Am I the Only One That Realizes That Having My Groceries Delivered Makes Financial Sense?
By S Shugars, special to pfadvice
Conventional wisdom says that paying to have your groceries delivered to your door is a waste of money. I have to disagree with this assessment. I have found that having my groceries delivered has saved me far more time and money than I could have ever done by shopping on my own. Yes, there is a charge to have the groceries delivered and you should give the tip to the person who delivers them, but even with these costs I still come out far ahead. These are some of the ways that having my groceries delivered saves me money:
First and foremost, I no longer need to drive. That means that I save money on the gas and wear and tear of my car that driving to and from the grocery store would cause. I also consider this to be environmentally friendly. While it’s true that a van still needs to come and deliver the food that I order, the van is also delivering many other orders and so drives less than if everybody on the list went to the store.
Since I don’t have to drive to the store and back, it frees up time that I would have spent doing this. It also frees up all the time that I would have had to spend inside the store looking for the groceries that I needed. Since I order a week’s worth of food at a time and I usually made two to three trips a week to the grocery store before, even after spending the time on the Internet placing my order, I figured that I save three to four hours of my time by having my groceries delivered.
Shopping online also makes me much better organized. I have to choose a week’s worth of ingredients for the meals that I’m going to be making and in order to do that, I need to plan them all out. Since I know that I will not be running to the store if I accidentally forget something, I am much more organized in my meal planning and the food that I buy. When I was shopping before, I made up meals as I walked the store aisles which made everything quite disorganized.
A direct result of being better organized is that I buy much less food than I was when I was going to the store on my own. Since I know exactly what I need and I can check my shelves if I am not sure, I don’t buy doubles of things that I already have. Since I have the meals planned out, I don’t buy extra things that I think that I might need, but that end up not being needed. All in all, a have reduced about 30% of the food that I used to purchase, but I feel like I have more of what I need.
One of the biggest benefits and money savers is that groceries shopping online takes away all impulse purchases. When I shop online, I’m focused on the exact food that I need and my eyes aren’t wandering here and there to all those impulse purchases that I end up putting into my cart before. Having my groceries delivered saves me over $100 alone each month in impulse purchases I would have otherwise bought if I had been shopping in a store.
It is much easier to see the exact price of what you are purchasing. On the website all prices are spelled out clearly so you know how much each item is and how it compares to the others. You don’t have to bring a calculator and look all over her the aisles to make sure that you haven’t missed a certain brand that is a bit cheaper.
Since I started to do my groceries shopping online, we eat a lot healthier. When the snacks aren’t right in front of my face, it is much easier to resist them. When I’m sitting in front of my computer choosing what snacks to buy, it is much easier to pick healthier snacks than it is when I’m at the store. I have noticed a significant improvement in the types of foods that we eat since we started to have groceries delivered.
One factor that really surprised me is that having groceries delivered has greatly reduced my stress level. There is nothing worse than having an extremely busy day and then having to try and figure out what is going to be on the table for dinner, then having to go shopping for the those items. Since I already have everything planned out for the week and all the groceries are delivered to my door, the stress of shopping for meals and trying to decide what to eat on the same day no longer happens. I believe this alone will add a couple years to my life from stress reduction.
I find that fruits and vegetables and other perishables that I receive are top quality food. Since the grocery store delivery services are still relatively new, the grocery stores want them to succeed. They pick the best of the best to deliver to those who order. I find that the fruits and vegetables that I receive at my door end up being tastier and better than the ones that I could pick for myself.
If you want to reduce the stress in your life, gain more time back in your days and ultimately saved money, I encourage you to try to have your groceries delivered for a couple of months. While the delivery charge at may seem expensive at first, when you take all of the above positive aspects into consideration, you will see that having your groceries delivered can make great financial sense.
I’ve been having my groceries delivered regularly for almost a year now. I live in England where most of the major supermarkets deliver.
Unlike you, I only shop once a month. I’ve got plenty of storage space and I use a spreadsheet to inventory our food on hand. From this, I order a month to six weeks worth of staples. It may sound complex, but it’s pretty quick and easy once you set it up. The spreadsheet makes it hard to forget items, and cuts down on impulse purchases.
In between deliveries, I use the small supermarket nearby to get milk and some fresh veggies and fruit. I get bread from the local bakery (we’re lucky to have one right up the street).
Oh, and the final benefit: we don’t have a car. In fact, the first thing people say to me when they hear that I don’t have a car is they couldn’t do their big grocery shopping without one.