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People's Strange Reaction to Comparison Shopping & Coupons


MickinMD

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It also helps to keep a spending record/budget and divide your spending into categories that are necessities (healthy groceries, gasoline, electricity, etc.) and luxuries (snacks, restaurants, hobbies, etc.) and stick to your budget - knowing you can cut down on luxuries if you've overspent your budget during part of the year

Instead of paying for Microsoft Office, I use the equivalent freeware (runs all MS doc, docx, xls, xlsx, etc. files) WPS Office 19 that runs almost identically, The link to download is at the bottom of this page: https://blog.wps.com/kingsoft-launches-wps-office-2019/,  LibreOffice is another freebie and it's a favorite of this review: https://www.techradar.com/best/free-office-software

The free budget spreadsheet I use is the last one on this page, called "Personal budgeting spreadsheet:" https://christianpf.com/10-free-household-budget-spreadsheets/

It's actually an xls-file Workbook of 14 spreadsheets: 1 to set up your categories and budget, 1 for a summary of results, and 1 for each month of the year to enter expenses/non-fixed incomes.

After you set up your variable spending categories and budget for each (1st pic), a drop-down box with those categories appears in the month spending records so you never have to type them in:

235491230_1.Setuppageexample.JPG.412e828a7dc7d00ad110a05509cdd6fc.JPG   1396324588_Drop-DownCategoryBoxExample.JPG.0a28c5af4910c6acf9b021a11f035025.JPG

 

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My wife is frugal by nature and she does a fair amount of coupon use and bargain shopping.  

One trick she does at Dept stores is she will use the discounts offered when a store card is used, then immediately pay off the card.  

But really she hardly spends money on anything that’s not a necessity.  

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I get about $100 back per month on my Amazon Prime card. (I do buy a lot of stuff for work)

When I was on the road, I always looked for the 2fer/BOGO items at the grocery store. I knew they were generally on a 4-6 week cycle, so I would buy enough to last until then.  I bought mostly canned veggies, pasta/sauce, and salad dressings.

The Kroger near work frequently has meat on sale, the Publix near the house not so much.

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We always check the "specials / closeouts "area at our LGS.  Frequently get 50% or more off meat.  I look for specials.  One thing I do not do is use brick and mortar store as a "fitting room" and then buy online.  If I go to a store to see an item, I will buy it from that store.  I have asked for price matching before and I will use coupons, esp. at places like Bed Bath and Beyond, as think they model their pricing based off everyone using coupons.

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I just spent about 30 min going through the BigY sales flyer, my members card offers and the digital coupons that I can assign to my members card.  Then I used the data to put together a shopping list for tomorrow morning.  You betcha that I work a bit to save money.

It is routine for me to save about 30% on any of my pre planned grocery trips.  I consider it a great coup if I can top 50%.  I do a bitoextra work to find out if I can use a coupon for something that is also on sale.

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We are not into the credit card game, but we certainly bargain shop, and check for meat, milk, bread, etc. that is marked down because of expiration date, and freeze what we are not using.  We've always bought the large sacks of dog food, and refuse to pay the extra and take the trips to buy several small bags. We had a credit card when going to college in the 60s, so we could buy stuff on sale, and then paid off the balance at the end of the month when the check came in. We've been doing this during our entire married life (57 years) this November. I think that some's reluctance to buying from Walmart, etc., particularly in a small town, is the feeling toward how they are impacting other local stores.

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14 minutes ago, sheep_herder said:

We are not into the credit card game, but we certainly bargain shop, and check for meat, milk, bread, etc. that is marked down because of expiration date, and freeze what we are not using.  We've always bought the large sacks of dog food, and refuse to pay the extra and take the trips to buy several small bags. We had a credit card when going to college in the 60s, so we could buy stuff on sale, and then paid off the balance at the end of the month when the check came in. We've been doing this during our entire married life (57 years) this November. I think that some's reluctance to buying from Walmart, etc., particularly in a small town, is the feeling toward how they are impacting other local stores.

I've never been happy with Walmart's quality.  Check out is often a disaster and they are actually expensive.  News here did a comparison shopping a few years back, Target was actually the cheapest, with Meijer not far behind, then Walmart and Kroger being the most expensive.  We shop at Target or Meijer.  Wife prefers Target, I prefer Meijer because they have a larger selection than the Target by me.

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27 minutes ago, Indy said:

I've never been happy with Walmart's quality.  Check out is often a disaster and they are actually expensive.  News here did a comparison shopping a few years back, Target was actually the cheapest, with Meijer not far behind, then Walmart and Kroger being the most expensive.  We shop at Target or Meijer.  Wife prefers Target, I prefer Meijer because they have a larger selection than the Target by me.

We buy a lot of non food products at Target like household cleaners, laundry detergent & bathroom items.  With the Target card (linked to checking not a CC) we get the additional 5% which ads up.  

We tried getting groceries at Target but they don’t carry everything we need and going to multiple stores with perishables isn’t ideal so we just get food at our LGS.

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4 hours ago, MickinMD said:

It amazes me that many of the people I know who have above-average, middle-class incomes think it's somehow dishonorable to buy store brands, to wait for sales to buy certain things, to maximize what you get from cash-back credit cards, to use store promotions like the just-ended Walmart Savings Catcher, and even to shop at places like Walmart, Aldi, etc.  Yet those I know who are making well into 6-figure salaries don't have any problem doing those things: the best discount stores in my area were all first pointed out to me by such people.

