Thrifty Tip: Making a Grocery List

I get asked often if I would go shopping with new couponers (and even my family!) my answer is always that my shopping trips are boring- it’s the preparation that is key!

The reason why is that I plan my trips out before I ever head to the store- I plan it out item by item and usually am within 50¢ of my out of pocket total!

Here’s an example.  Today I went to Lowe’s Foods to purchase this:

(10) Old Orchard B2G3 $2.59 each Using (2) $1/2 coupons = $8.36
(3) Hagen Daz 14 oz B2G1 free $3.33 each used ($2/1, $1/1 and $2/1)= $1.66
(1) Hagen Daz 3.6 oz $1.50 (used FREE Q)= $0.00
(3) Meal Deals $5.99 each used (3) .75/1 Johnsonville, (3) 35¢ Egglands Best Eggs, (1) 40¢/3 Pillsbury = $10.57
Using (7) $3 Catalinas (from the HOT lightbulb deal)

My Pre-coupon total should have been $36.49.

My total came out to $39.82 before tax.  Something was wrong.  So before I handed over my coupons we figured out what the difference was: $3.33.  What cost $3.33?  The Haagen Dazs.  So the Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal wasn’t working so they manually gave me the 3rd for free!

Now I handed over my coupons.  My Pretax Total should have been -.41 plus tax

My Total after tax (Tax was $1.57) was $1.16 (-.41+$1.57)

I was right on the mark!

Knowing your total before you go is SO important!  Otherwise I would have overpaid by $3.33+tax!  I wasn’t about to pay that much for such a tiny thing of ice cream.  So I would have had to head over to customer service and try to work it out there- all the while they held onto my cash!

So just a reminder that a grocery list for a strategic shopper should not be:

Ice Cream
Meal Deal
Juice

but it should look like the breakdown I posted above.  If you need a worksheet to help make you list here is a PDF version of the excel list I use to make my lists.  You can also use our printable list matchups and do the math to the side of each item on your list.

Grocery List