Cut Your Grocery Bill by 5% ~ 20% or More

All over the world, groceries are getting really expensive. If you are living in Tokyo, then you know just how expensive groceries are and always have been! Well, right now, whether you live in Tokyo or not, I am going to show you how you can cut your grocery bill by 5% ~ 10% - or more - quite simply merely by being more efficient with the use of your time.

There is an OK Store nearby my house. OK Store is a large grocery supermarket chain store in the Tokyo area. It is my favorite place to shop. I first wrote about OK Store in a photo blog that appeared on Lew Rockwell in 2004. There are several huge stores that I have seen like OK Store. They remind me of a typical American-style grocery store. 

But OK Store is the best for quality and price. That's why is is packed most of the time.

If you go to OK Store at the times most people who go there do, you will encounter huge crowds and wait in a line of cars to get a parking space. I think some people must wait for more than an hour in their cars waiting just to get a parking space.

I think it is madness to go to OK Store after 9:00 am on a weekend. The cars are lined up for a half kilometer - sometimes more - just to get into the parking lot!

Once inside the store, if you go on a weekend or in the evenings, you can bet that the store is packed and there are people lined up ten deep or more waiting to get to a cash register. Go at that time and be sure that it's going to cost you an hour of time just to buy a few basics.

With leisure time at a premium, you really have to wonder what people are thinking when they willingly spend 2 to 4 hours a weekend - every weekend - just to buy groceries.

I never do that. Time is money. I never wait to get into OK Store and I always get my groceries at 5% discount or more. I figure I cut my grocery bill by 10% a month by following the plan I am going to tell you about today.

How do I do this? I go to the store right at opening time during the week. I never wait in line to park and I never wait in line to check out. I can fill up my shopping cart full and be in and out of that store in 20 minutes. Of course, I know where everything is too.

I have been to that store during rush time in the past. Never again. People were lined up 25 carts deep waiting for the cashiers. It was a madhouse. I wound up walking out without buying anything. 

OK Store opens at 8:30 am. I show up at 8:25 and walk right in. I get the pick of the discounted goods and no hassles. 

If you live in Tokyo then I recommend that you be smart too. Remember that time is money. Find out when your favorite store opens up in the morning and be one of the first ones in the door. You'll save time and money.

This also works in the west if your store is not open 24 hours a day. If your store is like OK Store (open 8:30 am ~ 10 pm or so), then they will stock the shelves early in the morning with the items that didn't sell out the previous day and discount them heavily as they must sell them quickly. This is the time to shop. 

At opening time, the good that weren't sold the day before are out on the shelves first and discounted to go quickly. And quickly they go! By 9:00 ~ 9:30 in the morning, all this heavily discounted stuff is already sold out. They have been bought by restaurant owners and by other smart shoppers who have figured out that shopping early saves time and money.

I always see the same smart people who shop early. They are the ones who get the best produce and groceries at the best price - just like I do. 

Just to show you how much things are discounted every morning, I took these photos of OK Store yesterday morning. I was probably only one of twenty or so other customers in the entire store. It's always like that when I go there. Of course there were many more items that were discounted. I didn't bother to take their photos.

But don't believe just my word for it. They say a picture speaks a thousand words. Here's photographic proof of how much you can save by being early (and OK Store is the cheapest store around even before these discounts!):

Racks of beef all at 5% off

5% ~ 10% off on bread 

30% off broccoli and alfalfa sprouts (I always buy 3 or 4 of these)

Whole fryers at 5% off

Cod at 20% off

More Cod sliced at 3% off and more

Six Pack Eggs 3% off

Ten pack Eggs 5% off

Halibut 10% off

Saury 20% off

Mango and Papaya at 10% off

Milk 3% off

30% off on sliced pineapple

Like I said, meats on sale in the morning; 5% ~ 30% off... All gone by 9:30 am

Breaded fish ready-to-cook 20% off

Salmon 3% off

Pond Smelt 20% off

Scallops 3% off

Smoked Salmon 3% off

Steak 30% off 

Cod 3% off

And my favorite Yellow Tail 30% off

Seriously folks, do yourself a favor and show up at your supermarket right at opening time. You'll save time and money and be back at home relaxing before 10 am.

Why fight the crowds? Time is money. Save it and relax!

More on Japan's Debt Bomb

In a follow up to my last post, about Japan's debt and S&P cutting Japan's credit rating, my good friend Ira Hata, sent this to me:

Here are comments on the Euro, Yen and potential bullish consequences for the US equity markets for the first half of 2011.
  

