My Grocery Shopping Must Haves

It's pretty much a given fact: most people have to go to the grocery store. And for many people, it is every week. As a kid, I would go to Ralphs, Vons or Pavilions all the time with my mom or dad. At the time, I never really paid attention to the prices, what was on sale, or what brand was better quality. But I did pay attention to the free samples, kid snacks, and the coupon dispenser that was in the aisles (it was just fun to pull the coupons out.)

Since my young childhood days until now, things have changed a lot when it comes to grocery shopping. Now that I am grocery shopping on my own, I've definitely paid attention to prices and what I bring home to our small dining room table. I could go on and tell you about grocery store tips, but I feel I'm not exactly a seasoned shopper (yet!). So here are just a few things that I would never EVER leave at home when I go to the grocery store.

1) My coupons
I don't get the newspaper at home, so I mostly just get them online and print them out. I use www.swagbucks.com and they have online coupons available. When I am going to my parents house, I'll ask them to save coupons for me. (I never ask them to save every insert every single week, they don't like that hanging around)

Top: What I carry my coupons in when I go to the grocery store.
Bottom: My coupons in my coupon binder.

Now, I used to bring my whole coupon binder (another post on that later) with me to the grocery store, but that was kind of a pain to carry around. It is big and it got inconvenient when I would unpack my groceries considering our parking spots are not right at our front door. I used to have a blue pencil holder with different pockets. It worked out great...till I lost it! Well, I used envelopes for a little while and finally I broke down and bought this little mini accordion folder that says coupons on it. It was $1 at Target (can't beat that Dollar section) and I thought I would try it out. So far, only used it once and it works out great!

I also have coupons on my iPod. I only have Target coupons so far. (Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by how much is out there!) Target has a great app & website called Cartwheel. You choose items you plan or might get and you can get 5-25% off. And that is on top of your coupons and your 5% off if you have a Target card.

2) My Club Card
Trust me, it's the best thing to happen for me and my shopping. I'm glad these came out before I had to do my own shopping.

I mostly go to Vons, so I have my club card next to the cards I do use often. Many items that are on sale, you can only get for that price if you use your club card.  Not only that, more and more stores are adding coupons, free items, or items specially priced for you when you go on their website and add the deals straight to your card. Vons has the Just for U program, and I know for sure Ralphs and Stater Bros. do something similar. And most of my coupons are already added to my card.

Furthermore, many times, you get rewarded when you do use your card. At Vons, when you get 100 points, you get 10 cents off a gallon at Chevron or Texaco gas stations. It's like it was meant for me because Chevron gas stations are my preferred choice. Ralphs has something similar. And with pharmacy stores like CVS, Walgreens, etc. you can get extra bucks back. It's like getting a little gift card for that store.

3)My List
I usually don't want to make impulse buys, spend so much time at the grocery store, or forget things. So the list a must have. When I do go to Vons, we are able to make a list from their website and add the coupons/ special prices we have on our card, on our list. The Vons list shows what items you need to get, how much, what a coupon is worth, and when it will expire. I prefer to not use my iPod touch as a list and do it the old fashioned way and use paper. I don't really like putting my password in every time I need to check something off.


4) My Reusable Grocery Bags
When I think about how much plastic grocery bags are being used and how much it fills our landfills, it makes me feel guilty every time I have to use one. So, one less plastic bag that is used, the better I feel about using my bags. And I don't really care if the baggers like them or not. (I've heard complaints from them while my items were being put in them) They are also easier for me to carry when I unload my groceries from my car to our apartment.

Getting reusable grocery bags do not have to be expensive. They can be $1 usually, but I mostly get them for free. And they don't have to necessarily be the same shape or type of material. I've used a bag I got from a bachelorette party 4 years ago. I've gotten bags from work. I got a free bag from Vons using the Just for U program. And recently after attending a convention I've gotten several more bags that are perfect for groceries.

