Don't be Afraid to Change

 I love a routine.  It's how I'm built.  And, generally speaking, I love that routines typically save me time and effort-which, when I was working, equaled saving me money.  Since I'm retired, the cost of my time is different...but since I'm not earning, I also look at any cost savings as 'income.'  I know it's not exactly the same, but it works for my brain. :)

Anyhoo...on that topic of 'change', I've been shopping at the same grocery store in town for 5 years.  It's a Smith's (part of the Kroger chain).   They are cheaper than the other, equally nearby grocery store, Albertsons.   I've been meaning to do this for a year now, and finally got around to taking a pause on my weekly shop to go look at the prices of comparable items at Walmart and Aldi. 

I think I've mentioned before, but I pretty much only buy private label everything now (to continue to try to keep the cost of grocery items down), but between the BS shrink-flation that I'm seeing on all of my purchases to the continued rise of grocery items, I wanted to see if shopping at another grocery store might help to save some $$.  It wouldn't be the first time I've made the switch-but it has been a while. And, if I'm being honest, what really prompted me to do this was that the 'Everyday Low Price' on my milk has gone up a full $1 in the past two months-just since I started buying it 6 months ago.  How this is an 'everyday low price' is beyond me, and the attempt of Smith's/Kroger to make me believe it was cheaper than before has really pissed me off (add it to the list).

Anyhoo, here's what I did to figure out if a switch would be worth it-and bear in mind, I don't shop in-store any longer (another $$ saving game I like to play, as it keeps me from impulse buying), so any place I would move to *has* to have buy online/pick up in store as an option.   Luckily both Walmart & Aldi offer this service, to that's a good thing.  Onto the next steps..

1.  I made a list of the ~10-15 items that I purchase regularly-if not every week, than every other week-and they're items that I would stock up if there was a sale.  Think...sandwich bread, sliced sandwich meat and cheese, milk, yogurt, and so on.

2.  I then made a list of ~5 items that, while not weekly, are often enough that-if I'm not paying attention-could creep up on me in price. These are items I typically will keep as a 'back-list' of needs, and then shop (and also buy in bulk) when they're on sale.  Examples of these items include ground beef, butter, and shredded cheese.

3.  For the must-have items, I then hunted down these items on each store's website and tracked the *regular* store price.  Sales are great (oh boy, are they!), but if it's an items I have to have weekly (like milk), waiting for a sale isn't an option-it's gravy. 

4.  For the 'as needed/on sale' items, I made a note of the regular price (just as an FYI), but then found the best option I'd purchase if I wanted the item at the cheapest price, and noted that as well.

5.  I then tallied up the cost of each website and compared. 

I don't know whether to be happy, surprised, or annoyed at the results: Smith's is waaay too expensive now.  On *literally* every item, both Aldi and Walmart are cheaper.  I figure that I can easily save $10 a week by switching to Aldi or Walmart. And by 'save' I mean pay less-it's not like things are actually cheaper than they were a year ago, I'm just trying to claw back some of the rising cost of groceries.   

I then (to really maximize the savings) took a closer look at Aldi & Walmart.  The cost savings versus Smith's for each store was comparable -about a $2 difference in Walmart's favor.  But, to pile on top, Walmart is about 4 miles closer to us than Aldi-so, the extra cost of driving further there/back sealed the deal.  Walmart is maybe a mile further along than Smiths-that I can live with, relative to the considerable savings we'll see on the groceries.  And, who knows?  I may finally take that last leap and just start having the groceries delivered to save a few pennies more. :)

What about you?  What's your go-to grocery store for savings?  I'm super happy with the prices I've found at Walmart, but certainly, if I can save a few $$ more, I am happy to take a look and review my costs again!