Use Cash

Prevent Grocery Store Overspending

grocery-store-sales

Does this ever happen to you? You go to the grocery store to buy a few recipe ingredients. After walking the aisles, you find yourself at the checkout with 2 full bags of groceries and a receipt for $60-$90.

Here are some tips to prevent grocery store overspending. The most important (and easiest) fixes are on top.

1. Use cash! This is the most important and the easiest rule to follow. In the example above, if you’d only brought $10 in cash to the store, you would have walked out with just the butter, eggs and cinnamon you needed for your baking project. You cannot spend more cash than you bring with you – as long as you leave your credit and debit cards at home. (I do this myself)

2. Don’t shop when you’re hungry! This is also an easy rule to follow. If you shop hungry, your body will tell you that everything you see is delicious and that you must buy it right away. In fact, you’ll think it’s a good idea to get 2 or 3 packages of all kinds of foods you’ll regret buying later.

3. Compare prices in store. As long as you’re standing there, it’s not too hard to try to choose the best price on a can of tuna or package of grated cheese. Store brands are usually the best deal, but if they want you to buy 2 to get the sales price, the brand name could be a better deal.

4. Plan your meals and shop from your list. This is a little harder because it means you have to plan before going to the store. Once you have your meal plan, check your cupboards and fridge to see if you already have any of the recipe ingredients. This prevents you from buying something you already have at home.

5. Rewards cards. You have to plan to get the best use out of them, but when you do, you can save substantial cash. They give you discounts and coupons, but you won’t get the same discounts on the same items every week. You’ll need to be on top of what’s in your cupboards, be careful to buy only the items you’ll actually use, and sometimes you’ll have to wait on a purchase until the discount cycles around again.

Make your trip to the grocery store less costly the next time you shop. What do you do to save money in the grocery store? Tell us in the comments below.

Paying by Check Puts You at Risk

When you want to make a purchase with the money in your checking account, do you actually write a check or do you use a debit card I am not talking about paying bills, which is relatively safe I’m talking about making a purchase at a store or a garage sale.

I recently read that some retailers no longer accept checks as a form of payment At first I thought this was strange, but then I realized that I couldn’t remember the last time I wrote a check at a store I haven’t carried my checkbook with me since I had my purse stolen years back It was a bad experience Did you know that your account number and bank routing number are clearly printed on each check? Not to mention your name and address That’s too much information Instead, I use cash and my debit card It’s easy and more convenient.

When you use a debit card, you give away less personal information No one can see your home address or your phone number Your driver’s license number isn’t written down for all to see You might think, “well it just goes in the register and then off to the bank.” But, that’s not the case If you’ve ever worked retail, you know that closing can be chaotic, with open registers and multiple people accessing each register as they balance the sales for the day Then, your personal information goes to the store office, to bank personnel, and then to the check clearing house They all have access to your information And, I’m not even getting into the computer systems that store this information and what can happen with that Who knows if one of them is taking your information for some fraudulent purpose?

The less people who see your information; the less chance of identity theft We all need to do our part to keep our personal information safe.

If You Can’t See Your Money, You’ll Spend More

Don’t let your bank profit from overdraft fees! In 2009, it’s estimated that banks earned $20 billion (yes, with a b) in overdraft fees Transactions from ATM machines, debit cards and reoccurring bill payment transactions are mainly responsible for record overdrafts These are invisible money transactions because you can’t see how much you’re spending or how much you have left in your account.

With the new Credit Card Act of 2009, things are changing.You will not be able to automatically overdraw your bank account.Instead, your transaction will be declined.But, that information may come too late to save you from difficulties with creditors and merchants.

The only way to prevent overdrafts is to keep good financial records You must know how much you have available at any given point Better yet – use cash According to studies, people who use actual cash spend 20% less than using other forms of payments That’s because they can see how much money they have left after making a purchase If you choose to use cash, use larger bills The larger the bill, the less likely you are to spend it It is so much easier to spend $5, $10 and $20 It doesn’t seem like much if you spend $20 in 5 different stores But if you have to break a $100 bill, you will have a true understanding of how much you’ve spent.

If you still want to use invisible money, and you aren’t going to track your account, you will have to opt-in with your bank to have your transactions pre-approved Remember that you will still have the fees associated with overdrawing your account.Those fees are typically over $35 for each transaction.

Spend wisely by avoiding fees Avoid fees by keeping good records or by using cash Overdraft fees are a total waste of your hard earned money.