shopping is to buy smart and think about all the things that you might be wasting because they’ve gone bad or expired before it gets used.  Large yogurt pots and some fruits and vegetables can cause this problem.

Also think about all the disposable items you might be buying that could be replaced by a one off permanent item, for example permanent coffee filters, plastic food containers instead of disposable bags, razors for shaving, even water filters.  There must be tons of people throwing money away because they buy bottled water instead of using a water filter that dollar for dollar gives you probably ten times the same amount of fresh filtered water.

The most common ways to pay less for items is to buy the items on sale, buy cheaper brands, or buying in bulk.  Often items that are reduced to clear are perfectly suitable to consume it’s just that the store has to sell them quick or face throwing it out.

Also avoid impulsive buying.  Many people buy impulsively because the products are there on the shelf in front of them.  You know what they say, never go grocery shopping when you are feeling hungry or without a list.

You can also shop around different stores to find the bargains and you might be surprised by how much you can save.

Be weary of supermarket tricks.  Things like raising the price of a popular brand for about two weeks then ‘price cutting’ to just below the original price to make it look like it’s on special offer. 

Supermarkets can raise and lower their prices to match the supplier’s situation.  So if a product supplier is struggling to supply apples one week, then the price will go up, and when the apples start flooding back in again, a special offer price will appear.

But don’t make the common mistakes that many people make.  When supermarkets put things on special offer, such as ‘buy one and get one free’ people think this is a great deal.  It often is, but this may make you simply consume more so you really won’t be saving much at all.

The best ‘two for the price of one’ offers are on things that you can only consume at a certain rate like bathroom and cleaning products, such as toothpaste and soap powder. 

The same thing goes for coupons.  Sure coupons are a great way to save money on groceries but if you’re buying things you normally wouldn’t buy or twice as much to get the special sale price then you may actually end up spending more.  Often times the coupon offers are higher priced items than the store brands.

By the same token, be careful of store brand or value products that are cheaper imitations of the real thing.  Buying lower quality can be a money saver if you choose wisely, but if you end up using twice as much and the product lasts half as long, then you might as well enjoy the real thing.

In part one we talked about how to set your budget of monthly expenses.  Now It’s time to reduce those costs.

First, go through your list of monthly bills and see how you can reduce each one.  Quite often you can call credit card companies and get a reduced rate.  You may be able to switch cell phone providers or find a lower rate.

Many people don’t take advantage of offers that come through the door for cheaper monthly cable or a lower monthly telephone service.  Also, one of the easiest fixed costs that you can lower is insurance.  Call all the car or home insurance companies and get them to beat each others offers.  As long as you are realistically lowering your monthly costs then you are going in the right direction. 

Then take a look at your existing credit.  If you have good credit then you are in a good position to shop around for a better rate car loan or a better mortgage.  If you’re credit isn’t great then log onto the three credit companies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.  These will give you practical information on how to fix your credit so that you can get those monthly costs down by either consolidating your debts or replacing them with loans over a longer lending period or with a better interest.  Again, be careful you don’t end up paying more.

Then have a look at all the things that can buy cheaper, like cheaper gas, cheaper brands of food.  There are lots of ways to spend less on the things you buy on a regular basis by either finding sales, coupons or special offers or buying it somewhere else where it’s cheaper. 

Then comes the part where you have to look at all the things you can cut out of your budget all together.  Do you have any monthly subscriptions or memberships that you don’t really use anymore?  Do you spend money on services or products that you don’t really use any more?  Do you really need those expensive brands? 

Once you have sorted all your costs you should see if your monthly costs both essential and non-essential are lower than your monthly income.  If it is then great and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. 

If it isn’t, and you have really tried to squeeze every last dollar out of the costs then you may have to reconsider your situation.  You could either start cutting things out of the budget like using only one car, one cell phone, or go back to the income and find ways to increase what’s coming in by finding a better paid job or working from home in the evenings. 

Either way, try and be creative in thinking about the ways you could save money so that living on one income is a comfortable step and not a financial nightmare.  With a little thought and planning ahead you may be able to get by easier than you think.

There are lots of reasons why families have to live on one income, a new baby, single parent, husband loses his job or simply because one of you wants to spend more time with your children.  Whatever your situation is, living on one income can mean it’s time to cut back, or it can mean that now is the opportunity to slice your spending in half by making a few clever budget changes.

To start at the very basics it is absolutely essential to look at your cash flow, what money is coming in and what money is going out.  The first part should be easy, simply list every penny of income you receive on a regular basis every month.  This might be before you give up a second income to see if you can afford it, or this may be your single income that you are living on now.

Then comes the slightly harder part of listing everything that you are committed to spending on every month, this includes your mortgage, car payments, loans, utility bills like electricity, cable and water.  Make a full list of everything that you absolutely must pay for every month. 

You should add a realistic amount for food and other essentials such as diapers for your little ones or any other costs that you have to pay on a regular basis.  These are your essential monthly costs. 

Then simply take away your monthly costs from your monthly income.  The difference between these two amounts is you disposable cash or how much you have to spend on everything else.  Of course this amount might actually be negative and this is actually more often the situation for many families where you suddenly realize you can’t afford your living.

But don’t worry because there are lots of things you can do to reduce the costs.  The first place to start is on the list of items that you made for you essential monthly costs. 

We all usually have a long list of essential monthly costs so if you can reduce each one by ten dollars here and twenty dollars there and it will eventually all add up to make a significant difference.