One of the things I do on a weekly basis is grocery shopping. There are three supermarkets within walking distance from my home, and I just love the ritual of getting up in the morning, having my breakfast, taking a shower and going to the nearby supermarket when it opens at 8AM. I love doing grocery shopping in the morning because there aren’t a lot of shoppers yet, so I can walk around and push my cart slowly, savoring my time going through shelves and comparing brands and prices.

I have some sort of a system when doing my grocery shopping – from doing a pantry/fridge inventory, menu planning, listing what I need to buy and the actual shopping itself. Over time, I have somehow gotten used to this system that it just seems to work for me. I am more efficient at grocery shopping and, best of all, I am able to cut down my expenses.

Tricks for Hassle-free Grocery Shopping

• Schedule your grocery shopping and stick to it. Shop every week, and on the same day each week, without fail. I choose to do grocery shopping every Wednesday morning. Mornings are great because there are very few other shoppers in the supermarket – no pushing and shoving, no crazy ass long lines at the checkout counter.
• Plan your weekly menu the day before grocery day. It will allow you to have a clearer view of the things you need to buy. When you have a weekly menu planned out, YOU WILL be forced to do an inventory of pantry and your refrigerator, and YOU WILL be forced to list down what you need.
• Make a list of the things you need. The usual stuff – Veggies, poultry, meat, milk and other staples. Make sure to only list the things you need. NEVER ever list down the things you want, the things that you don’t need.
• On grocery day, have a full stomach before you leave. Really. If you leave the house on an empty stomach, believe me, you will be tempted to spend on eating out, or worse, impulse buying on junk food and other stuff that you don’t need. Your budget will be ruined.
• Stick to your list. Stick to it. Stick to your list.
• Do a mental math while shopping, so you have an idea how much you will need to shell out at the checkout counter. If you somehow forgot to have a look at how much an item costs, supermarkets usually have a barcode scanner every few aisles. Doing this will also help keep you on your toes, so that you will learn to control yourself from getting whatever item you can put your hands on and placing them in your cart. It helps you be conscious of your budget.

Well, that’s it. Very simple, really, yet very effective. Try doing these simple grocery shopping tips. They have helped me a lot in cutting down my grocery shopping expenses, and I hope these tips will help you, too!