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Warning: my grocery bill dropped $47 a week after I quit shopping at the big store near me
I live in Sacramento and for about two years I did all my shopping at the big chain store five minutes from my place because it was easy. I never really looked at the total, just swiped my card and moved on. Then about four months ago the store started running these weird sales where the price on the tag did not match what rang up at the register, and I caught it three times in one month. So I switched to the smaller market two blocks further and started writing down what I spent each trip on a little notepad in my glovebox. After six weeks of that, my weekly average went from $162 to $115. Same meals, same amount of food, just a different store and me paying attention for once. My roommate says the big store is still cheaper if you use their app and clip the digital coupons, and maybe he is right if you have the patience for it. I don't. So is the app and coupon thing worth the hassle, or is it just a trap to keep you coming back? Has anyone else tracked their spending after switching stores and seen a real gap like this?
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violagreen16d ago
That line about paying attention for once hits home. I did the same thing last year, started writing totals in my phone notes after a store kept ringing stuff up wrong, and my trips dropped about $30 a week just from noticing what I was actually buying. The app coupons are real but you have to clip them before you walk in the door, and half the time the savings are on stuff you were not going to buy anyway.
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