If reducing the amount of plastic bags in our landfills doesn't convince you, many stores are rewarding customers for using reusable bags and many cities/ counties are making you bring your own bags. Through my experience, Target and Sprouts takes off 5 cents per bag used. And some stores add extra points to your club rewards. Also, in Los Angeles County, it is pretty much a law now that you have to use reusable grocery bags. If you don't have them, grocery stores will charge an extra 10 cents or so for every bag used. (I predict it won't be long till Orange County puts that law into effect.)

So, I'm still learning the best way to save money while grocery shopping but hopefully for those of you who are just starting to grocery shop on your own, maybe these little tips will help you out.

See ya later!

Shay

Inspiring to get Organized

This video got me hooked! It gets me inspired! I subscribed to her on youtube and it might help organizing your home or office. Although some things she has are out of my budget or I just cannot do because I live in an apartment, it always creates ideas in my head. After watching another few of her videos tonight, I got an urge to do something I've been meaning to do for a little bit now: Organize LAUNDRY care items!

Although my family says I have a great memory, sometimes I forget things. And all the time, I'm usually forgetting something when I do my laundry here at the apartment complex. I have to go back up the stairs and grab the dryer sheets before I dry my items. It was easy to forget because our items were in different places. Our laundry card was in one drawer while the soap and dryer sheets were in another cabinet.

Rearranging the "clothes care" items literally took me less than 5 minutes to do it and it didn't cost me a thing! Now, I know some people would put labels or made it look neater, but I had an itch and did what I could at 8:30 pm. I wish I took a before picture, but I guess you'll have to settle for the after picture.

We don't have and we don't need a lot of products to keep our clothes neat and tidy. And I wanted to put all clothing care items in ONE location. So in our linen closet, where the iron was located, I removed a laptop case I have (and barely use) and some light bulbs to another location in the closet. I'm a little tired right now to do the whole closet so this one shelf will do for now.  

As you can see in the picture: all my items I use to take stains outs, lint off, and wash my clothes are in one location. Not only was it items that we need (detergent, iron, dryer sheets), but items I had on hand left over from a "bridal emergency" kit I gave as a gift to my cousin to use on her wedding day. (Tide to-go pens, small lint brush) Another post on that later!

I took a tip from the Extreme Couponing show on TLC and lined my detergent together. We needed to get more detergent and there was a sale on our last grocery trip, so I stocked up. I usually always forget the dryer sheets so I put them in front and I don't use the iron much (because I hate doing it!) so I put that in the back. I put the lint rollers in the front too because it's easy to reach before we go to work.

I didn't want the smaller items to lay around and accidentally fall, so I found a clear glass we don't use and put them in it. Any small items can easily get lost and it's always a good idea to have a spot for it to be held. This glass is actually significant to both of us in different ways. Most notably it says Long Beach, CA, where we both grew up in the area. In the glass includes our apartment issued laundry card, Tide to-go pens (from the bridal emergency kit) and Downey wrinkle reducer (also from the bridal emergency kit that I had to quickly put in my purse before my cousin's wedding started. I ended up accidentally bringing it home with me).  

Well, I hope this inspires you and I know this will help me in the future. 

Have a great night!

Shay L. Hust

3rd times a charm

So I pulled up my own blog with the intention of deleting it. I haven't had a post in just over a year and I thought it was time to give more space to the internet. But as I read my own title, something in me told me that maybe I should try and start again, after the 3rd TIME!

I love reading blogs, especially ones that will help me cut down my expenses and finding creative things to do. I feel like I do have some advice to share, and to share what my friends and family have taught me. Especially, I have grown since last year and moved out of my parents. We are all on this earth for a reason, and hopefully this will identify as to why I am here.

What I didn't have before was an actual plan. I had a creative idea, but I didn't have a goal and a plan. My days off are Sundays, Mondays, and Fridays. Mondays and Fridays seem like a good day to put up some posts. I'll start off like that, and we'll see where this takes us.

So, as I raise a glass to trying this again, please pray, and hopefully I'll keep up.

Thanks for reading,

Shay L. Hust