How a grocery flyer can help you save thousands a year!

If you recall, last week we talked about how to save money with meal planning.  I shared with you a few resources like Emeals that you can use to keep meal planning very simple and easy for you.  Today I will talk about the thing that you need most when you first start meal planning – your weekly store flyer.

Your weekly store flying is a gold mine of information; just by looking at the front page you know what the best deals are.  The deals on the front page of the flyer are what are called ‘Loss Leaders’.  This means that the store is taking a loss by offering them at deeply discounted prices.  They hope that these loss leaders will lure you into their store to do the rest of your grocery shopping.  So how do you use this information to meal plan?

There are a few different ways to use store flyers to your benefit and help you save thousands per year:

1. You can shop only the loss leaders at multiple stores; this will guarantee that you will get the best deals at each store.  It does take some time, but if you have time and like to travel this may be the option for you.
2. You can price match the loss leaders from multiple stores at one store.  Bring your store flyers with you to either Walmart or Target, and they will give you the price listed in other store flyers (this is called price matching). It is easiest to do this at Walmart because you can do it right at the cash register.  You simply have to tell them which items you are price matching, BEFORE they ring it up. They will have to adjust the prices down after they scan the items.  Target is a little trickier because you have to price match at customer service, so it can take a little bit longer when there is a long line.
3. Stock up on the loss leaders every week, and spend the rest of your money at that store on the rest of your shopping list.

To help you with this concept, I have a video for you.  I made this video about 2 years ago, so it is a little dated but still full of great information!

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