The 1-2-3 Money Plan Part 6

The solution is to maintain a price list. A price list is just a simple list of items you buy regularly. A price list helps you spot unadvertised sales. It helps identify fake sales-"sale" items at the end of the supermarket aisle that are really at regular prices or only lightly discounted. It might also reveal sales cycles for a particular item. In general, sales recur roughly every 12 weeks.

You can use anything from a small-ringed notepad to spreadsheet printouts to a personal digital a.s.sistant (PDA) to keep the list. Use whatever you're comfortable with. Set up several columns: store, item, brand, price, and unit size (pounds, ounces, sheets per roll). You might also want to note the date. Four-year-old prices aren't very helpful. As you expand the list, you might want to rearrange it into categories, such as meat, dairy, and beverages.

Don't bother noting one-time purchases or items you seldom buy. At first, just stick to items you use every week. You can always expand the list from there. The only way a price list works is if it's not too time consuming. After just a few weeks, you'll have a pretty good price list a.s.sembled, and it will start paying dividends.

The point is to have a benchmark for what a good price is.

Is Organic Food Worth the Price?

As food prices rise, consumers might find it tough to pay premium prices for organic products. But you can save money if you're smart about buying organics.

Organic means the food is produced without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, or antibiotics and generally emphasizes using renewable resources and conserving soil and water. Consumers frequently buy organic food for environmental reasons and because they consider it to be more healthful.

Organic produce typically costs 25 percent to 100 percent more than nonorganic. Especially in challenging economic times, that has consumers reexamining their choices. Here are some do's and don'ts when trying to save money on organic food: * Don't settle for "natural." The term natural on packaging has a lot less meaning than organic, a term highly regulated by the Department of Agriculture. Don't pay extra for something called natural or all natural.

* Do pay for some fruits and vegetables. It's worth paying more for organic versions of some fruits and vegetables that retain pesticide residue, even after you wash them. Pay for organic versions of peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, grapes, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organic research group.

* Don't pay more for fruits and vegetables with thicker skins that have far less pesticide residue. You can skip organic onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, mango, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, and papaya.

* Do buy organic protein-rich foods. Meats, poultry, eggs, and dairy products are worth buying as organics because they are free of pesticides, synthetic growth hormones, and antibiotics.

* Don't buy highly processed organics. Breads, oils, potato chips, pasta, cereals, and other packaged foods, such as canned or dried fruit and vegetables, are probably not worth buying as organics unless price is no object, Consumer Reports said. Much of the health benefit has been processed out.

* Do buy organic baby food. Baby food tends to be made from condensed fruits and vegetables, some of which might contain pesticides. Or make your own baby food from organic whole fruits and vegetables.

* Do buy local. You can find organic food from local farmers' markets and local producers.

* Do try store brands. More supermarkets and large discounters, such as Wal-Mart, are offering private-label organics, which are cheaper than name brands.

* Do use coupons. Look for coupons for organic products in the Sunday newspaper or go online to the free coupon database at CouponMom.com and enter the search term "organic." Get coupons directly from organic producers' Web sites and sign up for their e-mail newsletters, which contain coupons. Examples are OrganicValley.com, SCOjuice.com, ColemanNatural.com, and Stonyfield.com. The site Healthesavers.com has printable coupons for some organic products.

* Do grow your own. If you are the gardening type and have a back yard, grow your own vegetables and receive the side benefits of exercise and a regular hobby.

For more information, see GreenerChoices.org, FoodNews.org, and OrganicConsumers.org.

2. Stockpile Sale Items.

This gets to the heart of the spending smart strategy on groceries: Each week, don't buy what you need. Instead, buy what's on sale, and stock up.

This cherry-picking strategy sounds simple enough, but it has a few moving parts.

* Loyalty cards. In most supermarkets, you'll have to sign up for a store loyalty card to qualify for sale prices. Supermarkets nowadays don't typically have sales that apply to everyone. Make no mistake: The supermarket is tracking your purchasing habits. That might give you the w.i.l.l.i.e.s. But in the end, it's doubtful that anyone will ever examine what you were buying. And who cares? Someone could follow you around the store-a public place-and collect the same information. Anyway, a loyalty card is often the only way to qualify for sale prices, and shopping the sales is your best weapon to lowering your food spending.

