Are you spending too much money on food, leaving you less money to pay off credit cards and use for other purposes? If so, 25 money-saving tips in J.K. Lasser’s Guide for Tough Times, by Barbara Weltman, may help.
Here, minus the brief (often obvious) details that follow each one in the book, are the 25 tips:
1. Be an organized shopper.
2. Eat in, not out.
3. Buy in bulk.
4. Grow your own.
5. Plan meals better.
6. Become coupon conscious.
7. Shop at discounters.
8. Avoid prepared (deli) foods.
9. Reduce consumption of junk food.
10. Comparison shop.
11. Check labels carefully.
12. Shop when you’re full.
13. Buy nonfood items in places other than the grocery.
14. Check for freshness.
15. Use proper storage procedures.
16. Use powdered milk in recipes.
17. Buy day-old bread and baked goods.
18. Buy generic.
19. Shop by yourself or with another adult.
20. Share twofers with a friend.
21. Brown-bag your lunch and make your coffee.
22. Keep your coins out of the vending machine.
23. Use your tap (water).
24. Buy from growers.
25. Fish and hunt.
Here are some additional comments, from us, relating to the above: #2. When eating out, pay cash. Using a credit card can encourage you to spend more. #7. Shop at discounters, but only if you don’t spend more money on gas than you save. #13. Supermarkets almost never discount items that are also sold in hardware stores. #23. High-priced bottled water is often tap water that’s been filtered.
