I wish I could resist grabbing one of those huge-ass shopping carts every time I go to Target. Those things will be the death of me... or our budget, anyway.

Shopping as recreation: it's the American way.

Do we really need endless lists that tell us practical things? I will now declare the universal law for not spending too much money

1. Do not buy things that you do not need, will not use, or cannot afford.

Seriously, if you're tricked into buying things by the location of socks, then lists like these aren't going to help you anyway.

One thing I use all the time at the grocery store is the unit price breakdown on the little sticker on the shelf. The store by me has every item broken down to price/oz. Really helpful when you need to compare brands, or to see that the individually packaged OJ's are about twice what the half gallon jug costs.

I agree with Lars; a lot of this comes out of being an experienced shopper, and old enough to at least control one's impulses. It goes without saying that you shouldn't buy what you don't need. Moreover, always buying what's cheapest is not terribly nuanced frugality. Buying what is least expensive and also works best is a different kind of saving. It's the same lesson as the low-flow toilet. If it uses half the water but needs to be flushed six times, it's not saving anything. It's wasting water.

And I don't know about the dad in the article, but I use a cart because carrying my son and the economical box of diapers is a bit inconvenient. But when we lived in the city and I carried my groceries, only using a carry basket was a good way to ensure that I didn't buy more than I could carry. It's just not practical now.

One tip that was not on that list: Go to the store ALONE if at all possible.

It's easier to stick to a list when your child/sweetheart/roommate isn't throwing a bunch of useless crap into the cart.

@Lars:

Amen. I don't see how supplying shoppers with carts is a subtle "trick." Nor is deviating from your shopping list. Jebuz, people, take some responsibility for yourselves.

@ElizabethD: Just this weekend my wife needed some deodorant and she insisted she must get it at Target. I suggested a pharmacy such as Rite-Aid or Walgreens. Sure, the price might be 10 to 25 cents more but she almost never buys anything out of impulse there. If she goes to Target "just for deodorant" WHAM, she comes out paying $30 or more just for "stuff".

Another way to cut down on your shopping is to move into a 5th floor apartment with no elevator.

You could also:
1) Take the bus or walk to the store
2) Have a car with little trunk space
3) Leave the cards and checks at home: only shop with cash
4) Pay someone to punch you in the gut when you try to buy something you don't need.

@theWolf:

Is it a trick that the local Walmart has hundreds of carts by the door but only has a handbasket (and never more than 1) about 1/4 of the times I go in there? It's definitely reeks of customer control to me.

Lists are actually part of the problem in my opnion. When you go to the grocery store have a general idea of what you want - but be flexible. You wanted t-bones but top sirloin is on sale? Switch it up.

Don't have a hard and fast list and you can save a lot.

@CaptainRoin: Many stores like to use different measurements for either different branded items or even different sizes. The small bottles may be unit price labeled based on ounces while the larger ones might be in quarts or liters so you can't easily compare them.

Another trick I've seen used (in line with #11) is stores like to use creative pricing...instead of $2.00 each, they'll use "5 for $10". Confuses some people, as well as making them think they need to buy the 5 instead of just one. Another gimmick is "Buy one get one 50% off" instead of "25% off each". Gets two items sold as opposed to just one!

Race through the store. See how fast you can get through the shopping. Don't stop and stare at the shiny pretty packages.

Sure, people might look amused as they see me race down the aisles, but I get done in half the time and spend half the money as my wife. We're not starving, either. And I have exceptional calf definition as a result.

@catnapped: At one store near me, they don't always get the right units. For example, beer is often divided by 12-oz, ignoring the number of bottles. Frikkin' brilliant.

Interesting to include a picture of toilet paper, as it's the one thing I have no qualms about spending full price on - generic TP is not a good thing.

......Absolutely, stubar! Quilted Northern all the way. No John Wayne paper in this house...

.....I go to the grocery store twice a week, for a family of 4; 2 adults and 2 teenagers. And this guy thinks I can get it done with a handbasket? There are times that I need two carts!

.....I cautiously try store brands from time to time. "Great Value" is usually pretty awful. On the other hand, I've found Publix-branded stuff to be the equivalent quality of major brand names.

.....The best tip, the guy skipped: Don't grocery shop when you're hungry! In addition to your list, you'll make it home with mega-packs of crap like Hot Pockets, Doritos and Double-stuff Oreos.

Not if it's a pound of Oreos and 2 quarts of ice cream you're lugging up those stairs! :D

@synergy: I lived in a fifth-floor apartment with no elevator for a few years. It did not help, as I never seemed to care about the stairs when I was hungry at the store!

Know your store layout. This is most applicable to those sprawling suburban supermarkets, of course. This can be tricky sometimes.

At the one I go to, for example, there are multiple discrete sections for cheese. There's a little 'specialty' cheese cooler up by produce, where you go if you want parmesan reggiano or brie or something. Then, there's the deli, where you get sandwich-type cheeses sliced to order. Then, in the meat section, they have feta cheese and small refrigerated tubs of pre-grated parmesan and things like that. Then, way off between the dairy case and the beer, there's a section with bulk cheddar, mozzerella, and Monterey jack. There's also cottage cheese in the milk section and cream and Neufchatel by the eggs. I don't know where they put things like Velveeta, aerosol cheese, or those shaker cans of parmesan, but I've never noticed them in any of the six cheese sections outlined above.

Anyway, I try to keep my grocery list in roughly sequential order according to the store layout, so I'm less likely to miss something and have to double back. (Which is annoying even if you're not prone to impulse buys.)

@Jimmy M: This is the reason my grocery lists usually include "fruit and vegetables" and "meat." I'm usually pretty flexible, so I just get whatever happens to be good and/or cheap. All while staying on-list.

Along the lines of stubar's comment:

Trent's tip number three is to "look at nothing but the prices and sizes. ... Everything else is marketing." It's useful to try to be conscious of the ways you're being marketed to in the store, but I've lived in enough crummy neighborhoods to know that sometimes pricier grocery items are better grocery items. When I'm buying something I intend ingesting, I like to balance the cost benefit of a cheap, overprocessed tub of mock-food against the amount by which eating it will hasten my expiration.

@CaptainRoin: The price per weight tags are extremely useful when they're consistent. Many times I've tried to compare two items, but one is listed per ounce while another is listed per pound. Times like that make me wish we used the metric system. ;)

P.S. I wish people would stop misusing the word "literally." That drives me crazy.

I'm a friend of acidreign's
I am trying 2 get in contact with him - pls mail me acid !! kattwell@gmail.com
I reckon I'm pretty interesting and could contribute some pretty kewl stuff too though
I have my B IT degree from CQU, Australia
And have worked as a all-round Computer dude (re: tecchie, software expert etc)
Thanks,
re: Katherine Attwell

Chewie - I agree with a lot of you guys on this. Most of it just takes common sense (and maybe a calculator). If you're getting tied up trying to figure out if you get a better price on Edy's Ice Cream versus the Friendly's brand, maybe you should ask yourself if you need the ice cream in the first place. I try to help my wife figure out the best price per pound, ounce or quantity on things like cat litter, bottled juices, coffee, detergent. We're really trying to get better at just accepting the fact that we could do just as well with the generic brands of products.

On a side note, I recently put up a rather lengthy article on my site that echoes a lot of what The Simple Dollar says. If you'd like to read it, you can find it at http://chewie.tumblr.com/post/645485