* Sales flyers. Examine the weekly sales flyers for advertised specials. They often come in the newspaper or by mail. You can also go online to mygrocerydeals.com, which has digital versions of many sales flyers. Pay special attention to what's advertised on the front and back covers. They are likely to be loss leaders, meaning the store is selling them so cheaply they're actually losing money. They hope to attract buyers into the store to purchase more high-profit items, which compensates for the loss leaders. I'm not going to tell you how to plan your meals, but if you can plan dinners around these loss leaders, you can save big dough.

* Unit prices. Some items are sold in different-sized packages. Unless your supermarket lists the unit price on the shelf, you'll have to do the math yourself. You could bring a calculator or reach for your cell phone. Most wireless phones have a calculator function. For each item, divide the price by the number of units, such as ounces or pounds. That allows you to literally compare apples to apples.

If you go to the supermarket every week with a list of what you "need," you'll be paying far more than you have to. The idea is that when you "need" something, you should go to your own pantry or freezer and fetch the item, which you previously bought on sale.

QUICK TIP.

Try supermarket store brands. They're so much better than the "generics" of a generation ago. In fact, many store brands are made by the same manufacturers that make name-brand food products.

How much can you save by stockpiling sale items? Most experts put the savings at around 20 percent of your entire food spending for a year. Considering the average American household of four spends about $7,000 on grocery food, housekeeping supplies, and personal-care items, you're talking about savings of about $1,400 a year. And that excludes other categories of supermarket items that go on sale, such as over-the-counter medications.

That's $1,400 in savings for buying the exact same items, but buying them at ideal times.

There can be drawbacks to this strategy. Obviously, perishables don't stockpile well. Don't buy more perishable food than you will reasonably use before it goes bad, or your savings will be lost. Also, some people, especially those living in urban areas, have less pantry and freezer s.p.a.ce to stockpile supermarket items. The stockpiling system will only work on a smaller scale for those people.

Freezing Times.

Freezer Storage Chart (0 F) Note: Freezer storage is for quality only.

Frozen foods remain safe indefinitely.

ItemMonths Bacon and sausage 1 to 2 Ca.s.seroles 2 to 3 Egg whites or egg subst.i.tutes 12 Frozen dinners and entrees 3 to 4 Gravy, meat, or poultry 2 to 3 Ham, hot dogs, and lunch meats 1 to 2 Meat, uncooked roasts 4 to 12 Meat, uncooked steaks or chops 4 to 12 Meat, uncooked ground 3 to 4 Meat, cooked 2 to 3 Poultry, uncooked whole 12 Poultry, uncooked parts 9 Poultry, uncooked giblets 3 to 4 Poultry, cooked 4 Soups and stews 2 to 3 Wild game, uncooked 8 to 12 Source: USDA For more information on freezing food, go online to www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/

Focus_On_Freezing/index.asp.

Cherry-Picking Pays.

Consumers who regularly visit multiple supermarkets and "cherry-pick" the best deals not only save money, but also save enough to offset the time it takes to do the extra shopping. This is the conclusion of an academic study by University of Pennsylvania Wharton marketing professor Stephen J. Hoch and Edward J. Fox, a marketing professor at the c.o.x School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

How is this possible? First, these supershoppers' advance preparation allows them to get significant price reductions on a number of items. Second, and more important, they compound those savings by purchasing multiple items when they're cheap. Savings from visiting a second store alone paid the equivalent of about $16 per hour. Considering price inflation since the study was conducted, that's nearing $20 per hour today.

QUICK TIP.

Warehouse clubs, such as Costco, Sam's Club, and BJ's Wholesale, are great for some items and not for others. They can end up saving more than the members.h.i.+p fee if you're judicious about what you buy. For example, paper goods are often cheaper at a warehouse club. Your price list will advise you on what the best deals are. Of course, you don't want to buy perishable food in such large quant.i.ties that you end up throwing out a large portion that spoils.

