South Florida shoppers reveal their savings strategy

Visiting up to six stores to stock up on fresh food and staples may seem like a waste of time and gas. But many South Florida shoppers are saying the more they shop, the more they save.

In addition to scanning fliers and clipping coupons, hard-core bargain hunters are visiting multiple stores, sniffing out deals to stretch their food dollars.

And with good reason. Grocery bills are skyrocketing, with prices rising nearly 3 percent through May according to June's Consumer Price Index Summary released by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. .

Joan Rosenberg, of Royal Palm Beach, says it does.

"I shop at four to five stores for groceries because I know that I'm going to save 20 to 30 percent easily," she says. "I go wherever the deals are. I check the circulars in the newspaper and get email alerts.

"I have teenagers, and my son can eat a whole week's worth of groceries in a day."

Emilia Boshart, 64, and her husband Joe, 66, of Pompano Beach trek west to visit Costco in Coral Springs and Penn Dutch Food Center in Margate every other week, with additional trips to Publix in between. They make the long drive, they say, because you can't beat the prices.

"I love it. I come for the meats and save about 50 percent," she says, pointing to Penn Dutch's $1.79 per pound price on chicken. "The boneless chicken breast is so cheap, it's worth the drive. I have a cooler in the back of the car for when I make my run. It's worth the time if you have a system."

Planning is the key to keeping gas consumption in check.

Jennifer Perloni, 28, of Coral Springs and her husband plan shopping trips around whatever part of town they are going to visit on other errands.

"The stores are near my daughter's karate school," she says. "Publix and [Doris Italian Market in Coral Springs] are both down the street, so we're not using much gas to go to each store."

She also shops at Sedano's Supermarkets and Broward Meat and Fish, both in North Lauderdale; and Walmart Supercenter near her house.

"At Sedano's two weeks ago, they had split chicken breast on the bone for 99 cents a pound. At Publix, it's usually $3 or $4, so I saved quite a bit," she says. "I bought about 18 pounds of chicken. That will get me through a few weeks."

Penn Dutch sometimes offers chicken breast for $1.49 a pound, Rosenberg says. "My husband works near there in Margate, so I'll ask him to stop in and grab 10 pounds."

In the end, she says, these shopping trips help her pay for other essentials.

"If I save $15 or $20 on groceries, then I can put that in the gas tank," she says.

You can also cut down on road trips by purchasing multiple items of the things you use regularly when they're on sale.

"Buy two too many so you don't have to be forced to buy something at full price," says savings expert Jodi Furman, of Lake Worth. "But stock up rationally, which means not storing hundreds of rolls of toilet paper under you child's bed."

Savings is her job

When Furman isn't shopping, she's writing for LiveFabuLESS.com, her popular shopping and savings blog. Four years ago, she quit her job as a sales and marketing associate for a pharmaceutical company to run the website, which she says gets about 50,000 unique visitors a month.

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