Everyone has been told by someone not to grocery shopping when you’re hungry, for you will buy (and probably eat) everything in sight. However, what if you’re not hungry and you still come home with enough cuisine from the grocery store to feed a small army? What are you doing wrong?
There’s nothing wrong, you just need to learn to focus.
You may be wondering just how exactly you’re supposed to focus at the grocery store. There are so many delectable items just waiting for you to buy and take home to eat, how can one possibly resist? Once again, you just have to focus.
The very first thing to do in order to get focused is getting organized by doing what you just might do every day at work- making a list of items that need your attention. This list is called a “Shopping List”. Not only will the list prevent you from forgetting those few necessities that you always leave the store without, but it will also keep your mind from going astray while shopping (oh look…whoopee pies!). Sticking to the list will also save you money on those costly “impulse items” at the check out like tabloids and overpriced batteries. If it’s not on the list, you don’t need it.
Next on our list is coupon cutting. You’re probably going to say that you detest cutting them and think it’s a waste of time. For this point, you are completely agreed with. By cutting coupons (unless it’s for a specific product or brand that you normally purchase anyways), all you are doing is falling into the marketing campaigns of the major food corporations. They are the sellers and you are a rat in their fabulously crafted consumer maze, searching for the cheesy item in the center via your 20 cent coupon. You can usually find a similar item on sale of just plain cheaper without the coupon.
Our third point is geared towards the store’s set-up. Have you ever noticed that the milk is usually in the farthest end of the supermarket? That’s so you will walk past the wide variety of items to get to the dairy section, and maybe you’ll pick something else up along the way. Knowing about this trick will help you to stay focused on your way to the milk.
In-store marketing is our fourth point. Pay close attention to the sales, specials, and other “discounts” between one store to the next. One store’s chicken soup may be priced at $.69 every day, while the competition may have a huge “special”, strategically placed on an end cap display for all to see, priced cheaply at “5 for $5.00”. Customers are beside themselves with excitement, out of control, and stocking up in groups of 5 like there’s no tomorrow. But wait- the first store’s price is cheaper. Why is that? For starters, if you tell the majority of consumers that something is on sale, they’ll believe you. If you tell them that they 5 is the magic number to get this special price, they will purchase their items in groups of 5. Store number 1 will sell many less cans of chicken noodle soup than the second store, even though store 1 is substantially less costly.
Now that you have your focus lessons, as well as a few extra tidbits of info as to the vicious ploys of the supermarket industry to get our money, enjoy your fare and the money you saved as you focus through the aisles of your next food shopping excursion.
