Plan Your Shopping Trips

Planning out your shopping trip will help keep you on budget. The first step is to create a grocery budget for each week/month. I try to stay within $75/week but that accounts for fresh meat and veggies as well.
Set a budget that works for you and your family.

• To help you stay on track, start a menu each week.- This is something I don't personally do, but I keep a general idea each week of what we are having.  A menu will help keep you on track as well. You can start off by doing a weekly menu and then gradually move up to a monthly menu if you have the space, etc.
•  Plan your shopping trips around the sales. I base my trips and my menu for the week off the sales that week. I'll go outside of the menu for special occasions and such, but I try to stay on track. 
• Know what products you use  and stock up on them while they are on sale to avoid paying full price for them later
• Match the sales with the coupons you currently have- you can find the matchups online for most stores. Keep in mind that we don't catch every deal though, so it's still good to look for yourself as well. 

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