Grocery Tip Tuesday- Should you be a one-stop shopper?

Part of the way that I save money on groceries is by not being loyal to just one store. Every Thursday when the paper comes with our ads (some stores change their ads on Sunday), the first thing I do is I look through each ad to see what their "loss leaders" are. If you don't know what a loss leader is, it's the products that grocery stores are willing to discount in order to get you in the front door of their store. They know that after this, you are more than likely going to stick around and do the rest of your shopping which means more money for them!

The good thing for us is that we have an Aldi's, Marsh, Meijer and Kroger all within a reasonable distance from each other. This enables me to figure out which store has the best deals on all of the stuff I need and go there for my big grocery shopping. Then either the same day or throughout the week, I will hit the other stores for their loss leaders. For example, last week, Marsh had grapes, apples and milk on sale. I was able to stock up on milk 2 for $4. This ended up saving me $2 dollars over how much milk was at Meijer. And I saved $1.69 on grapes by buying them at Marsh instead of Meijer.

This way of shopping is not for everyone. I have a friend who earns money to pay for her daughter's preschool by shopping only at Kroger. Now that is definitely a reason to be loyal to just Kroger! And I also know that some people just don't have the time to shop around so much. Totally understandable in today's busy world. But in order to maximize savings in our family, shopping around and not being loyal to just one store is what saves us money!