“There’s not a thing in this house to eat! I need to go to the grocery store.” Have you ever said that? Do you go to the store weekly or bi-weekly to buy what your family will be eating that week? If you said yes, you are not alone! Most people shop that way. Buy food. Eat until it’s gone. Go back and buy more food. There is a problem with this scenario, though. You are buying out of NEED.
Here’s an example: You’re out of toilet paper. You NEED toilet paper. You have to buy it. You’re forced to pay whatever the price is. You don’t have the ability to wait until that item goes on sale for a better price. You are OUT and you need it now!
How can you stop this expensive spending scenario? Start buying the things you use WHEN THEY ARE ON SALE. When toilet paper is on sale for a rock-bottom price, buy several packages. Buy enough to last until it goes on sale again. (Sale prices cycle back around about every three months.) This is a completely different way of shopping. Instead of going each week to buy things to eat and use THAT week, you’ll go weekly to buy the things that are ON SALE.
Consider this: If you buy a large pack of toilet paper each month for around $10, you’ll spend $120 this year on toilet paper. Let’s say it goes on sale for $6.00. If you commit to only buying when it’s on sale, you’ll only spend $72 on toilet paper this year. That’s a 40% savings on one item! Now imagine saving like that on all the products you buy. Buying only when items are on sale can save you a lot of money!
So, you’re ready to start saving money by buying items ON SALE, but you’re wondering HOW you can feed your family THIS WEEK if you spend your entire week’s grocery budget buying multiples of sale items. How can you transition to buying only the sale items each week? I suggest that you choose an amount (maybe $10 or $20) to spend each week buying what’s on sale. Continue buying your weekly needs, but spend a set amount stocking up on items that are at their rock-bottom price. As time goes on, your list of weekly needs will decrease. Each week, you’ll spend less on regular weekly groceries because you’ve been stocking up when things are on sale.
It took me about 4 months to change the way I shop. I do occasionally run out of an item, but I try to buy plenty when things are on sale. When I go to the store each week, I buy milk, bread, eggs, meat, produce, and multiples of the sale items. In one year, I saved around $5,000 just by buying things at sale prices instead of regular prices.
I saved an additional $5,000 by using coupons. The next step to spending less is to buy items on sale AND use a coupon for the item. Coupons will lower your spending even more. To read more on this subject, go to my Using Coupons page.
