You're right on the money with this one--taking it another step when food shopping: unless you are feeding a big crew at home and find that buying in bulk at stores like Costco and Sam's saves you cash in the long run--it may be more frugal to stay away.
I found with our family of four that I was more apt to pick up unnecessary items because of the tempting bulk price. Many times, if you compare grocery store flyers and unit pricing--the deal really isn't so great.
What I do now is compare flyers for the three major grocery stores near me; one always has better quality meat ( and more meat sales); another has better produce; the third has lower general grocery prices and deals on household cleaners.
I'll hit all three stores in one day ( making sure the flyer times overlap) and stock up for a two-week period--having planned menus in advance. Overall, we're saving considerably on the necessities and gas $ by doing it in one fell swoop--and sticking to the shopping list.
That is how we get our groceries.. especialy at Walmart where its soo easy to spend spend spend! Of coarse we get the weekly things we need. We mostly shop at Save-A-lot. But at Wallys we only buy sales!! If its not on sale.. we have to NEED it or we dont but it! It works for us :)
That is an excellent suggestion - one that I intend to use from now on! I tend to buy things because they're "such a savings"! That's not always a good reason to buy something, is it? Thanks for sharing and God bless you.
This tip reiterates one of the simplest yet profoundly effective bits of wisdom I ever figured out for myself in my 50 years as a consumer. It was not until about ten years ago that I made the conscious decision to examine whether each thing I was tempted to spend money on was a "need" or simply a "want." I made a little saying for myself that I kept in my head - "Just because you like it doesn't mean you have to buy it!" As simple as this idea is, I found it incredibly helpful and have saved myself from a number of purchases of things that I didn't really have to have. Now I take a little extra time to stop and "appreciate" things I like and get enjoyment from them in the store, or wherever they are, then afterwards I walk away without even opening my wallet!
This tip reiterates one of the simplest yet profoundly effective bits of wisdom I ever figured out for myself in my 50 years as a consumer. It was not until about ten years ago that I made the conscious decision to examine whether each thing I was tempted to spend money on was a "need" or simply a "want." I made a little saying for myself that I kept in my head - "Just because you like it doesn't mean you have to buy it!" As simple as this idea is, I found it incredibly helpful and have saved myself from a number of purchases of things that I didn't really have to have. Now I take a little extra time to stop and "appreciate" things I like and get enjoyment from them in the store, or wherever they are, then afterwards I walk away without even opening my wallet!
You're so right. At our lowest point when my husband was out of work with no unemployment compensation left & I had only a part-time job, life came down to basic necessities. Before I spent a single cent I asked myself if the item was a necessity of life--if not, we simply couldn't afford it. I'll never say it was easy, but it sure simplified our life and really taught me a whole new way to live.
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