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Save $100.00 A Month With A Grocery Journal by Barbara Carr Phillips
Many people think personal journaling means writing a book of deep thoughts, but most useful journals are simple notebooks that contain mundane lists, like grocery lists or to-do lists. I teach journaling workshops, and people are surprised when I tell them they can save over $100 a month by keeping a grocery journal.
A grocery journal will insure that you'll never lose extra savings because you forgot your coupons. Also, you won't ever find yourself standing in grocery aisle wondering, "did I purchase ketchup last week or not?" Last week's list will be in your journal for you to review. You will save time and gas by avoiding extra trips to grocery because you forgot items you needed. Plus, you will have everything you need for each meal, every single day of week.
To get started, choose a small, spiral-bound notebook to use as your grocery journal. You want a notebook small enough to fit in your purse or pocket easily. Spiral bound is best because it lies flat when you are writing. Also, you can flip to page you need easily and it will stay open. Be sure to keep a pen clipped to your journal at all times. Also, clip a large paperclip in your book to hold coupons.
Here is how to organize and use your grocery journal:
On front pages of your journal, create price pages. Price pages are simply a list of items you buy from grocery store every month with price of each item listed after them.
To make a price page, draw four columns on a notebook page. The first column is widest, and remaining three are just wide enough to write in price of an item. The first column heading will be "Item," and remaining three column headings will be names of three grocery stores you shop at most often.
In first column, list all of items you typically buy. In remaining three columns, list price of those items at your three favorite stores. This way, you will know at a glance when a "sale" is really a "sale," or if you can buy item at another store at better price.
