Tip #7 – Slash Your Grocery Bill by Cutting Out Junk Food
Welcome to day seven of our roughly 10-day journey, where we are looking at 10 money-saving tips to help save $10,000!
If you missed the introductory post of 10 Money-Savings Tips to Help You Stash $10,000 you’ll definitely want to check it out so we’re all on the same page.
But to sum it up – here’s our mission:
- The Goal: Save $10,000
- By When: This time next year
- How: By implementing 10 money-saving tips
For the next couple weeks we’re going to look at one money-saving tip each Monday through Thursday.
On Thursdays we’re going to look at a tip, but also hear Personal Finance bloggers’ and hopefully some readers’ ideas and experiences on how they’ve saved money!
If you’d like to be included in the Thursday posts – please let me know your best money-saving tip here! We’d love to hear your stories of what you did and how much money you saved by implementing your tip! If you’re a blogger and have posted about your money-saving tip, please include a link to your post!
Here’s what we’ve been through so far:
Tip #7: Slash Your Grocery Bill by Cutting Out Junk Food!
Uh-oh! I can already hear you now! “Oh no he didn’t just attack my Snickers and soda jones!” “He better not tell me to cut out my mid-afternoon Funyons and Red Bull snack!”
Now just hear me out a second. There’s a reason why 44 major food and beverage marketers spent $1.6 billion to promote their products to children and adolescents in 2006.
Americans are junk-food-junkies!! And we spend a LOT of money on this garbage every single month.
Now, I’ve got a major sweet tooth and would eat junk every day if I could. Thankfully my wife is not a big junk food fanatic, so I’m able to avoid a lot of the costs because she does the grocery shopping. And I’m OK with that because I’d be twice my size if I ate what I wanted on a daily basis.
Not only that, but our grocery budget would be much larger as well.
My wife and I do not drink soda, rarely buy potato chips and almost never have “snacky foods” in our cupboards. Our snacks of choice are granola bars, pretzels and ranch dressing or chips and salsa! These are the only things close to junk food that we really buy.
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Junk food is not cheap, and it adds up pretty quickly! In fact, JD from Get Rich Slowly recently admitted slipping back into bad junk-food habits and shelling out close to $100-$150 in one month on this stuff!
Financial Samurai mentioned that as part of his health kick, he cut out ALL sodas & high sugar related drinks from his diet and started drinking more water. Not only does he feel better, but he lost weight and saved roughly $100 per month from that alone!
How to Kick the Junk Food Habit
The only way to kick a habit is to replace it with something positive. You can’t just go cold turkey on something and expect to just fight cravings without getting your mind off of it.
So, instead of soda – drink water or ice tea (your own fresh brewed!). Instead of candy bars do what the contestants on Biggest Loser are told to do – chew a piece of sugar-free gum, or eat some veggies!
The idea is to quickly tackle any craving with a healthy or positive alternative.
Once you start getting used to this new lifestyle, it will become like a positive habit itself.
So go ahead, kick the junk food habit and slash your grocery bill for some more savings!!
Estimated Savings: $50-$100 per month
How much have you saved by cutting out junk food from your grocery bill?
Check Out All The Tips From Our Series
Tip #1: Cut Back on Going Out to Eat
Tip #2: Evaluate Your Entertainment
Tip #5: Negotiate Your Cell Phone Plan
Tip #6: Get Rid of Your Land Line
Tip #7: Slash Your Grocery Bill by Cutting Out Junk Food!
Tip #8: Use Coupons, For Everything!
Tip #9: Negotiate Your Home and Auto Insurance
Tip #10: Start Packing Lunches!
I recently had potato chips for the first time in months, and I have to admit they were DELICIOUS! I stopped eating them for health reasons, and because I’m addicted to them. But the point it, as much as we rail against it, the reason we buy junk food is because it tastes good! And relative to other stimulations, it’s a cheap high.
That aside, what I’ve been having luck with in grocery shopping is using a strict budget. When I go, I’ll set a budget of say, $150. I can get whatever I choose within $150, so if there’s a luxury or two, it’ll have to be traded out with a necessity or two. The luxury usually loses, so it keeps me from straying too far off the path.
.-= Kevin@OutOfYourRut´s last blog ..Wasting (Money) Away Again in Margaritaville =-.
Kevin, that is very interesting. Most foods that I used to love but stopped eating for health/monetary reasons, when I have them again I find that they taste, well, terrible.
I’ve cut junk food out of my diet for a while now and it really is so much cheaper to make your own healthy alternatives at home. My trick is to make fruits and veggies accessible. I cut celery and carrots up as soon as I get home and always have a container of dried cranberries around. This still lets me have the “snacking” feeling while I’m watching tv but without greasy potato chip fingers!
You can read more about my snacking habits here: http://www.27andfrugal.com/2009/11/24/but-im-hungry-now-dealing-with-convenience-foods/
.-= leslie´s last blog ..Starting the Journey to Financial & Physical Health =-.
We don’t put any junk food in our house. No pop, very little ice cream, no bad for me chips.
But we found a few alternatives that are still good but not as bad for you. Sun chips, tortilla chips, some different types of health chips from trader joes. So we can eat a bit of ‘junk’ that is not as bad for us. But still save some cash.
So I buy some pop now and again. When traveling or for the extra special night out. I am addicted to anything sugary so I have to be careful! Thanks for the tip.
.-= Ted @broketofree´s last blog ..The shame of debt =-.
Kevin, having a set budget is a fantastic idea, but I’m afraid most folks don’t have the discipline to stick to a set amount to spend. I like that you’re swapping things out as opposed to just compromising a few bucks here n there because it all adds up!!
Leslie, having already cut up fruits and veggies is SO KEY!! If it’s not cut up already I won’t bother eating it. I guess it’s just my laziness kicking in, but it seems like such a pain at the time.
Ted, thanks for the list of alternatives. Back in my drinking soda days several years ago, I would down anywhere from 5-6 cans a day! You can imagine how much that adds up!
Junk food is expensive. We used to look at buying fruit as expensive, but when you compare it to a bag of doritos or a box of soda there really isn’t much difference. Plus you are eating healthy. I also used to drink a diet soda each afternoon with my lunch and for the last few months have switched to drinking water. So no more money on soda cans, plus the extra benefit of being fully hydrated and all the health benefits like increased concentration, etc. It’s really scary just how dehydrated people are and they don’t even know it which leads to cloudy heads and such.
Confession… we had some snickers left over from Halloween and since my kids and wife are allergic to peanuts… and I am the only one allowed to eat them… I gobbled down half a bag of those mini bars this morning.
But I agree, the better we control our cravings or at least the better we can direct our cravings, the better we can save in this area.
Time for a jog…
.-= Walen@Family Finance´s last blog ..Average American Budget =-.
Hair Bow – it’s amazing how we don’t like to spend money on fresh fruit and produce because it’s expensive, yet we’ll shell out more for processed foods and junk! Good point about drinking water and the added benefit of hydration and concentration…now back to my cup of coffee!
Walen – Half a bag of Snickers is impressive!
I think writing prices down on the junk food and actually seeing how much we spend on that stuff could help us control or direct our cravings a little more. Thanks for checkin’ in!
Very inspiring post and so true. Junk food is tempting but not good for us. Many of us would save thousands of dollars a year if we stopped buying it completely.
Blessings,
Mrs. White