September 14, 2004 ” All Rights Reserved W. V. Prince

Plan: My wife, Jo, developed this model for a systematic way to save money by planning her shopping activities in advance. This guide is a summary.

1. Develop a General Menu for the Month. Meals are planned on favorite recipes that are repeated at various intervals. A combination of meals leads to a menu. Jo has developed a very good idea of which meals are best considering health, nutrition, taste, expense and convenience. She has developed a general menu of meals for the month, which guides her shopping process. Since most recipes are used over and over, her process is somewhat repetitive month after month.
2. Make a List. Jo keeps a list in the kitchen area where monthly shopping needs are posted continually so that when she gets ready to go she has a guide. She will generally sit down and reflect on what else needs to be purchased just before she goes shopping. She knows where she is going and what she is going to buy before leaving home.
3. Keep Refreshing. Because she has recipes and a menu in mind all the time, like a businessperson does about business issues, the successful homemaker like Jo will be constantly looking for ways to improve her menu and save on expenses all through her daily activities. This is a dynamic process that will always bring variety to the menu and changes to the shopping list.
4. Coupon. Because Jo knows generally what items are needed for her recipes she can collect coupons which are stored in an alphabetized index file which is small enough to take to the stores yet big enough to hold the ones she needs. Collecting coupons becomes a daily activity.

Schedule:

1. Shop According Money Supply and Food Storage Facilities. Generally the fewer shopping trips you can make the more you save, but this factor is controlled by having money to shop and space to store what you buy. Monthly is usually best if you are positioned to fund and store, if monthly is not practical for you then plan for a shorter interval but make it as long as possible. Avoid daily shopping and weekly shopping if possible, make the interval not less than 2 weeks. This maximizes the value of the planning process.
2. Limit Your Shopping to Planned Trips: You do this by planning well and staying within your plan. If a particular meal requires you to go to the corner store or a convenience store then change the menu. Convenience costs, and the store on the corner gets premium prices, sometimes twice what something costs at the super center. Money slips through your fingers every time there is purchase made outside of the planned shopping. Avoid impulse shopping trips and impulse buying while on planned shopping trips controlled by a list.
3. Don’t Shop While You are Hungry. Psychologist tell us that people buy more on impulse if they shop when hungry, even consuming impulse purchases while walking through the store. Stores market premium items to you with sight, sound and smell, even cooking samples on the floor. Stay with your plan, eat before shopping and don’t succumb to marketing techniques.
4. Separate Food Groups to Source. Many stores are best for one item or another, considering price, quality and freshness and other factors. Learn to buy your food groups like meat, vegetables, fruit and so forth based on combining quality, freshness and price as needed to maximize your efficiency. Jo shops at four different food stores on her monthly excursions, not necessarily all on the same day. Doing this helps her make 2-3 visits, which don’t consume too much time on a single day. For instance she will get coupon items, fresh stuff and staples at the super center, bulk items and few fresh items at a wholesale warehouse, fresh meat at a local butcher, and deli meat at a deli that has the brand she wants. She incorporates into this store brand purchases and weekly special sales as much as possible.

Portions, Serving & Leftovers:
1. Meals should be prepared with a plan in mind for quantity. Meet the current need then maybe plan to cook enough to freeze and use later or to incorporate into lunches or other useful leftover applications. Avoid discarding any prepared food in order to conserve resources.
2. Meal should be prepared and served in healthy portions and the food put away as soon as possible. This helps to control consumption because some will overload their plates and not eat it all and others will have seconds and thirds when they shouldn’t. Leaving pans of food siting out invites us pigs of the world to graze as we walk by for the period following the meal. The planned leftovers are consumed and tomorrow’s lunch is gone tonight, speaking from experience here.
3. Freezing, canning and gardens are additional ways to cut down on food expenses generally if you know you will consume the food you freeze, can or grow. Frequently people freeze or can things that are thrown away later. Large gardens are expensive. Generally food can be purchased cheaper than it can be grown. A tomato bush here or there is an exception.

I plan to add to this later but must close now in order to get some other things done.