Grocery Shopping on a Budget
Have you ever had the feeling that no matter how you watch your spending, you can't seem to be able to bring the household budget down? You keep tabs of all your spending, you keep all receipts and tally your expenditures diligently, and yet, somehow the cash flow is like water draining from a sieve! Sounds familiar? You are not alone.
According to a survey published recently in the Journal of Marketing indicates that grocery shoppers who try to track how much their groceries are likely to cost eventually end up overspending as much as 19%! They found that, in general, we all often tend to underestimate how much our groceries are going to cost. But when you try to calculate the exact total price of the contents of your shopping cart, that's when you almost always get a surprise at the counter than when you just estimate approximate prices.
The sad part is that it is low-income shoppers who try most to calculate, rather than estimate, according to the researchers.
That means that those on the tightest budgets – those most motivated to track their spending – may be at greatest risk for spending more than their budget allows, said Wansink, forcing them to cut back in other areas, which "could cause shoppers unexpected financial distress." This chain of events can also cause these shoppers to dev
If you really want to keep to a strict budget whenever you go to the grocery, the researchers offer these tips:
- Round each item to the nearest dollar – $2.25 becomes $2 and $5.50 becomes $6.
- If you lose track, estimate the total number of items, then guess the price of the average item and multiply them together.
- If you really want to calculate the exact total price, use a calculator.
I have a better strategy, though: Make a grocery list and strictly follow it. If you want, you may allow yourself a certain amount, say $5 or $10 for "impulse purchases", in case there are items on sale, etc, but decide on this amount even before you hit the stores. This way, there are no unpleasant surprises at the cashiers!