Practicing frugality at the grocery store. . . .

A recent article about increasing grocery prices confirmed what I've already instinctually felt: grocery prices are going up, up, up. Granted, inflation is affecting just about everything, from gas prices to frozen corn. And it's been happening every year since, well, since economists kept track of that sort of thing. But it doesn't make it any easier for a newly-frugal gal to keep her grocery costs down.

A few months ago, I took the time to create a grocery 'price book' (data which was then entered into my trusty Excel spreadsheet). What I found has helped me save money on groceries with each trip, without using coupons. I discovered that the grocery store I usually shopped in didn't truly save me any money---in fact, I was spending MORE money on the food I generally purchased, by visiting this convenient store.

By taking the time to create a price book, I found that the much busier store across the street had prices on everything I needed at an average of 10% to 15% less than my 'usual' store! Granted, the cheaper store is packed from morning until night (gee, I wonder why?) and shopping there is more stressful and frustrating, given the crowds, but for a 10-15% savings, it's worth it!

FrugalMomLA is going to write a post in the next couple of weeks which compares grocery prices for staples (bread, apples, etc) from across the country (depending on how many responses she gets). Granted, it won't be a 'scientific' experiment, but it should be very interesting to see how much a loaf of bread costs in LA, compared to Portland. Check her blog in the next couple of weeks to see it for yourself!

In the meantime, I'm going to continue updating my price book, to make sure I'm buying my food at the best possible prices. . . .