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Old 01-25-2013, 03:57 PM
 
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What's your shopping routine? How much time do you spend on it? How many stores?
This touches on shopping for a deal, personal thoughts on finances, time vs. money issues....

Food Shopping: When I was into shopping weekly sales and using coupons I could sometimes find my self going to 4 stores for weekly shopping. I got tired of that, and just thought it was ridiculous, plus the time and the gas use. Now, I buy many things organic and don't fit the profile of a 'normal' shopper buying processed foods with coupons.

Plus I don't really cook, so don't buy a lot of 'grocery staples' anyway. Sometimes I'll still make four stops -- but two are for prepared food, and two MIGHT be for groceries. Usually I'm down to three stores, with two being next to each other in the same shopping center. So while my restaurant order is being prepared, I can walk over and do my organic shopping. And I might make one other stop. For example: if I stock up with enough water on a given visit to one store I may not need to go back there for weeks. Or if I'm already in a given shopping center ordering food, I might as well walk a few doors down and grocery shop (given that it's an organic store where I'd shop anyway.)

Sometimes I'd wonder am I the only one running around to four stores a week for groceries, and trying to use coupons? It got to be too much.

Clothes I only buy sparingly during the year. So just hit one or two stores and I'm done.
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Old 01-25-2013, 04:06 PM
 
Location: The East
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I have found that Trader Joe's Has a lot of things I need like snacks,beer,bread,frozen foods,sandwich meats,veggies,canned fish,fruit. This I think proves you can get it all in one stop. The prices are pretty good ass well. Check to see if their is one in your area. They also have a raffle for free groceries if you bring your own bags.
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Old 01-25-2013, 05:56 PM
 
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I love Trader Joes...and it is one of my every-so-often stores. It's 15 miles away but even so used to be more of a regular stop, until we got a local organic supermarket in right in my city. So they've supplanted TJ as a regular stop.

I go to:
- the local organic market for -- most things -- every week
- another local organic market -- for fresh seafood -- every week
- major mainstream supermarket for some things -- once a month (maybe)
- middle eastern restaurant for already prepared food -- every week or so
- Trader Joe's about every six months (when I get a hankering for something only they sell -- LOVE their pot stickers)
- another organic store for their freshly prepared quiches and salads - every six months (again when I get a yen)
- a fresh and prepared seafood place - when I fall off the wagon and want fried seafood

Again, I don't do a lot of cooking so I use a lot of prepared and freshly made dishes from restaurants and organic stores.

As for non-perishables, I stock up two years at a time on TP, aluminum foil, toiletries, etc so I usually don't shop for them but every couple of years.
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Old 01-25-2013, 06:03 PM
 
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I go to a few different supermarkets in my area as well as my local CVS for groceries. I check online to see if any of them have the items that I am interested in it on sale before I decide where to buy what.
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Old 01-25-2013, 06:14 PM
 
Location: San Marcos, TX
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I could probably save by going to several stores but then again we don't' have a ton of choices in my city either. One main grocery chain pretty much dominates.

Other options would be Walmart or Target or a small chain of grocery stores all located on the opposite side of town for me. I hate Walmart with a passion and Target doesn't seem to be cheaper on anything. I could probably save a bit if I shopped Walmart for things like toiletries, they seem to be cheaper on shampoo, deodorant, cat litter, toilet paper, but for me it is not worth the savings because if I spend more than 30 minutes in a Walmart (and it is ALWAYS more than 30 minutes) I come out wanting to kill myself, or everyone in the vicinity, or both. HATE it.

Or Sam's / Costco but I don't have a membership to either. Keep thinking I should get one maybe. Then again, maybe not since both are pretty far from my house. I live in a city that is very "spread out", geographically.

We have Trader Joe's here now, one store that I think has been here about a year now, not TOO far out of the way but I have yet to go. I don't know anything about it. It is in a ritzy area of town so I assumed it was expensive... is it not?

So anyway I just go to the chain grocery near my house, try and use their coupons and usually end up going 2x a week.

I buy clothes at thrift stores and online so that's just whenever.
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Old 01-25-2013, 08:19 PM
 
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Very simple. WINCO foods for groceries, Sam's for some odd stuff, sometimes Costco, as they have items no one else does.
That's it. Chisling coupons costs too much in gas money to drive around.
We shop once a week, cook for week, know what we eat, and buy just that.
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Old 01-25-2013, 08:24 PM
 
Location: CA
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Sabride, the items I buy at Trader Joe's are way cheaper than at large chain grocery stores in my area for both organic and non-organic. Eggs, milk, cheese (mmm cheese ), frozen veggies and fruit, canned goods, natural peanut butter, carrots, fresh fruit, nuts, ok, I'll stop there, but you get the point. The foods I eat cost less at TJ's, and I don't have to wait for a sale, so I do the majority of my shopping there.

For clothes, I shop Goodwill, Ross, wherever, really, but only a few times a year because I hate shopping for clothes.
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Old 01-25-2013, 09:35 PM
 
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We get groceries every week. First we stop at Aldi's and get some staples. Then we go to Meijers to get the rest. Since it is cold out, we don't have to drive home after Aldi's. Were within 1.5 miles of almost everything we shop at besides Walmart so it isn't a big deal to drive home anyways.

We use coupons at Meijers, but rarely plan anything. Just get what we need to keep things in stock. We usually stock up on 79 cent bread at Giant Eagle. Tastes just as good as $2 bread.
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Old 01-26-2013, 01:17 AM
 
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I live in a small town with not even a convenience store. But I travel a lot on business. So where I shop depends on where I am going on business. When I am not traveling I go to a small town grocery 9 miles away and Walmart and Fareways supermarket chain 30 miles away. Clothes is mostly Goodwill and Christmas presents.
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Old 01-26-2013, 05:41 AM
 
Location: Western Washington
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Before we go shopping, we do an inventory of what we need. We then go online and check out Cash and Carry, as well as our local (23 miles away) supermarkets. When we do go shopping, we know who has the best deals for what we're buying. We rarely use coupons, because we can generally get a better deal on the foods we buy, simply buying at Winco and C&C for our items. We cook from scratch, and rarely shop for groceries more than once per month.

If we don't get the chance to go to Winco and C&C, we might shop in the neighboring town, which entails a stop at Grocery Outlet, Swanson's, Walmart, and Jay's fruit/vegetable market for produce. Again though, with the exception of a stop for milk, we only do a major shopping spree once per month. We have freezers and ample food storage and "home can" many of our own foods, so even though we have 5-6 people living here at all times, we don't shop very often, when we do, it's a full day's work.
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