3. Match Coupons to Sales.

You can save significant money by doing the first two steps and skipping coupons. But you certainly will be leaving money on the table.

For the most savings, you'll want to match a coupon with a sale. This is the big secret for the most strategic of shoppers. For those shoppers, about two-thirds of their savings comes from shopping sales. An additional one-third comes from using coupons.

However, the key with coupons is to avoid ha.s.sle. If you have the time and inclination to clip coupons, neatly file them in some type of organizer and weed out expired coupons, go for it. Many people have their own filing systems or use such products as the Couponizer, found at www.couponizer.com.

One low-ha.s.sle way is the CouponMom system. Get the coupon circulars from the Sunday newspaper, write the date on the front and put them aside, perhaps in a closet or drawer. In preparing to go shopping, go online to CouponMom.com. It is free, although you must register.

CouponMom has two main tools. The first is "Grocery Deals by State," which each week lists the best deals at your local supermarket, noting sales and coupons. For coupons, it will tell you the date and the circular to clip the coupon from. That way, you can fetch the coupon circulars from the closet or drawer and clip coupons only as you're going to use them.

The Web site also has a listing of all current coupons in its "Grocery Coupon Database." If your supermarket isn't listed in "Grocery Deals by State," you can choose sale items you want in the weekly circular and look them up in the database to determine whether there's a matching coupon.

A similar system is at TheGroceryGame.com. It has a small fee, but has a free trial. Some users like it better, especially because it includes unadvertised sales and firmly advises you on what's a good deal versus a great deal. HotCouponWorld.com is another good site, mostly for hard-core strategic shoppers. It has a robust message forum where frugal denizens trade shopping tips. It is free.

FIGURE 3.1 Coupons: by the numbers 302 billion-Number of coupons offered in 2007 2.6 billion-Number of coupons redeemed in 2007 $150,000+-Household income for biggest users of coupons 80%-Portion of coupon users who are female Source: 2007 CMS Consumer Study If you're looking for low ha.s.sle, just use Sunday newspaper coupons. If you're more enthusiastic, you'll want online printable coupons too. Besides some of the Web sites already mentioned, get online coupons from such sites as SmartSource.com, Coupons.com, CoolSavings.com, and Eversave.com. There are literally dozens of other sites you can find with an Internet search engine, but after viewing a few, you'll discover they offer mostly the same coupons.

QUICK TIP.

Pay attention to "Catalinas." These are checkout coupons handed to shoppers with grocery store receipts. The coupons, named after Catalina Marketing-the company that pioneered their use-often lead to savings and free items.

The big-picture strategy here is to recognize a good price on supermarket items. When you find one, you pounce, by stockpiling and slapping a coupon on it.

Fun Tangent: Razor Blades.

Razor blades are among those repeat purchases at the supermarket or drug store that can tick off consumers more than many others. That's because replacement cartridges on higher-end shavers can be so expensive.

To save money, you could buy cheaper blades, but many consumers claim the more expensive new razors with more blades are, indeed, superior. So, the other way to spend less is to make blades last longer.

How? Dry your razor blades daily.

Razor blade dullness occurs more from oxidation-rusting-than from contact with whiskers. Water resting on blades between shaves causes the rusting. So keep your razors dry. After every use, shake it vigorously to dislodge water droplets, blot it on a towel and even give it a brief blow-drying if a hairdryer is nearby. It's also a good idea to store your razor outside the bathroom to avoid steam and humidity from getting to blades. Or store the dry razor in a sealable plastic bag.

My own test involved drying a Gillette Fusion razor after every use. I used the same cartridge for three months, compared with the usual two weeks. And I've been drying my razors ever since.

Food Away from Home.

The first rule of dining out for less is to do it infrequently. By all means, go out to celebrate a wedding anniversary or job promotion. But try to avoid loading the family in the car and going to a restaurant because you're a poor meal planner. And when dining out, look for reasonable ways to cut your tab without cutting enjoyment.

Food Away from Home, 1-2-3.

1. Make freezer meals.

2. Use coupons and discounts.

3. Skimp on what you don't care about.