While there is serious resistance near 138 & then 140 – 142, the Euro according to the chart below could be ready for more upside in 2011 which should be supportive to US stock market 1st half 2011


As things now stand a rising WLI, growing M2 money supply growth rate, QE2 in full force, and fiscal spending from past packages kicking in, all suggest staying with the trend and buying any market dips. To be a bear right here you would have to be fighting both the Fed and Uncle Sam (fiscal and monetary stimulus) and completely ignoring the message of the markets  … the bull case for the next few months could strengthen even further with another development, subsiding of the euro debt crisis

Thus, if this exchange rate breaks out the bears will have to take a back seat, AGAIN!

What’s changed in Europe?

In reality, there are still clear sovereign debt issues to worry about in Europe, however, a global coalition is moving to support European debt that is lifting their credit markets. Things first began to turn when China and Japan decided to step in the ring and buy European debt, but momentum is building as other Asian countries are looking to do the same. This mutually beneficial decision helps Asian markets particularly by cheapening their currencies and bidding up the Euro to help their export-driven economies.

 

Euro could stay strong and or Yen could weaken… 

From Bloomberg:

Japan's Credit Rating Cut to AA- by S&P on Debt Load

The yen and bond futures fell on concern the downgrade will push up the cost of borrowing for Japan, where public debt is about twice the size of gross domestic product. Vice Finance Minister Fumihiko Igarashi this week said the government must fix its finances to avoid a debt crisis that could trigger a “global depression.”  …  economist at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. “Once bond yields spike and the fire is lit, the amount needed to finance Japan’s borrowing needs is going to jump and it’s going to be too late.” …  Japan joins developed economies including Portugal and Spainin being downgraded.    Debt to GDP: Japan’s burden exceeds 200 percent … (estimated that China’s ratio of debt to GDP would be 20 percent in 2010)
AA-  is the third-highest grade

Some people have asked why this is so important now as Japan has been getting away with kicking the can down the road for the last twenty year. For a very interesting explanation on that, watch the video below. This video was created originally to promote AGW, but It explains the concept of exponential growth in a very simple and easy to understand way. If you can understand this concept - and the Rule of 70 - then you will understand why Japan's credit rating getting worse and a few points increase in borrowing is a very big deal for Japan.





Thanks to Mish Shedlock for the video

Japan's Debt Bomb Explosion! Fuse is Getting VERY Short!

I warned you about this in a post just a few weeks ago and now it has happened! Read here, here, here and here. Actually, even I didn't expect this to happen so son, but here we are! Japan's Credit Rating has been cut for the first time in 9 years! 


As Bloomberg reports:


Japan’s credit rating was cut for the first time in nine years by Standard & Poor’s as persistent deflation and political gridlock undermine efforts to reduce a 943 trillion yen ($11 trillion) debt burden.

The world’s most indebted nation is now ranked at AA-, the fourth-highest level, putting the country on a par with China, which likely passed Japan last year to become the second-largest economy. The government lacks a “coherent strategy” to address the nation’s debt, the rating company said in a statement. The outlook for the rating is stable, S&P said.

The yen and bond futures fell on concern the downgrade will push up the cost of borrowing for Japan, where public debt is about twice the size of gross domestic product. Vice Finance Minister Fumihiko Igarashi this week said the government must fix its finances to avoid a debt crisis that could trigger a “global depression.”

“I hope this serves as a warning for the government, they have absolutely no sense of crisis,” said Azusa Kato, an economist at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. “Once bond yields spike and the fire is lit, the amount needed to finance Japan’s borrowing needs is going to jump and it’s going to be too late.”

It is possible for companies to have higher ratings than the local or foreign currency ratings of their home country, S&P said in a May 2009 report. The best candidates have a robust export base, little reliance on the public sector and sell products with “relatively inelastic” demand. The S&P report said businesses with sales mainly in local currency, subject to regulation and heavily dependent on imports probably won’t pass stress tests without “heavy overcollateralization or reserves.”

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Jan. 24 the debt burden has risen to a point where Japan can’t rely on bond sales to cover revenue shortfalls. Economy Minister Yosano warned the same day that such a reliance on such sales could lead to a jump in borrowing costs.

“If we continue relying on bond sales to make up for spending that exceeds revenue, we could see long-term interest rates increase or a deterioration in our debt ratio, causing Japan to lose credibility globally,” Yosano told parliament.

Japan’s borrowing costs are among the lowest in the industrialized world, helping it fund its debt load. The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond slipped 1 basis point to 1.23 percent as of 10:47 p.m. in Tokyo. It touched 1.26 percent in Jan. 19, the highest since Dec. 16.


With this news, interest rates on Japanese debt start creeping up again. 2011 ~ 2012 the year's Japan finally goes bankrupt? We've been avoiding the bullet for so long. But, it is well known that things that cannot continue will stop. 


Gold and silver has been dropping a bit recently, now is the time to start protecting yourselves and your families finances. 


Thanks to Mish Shedlock