Save money grocery shopping

 I created a tool for myself that allows me to add the prices I pay at
local grocery stores, and then when I go shopping again, the program
tells me the best place to buy things. But, I couldn't update it fast
enough so I had the idea to make it public and allow everyone to use
it, making it useful for everyone. It can be found at www.slirm.com.
SLIRM stands for Shop Like It Really Matters. It's still new so you
may have to add the stores where you shop into SLIRM. You only have to
do that once. Also, if products you normally buy aren't in there,
please add them. Most importantly, this works best if there are at
least a handful of people in your community using this. The more
people using SLIRM, the better it works for everyone. You get more up
to date pricing and more stores, and more products in the system. It's
not a shopping site. You can't buy anything there. It only lets you
print shopping lists for your local grocery stores. Or try creating
shopping lists for other areas of the country to compare what you pay
against another area. SLIRM also includes recipes and free
classifieds. It's free and no signup is required, although signing up
makes it easier because SLIRM will remember your shopping list. Enjoy
it. www.slirm.com

 
It's a tool with no purpose. If you can't remember which stores have
the best prices, you need to be in a group home with somebody else
doing the shopping for you.

 SLIRM wrote:


The problem with this approach is that you will save a hell of
a lot more if you only buy the stuff you use much when its on
special and stock up when its the lowest price it ever gets to.

Your system doesnt allow that approach.


Buying only whats on special works a hell of a lot better.

 wrote:


Actually, this is a solid idea.  I've thought about doing something
similar myself.  A few years back I used a spreadsheet and my old
receipts to create a comparative spreadsheet (can anyone say
PRICEBOOK?) of the stores where we shopped.  Just that exercise put us
on the path to saving more money.

The problem with starting up a website like this is getting enough
intial information within an area for it to be useful.  Frankly, I'd
love to see a cost comparison of the same product, brand, and size
across the 50 states, if for no other reason than to cross off places
that are too expensive, but the attempt is jut too broad to work
without angel funding and a lot of paid people verifying pricing.

There are other technical issues as well, since some localities tax
food on a local and state level and othes don't, and the cost of
getting to any store has to be figured in.  Do you add in the fee to
join Sams or park at the local farmer's market or not?.

I could see a web based app. like this becoming wildly popular if it
had enough accurate input (i.e. paid professional shoppers), hit
enough stores in a populated center, and was advertised heavily in the
area for a month or two.  It would have to have some sort of slider
bar selection of items and appropriate product pictures.

 
No signup required. You can sign up making it easier to use the
program, but it's not required and no one gets spammed. But, thanks
for bringing that up.