Grocery Game [1] finally has my local supermarket! I joined a couple weeks ago and have saved about $70 already!
What is Grocery Game?
The Grocery Game [1] website creates a shopping list for your supermarket each week. It calculates the sale price and any coupons out there that will work for the product. The list identifies free items and “stockpiling” items which are at rock-bottom prices.
They claim that “the average savings for a family of four is $482 a month!”
How Does it Work?
Did you know that items typically go on sale once every 12 weeks or so? With that information, you can buy 12 weeks of items that you regularly use when it goes on sale. By the time you need to buy more, it should be on sale again.
The list each week tells you when each item is at the 12-week low, or a point at which you should stockpile. You buy multiples of those items, then fill in with other stuff you need.
After 12 weeks, you should have a great stockpile and only be buying at rock bottom prices going forward, saving money along the way.
Can You Play the Game Without Coupons?
Actually, that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’ve given up couponing [2], but I still prefer to shop the sales. The list notes the sales and coupon values separately, so it’s easy for me to see at a glance the price without a coupon.
How Much Have I Saved?
It costs $1 for a 4 week trial. After that it’s $10 every 8 weeks. So for the first 12 weeks I will spend $11 total.
Here was what the first two weeks of shopping looked like:
- Week 1: Groceries $160; Paid $120; Savings $40
- Week 2: Groceries $120; Paid $89; Savings $31
Total saved: $71
(These were approximate numbers; I’ll have to double check the receipts for exact numbers.)
How Do You Sign Up?
Go to Grocery Game [1], and enter your zip code. They’ll show you a list of the stores in your area. For the 4 week trial, you can get lists to all of them.
When you fill out your information, there will be a box called “Who Referred Me”. Just enter my email address: madison@mydollarplan.com.
Also, you can enter a referral at any time, which means that mine is still blank! If anyone out there uses Grocery Game, I’d be happy to list you as my referrer, so you get credit. I’ll give it to the first person who contacts me.
You can get 12 free weeks by referring 3 friends, so once you sign up, you might as well tell some friends!
Can You Do it Yourself?
Absolutely. My store just recently got a list, but I’ve tried the concept in the past. If you keep a price book and monitor the prices each week, you’ll do fine. However, it does take a lot of time and I found that I’m willing to pay someone $1.25 to do it for me, for now.
The only thing that might change, is if I find that using Costco [3] will get me cheaper groceries overall.