I often listen to the MoneyLife radio show with Chuck Bentley (Crown Financial Ministries CEO).  If you haven’t listened to it before, I recommend either tuning into their radio program, or downloading the podcast to get some great practical financial tips and learn more about Biblical financial principles.  Personally, I listen to the podcast during my daily commute to work which is a great way for me to start my day.

Grocery shopping tips to save money

During a recent show, some grocery shopping tips were mentioned.  For many, food, or groceries is a budget busting category of the family budget.  I enjoyed the tips and thought I would share a couple of them and provide one of my own.  Plus, it’s a good way to kick off this week’s round up post.

Have a plan

First, it almost goes with saying, but make sure you have a plan.  Shop strategically for sale items and buy based on what you need and not what you want.  Certainly, want shopping applies to the grocery store too!  Be careful of impulse buys and remember that most stores display the items they want you to purchase (at regular prices).

Organize your budget correctly

Second, keep in mind food is a separate budget category than toiletries, cleaning supplies, pet food, etc.  Make sure you’re budgeting and tracking these items separately to get a true idea of how much money you’re spending on food.

Share food in bulk

Lot’s of people shop at places like Sam’s or Costco and buy in bulk.  There were a couple of good tips regarding this type of shopping.  First, always check the unit price.  Even though you’re getting a lot of something, make sure the unit price is still a good deal as compared to buying individual items.  Also, don’t buy more than you need.  Consider sharing the cost of bulk items with your neighbors if you really want to save some money.

The Grocery Game

Finally,I thought I would round up the tips with a personal favorite of mine.  Play The Grocery Game to stockpile items at their cheapest prices and leverage the use of coupons.  The Grocery Game teaches investment shopping..  You invest in items at their lowest prices and stockpile more than you need.  When you run out of an item, just go to your stockpile to replenish it and then rebuild your stockpile the next time the item goes on sale.

Yakezie Challenge

This week I’ll also make mention of the Yakezie Challenge I just joined.  Using a Japanese warrior theme, the challenge is about increasing your website rankings.  Why is this important?  Well, truthfully, it’s something most bloggers want, but at the same time, it shouldn’t be the primary focus.  Just like a brick and mortar store desires traffic, or customers, so do bloggers.  In my mind, the more traffic, the more people can be helped through the One Money Design mission and the more I can transition my blogging platform into an online business.

A further benefit from the Yakezie group of bloggers is learning from each other and helping others’ articles become more recognized.  This is important, especially with so many personal finance blogs around the blogosphere.  If there is a good article worth sharing and will help people, well, I want you to know about it!

And now, on with the links and roundup…

Personal Finance Links

I hope you’ll take a few minutes out of your day to explore these interesting and helpful posts from other personal finance blogs.

Redeeming Riches: Jason provides a though provoking post on how to tell if money has become your idol!  Watch out for this one!  If you were to pause your day dream for just a moment, where are your thoughts?

Personal Finance Journey: Lakita gives kicks off a good discussion around the costs of having a newborn.  Check out Lakita’s post and see if you can offer some of your tips in the comments.

Fiscal Fizzle: Wojciech provides a rockin’ post on how to sell your car on Craig’s list.  If you’re thinking selling your car this is a valuable resource you’ll want to bookmark and refer to often.

Wealth Pilgrim: Neal tells us all about the best car extended warrant for free in his story about how he got his dealer to play ball.  Been there, man.  Pay close attention to Neal’s tips about customer service.

Not Made of Money: I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say “coupons are the same as money”, but that makes a lot of sense! Dana provides some thoughts around a couple different coupon strategies and finding a workable system. You might also be interested to learn my thoughts on finding a good coupon organizing and clipping system.

One Money Design around the blogosphere

At Bible Money Matters

• My Blog Just Crashed. Lessons Learned From A Recent Experience
• In Debt And Cannot Repay? Tips To Work With Debt Collectors

At Christian Personal Finance

• How to Handle Overdrawing Your Checking Account
• What Is The Easiest Way to Save Money? Automate it!

Personal Finance blog carnivals

First, what is a personal finance blog carnival?  If you’re interested in learning more, here is a great definition from BlogCarnival.com:

Blog Carnivals typically collect together links pointing to blog articles on a particular topic. A Blog Carnival is like a magazine. It has a title, a topic, editors, contributors, and an audience. Editions of the carnival typically come out on a regular basis. Each edition is a special blog article that consists of links to all the contributions that have been submitted, often with the editor’s opinions or remarks.

And here are the recent personal finance blog carnivals you can find One Money Design.

• Carnival of Personal Finance 247:  Women in History Edition.
• Yakezie Challenge Carnival

That’s quite a hefty round up post this week.  What did you think of the grocery shopping tips?  Do you have a favorite?

Related Posts:

• Dollars and Doctrine Book Giveaway and Friday Finance Roundup
• Friday Roundup: Happy Easter!
• Budget Busters: Save Money On Food
• Friday Roundup: Paperless Financial Statements Edition
• Mvelopes 1 Year Membership Giveaway and Friday Roundup