When money is tight, it’s time to look at ways to save money on monthly expenses.  When you think of particular monthly expenses that happen month after month, you tend to think of your grocery spending.  With a family of four, grocery expenses can get pretty high but I’m going to show you some ways on how you can save money on your grocery bill.

Try websites out – When I first started saving on groceries, I heard from people that I should try out a website called The Grocery Game.  For a small fee and it’s really small, probably around a few bucks a month, you’ll be able to download a sheet that will tell you everything that is on sale at your local store.  On top of the sale, you’ll be able to use the coupons in your local Sunday paper.  It will tell you what date to go to save even more money.  Since I’ve implemented this system, I’ve saved 50% on my bills easily.  It’s well worth checking out.  (If you do like the service, please use my email (tomt2083[at]yahoo.com) as a referral and we both benefit!)

Never shop hungry – I think the worst thing you can do when you go grocery shopping is shopping while you’re hungry.  You’ll find that when you’re hungry, you want to eat everything in the store.  What does this mean for you?  You buy up everything you see that looks good.  My word of advice is that you shop after a meal.  That way, you’re full and you don’t want to get everything you see.

Coupons- I already mentioned this about the grocery game but try and subscribe to your Sunday paper.  I subscribe and it’s probably $5 a month for me but it’s well worth it.  The savings alone easily make up for it.  Even if you don’t use a website like the one above, you can always glance through the coupons each week and find something that you can use.

Bulk isn’t always key- Sometimes people have the idea that bulk is the best buy but this isn’t always the case.  Sometimes, if you narrow down what you’ll get as an individual package as compared to those that in bulk, you may find it’s cheaper to buy the items individually.  Also, you’ll find that the bulk stores like CostCo and Sam’s Club will charge you a membership fee.

Make a checklist and stick with it – If you’re worried about buying things you don’t need, try and make a list of things that you do need.  Instead of just randomly picking up things, you can stick to your list and save even more money.

Always buy on sale- This sounds easy but you’ll be surprised at how many people don’t buy things on sale and instead, they pay full price.  Make it a habit to buy things on sale all the time and make yourself feel guilty when you don’t do this.  If you can get into this habit, you’ll be saving more money than you can imagine!