When I told a cousin that when I'm in a supermarket I always check out the meat department for sales even if I don't need meat because I can freeze it, she replied, "Well, you're definitely our Aunt Martha's nephew - she used to do that."  I pointed out Aunt Martha left a fine estate to her kids.  I also have 1.2 lb of thick-cut boneless pork chops in the freezer that cost $3 instead of $5 because of a sell-by-date sale last week.

Yesterday, on my brother's advice when I complained about weeds in my yard, I bought a 50 lb bag of Scott's Turf Builder Triple Action and a cheap spreader for $97.02 at Lowes.

I told the checkout guy in the gardening department to please wait a second while I checked my cheat-sheet so I'd know which cash-back credit card to use.  I turns out Chase Freedom Visa is giving 5% at Hardware Stores through June so I'll be getting $4.85 back - definitely worth the 30-second effort to me.  I told the checkout guy every little bit helps and I get about $800/year cash-back on a single retiree's spending by using the right card at the right time and place.

The checkout guy assumed that if I was making that effort to max. my cash back,  I must be struggling to get by and offered some sympathy. I pointed out that I have a pension on top of Social Security and that I'm living comfortably - and part of the reason I am is that I do the little things like max. out cash-back and coupons and buy store brands when they're as good as name brands.

Mick, you are only calculating the cost of the food or item and not the big picture cost. How much do you spend driving around to get all of these deals.? What does it cost to drive a car? Gov't mileage reimbursement is $.55/mile(?) Multiple grocery stores? How about the cost of eating boxed/packaged food? Eating Stouffers, Betty Crocker, Jimmy Dean, etc. causes obesity and type 2 diabetes. What are your medication costs from eating this type of diet? How about your health? 

Most importantly-food should taste good. I am a much better cook than Jimmy Dean or Betty Crocker. Eating fresh produce tastes better than canned or frozen. And cooking from scratch tastes much better than anything from a box or freezer.  Quality is much more important than price. Tonight I will hit the farmer's market for produce.

I'm frugal beyond belief, but in different ways. I walk or ride my bike to the store. I go without. I'd like a new bike/car/sleeping bag/clothes etc. Instead of buying new stuff I make do with the old stuff. I buy used. 

I filled up my car with gas on April 7th. It still has a half tank. I bet I saved more than you and ate better in the process. I'm not trying to be self-righteous, rather just illustrate there are different ways to save money. 

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Someone will have to explain the point of using lawn fertilizer to me. You buy a product, most of which are awful and pollute our water. You spread it on your lawn and it causes your grass to grow more than it otherwise would. You now have to cut the grass more often. This costs more money and takes more time. Am I missing something?

 

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14 minutes ago, dennis said:

Mick, you are only calculating the cost of the food or item and not the big picture cost. How much do you spend driving around to get all of these deals.? What does it cost to drive a car? Gov't mileage reimbursement is $.55/mile(?) Multiple grocery stores? How about the cost of eating boxed/packaged food? Eating Stouffers, Betty Crocker, Jimmy Dean, etc. causes obesity and type 2 diabetes. What are your medication costs from eating this type of diet? How about your health? 

Most importantly-food should taste good. I am a much better cook than Jimmy Dean or Betty Crocker. Eating fresh produce tastes better than canned or frozen. And cooking from scratch tastes much better than anything from a box or freezer.  Quality is much more important than price. Tonight I will hit the farmer's market for produce.

I'm frugal beyond belief, but in different ways. I walk or ride my bike to the store. I go without. I'd like a new bike/car/sleeping bag/clothes etc. Instead of buying new stuff I make do with the old stuff. I buy used. 

I filled up my car with gas on April 7th. It still has a half tank. I bet I saved more than you and ate better in the process. I'm not trying to be self-righteous, rather just illustrate there are different ways to save money. 

My wife is going to turn in her car next month (Lease) and we are going to try single car living.  She works close to home so we’ll try ride sharing, bike riding, Uber or public transportation. Weekends may take some adjusting to but we can figure something out.

 

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2 hours ago, 12string said:

back when money was really tight for us, my wife was an avid coupon clipper and sale shopper.  It was amazing the amount of money she saved us.  Took years to convince her to use the time for more enjoyable pursuits when we could finally afford it

I can appreciate that.  I retired at 56 due to leg problems (now finally all healed!) and knew I'd be very comfortable when all my income streams kicked-in at 62, but I had six years of very frugal living so that my nest egg wouldn't disappear.

After I reached 62 and had more income than expenses, it was still hard to stop doing some of the things that diminished my quality of life.  It took me a while to upgrade my kitchen stuff, furniture, tools, etc.  I be putting up with crappy, old stuff and it suddenly dawn on me that I could buy new stuff without ruining my budget.

 

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41 minutes ago, dennis said:

Mick, you are only calculating the cost of the food or item and not the big picture cost. How much do you spend driving around to get all of these deals.?

I do take the distance into account. I used to tease a neighbor who would drive to a liquor store 15 miles away to save $1 on a case of beer.

If I'm already in a grocery store, it doesn't cost anything extra to scan the meat department for sell-by-date sales, etc.

Most of the places I shop are within 3 miles of my house and 1/2 mile of each other and what items tend to be cheaper or better at each one (examples): Walmart (certain frozen foods, Ramen noodles, deli meats/cheese, cheap clothes), Aldi (frozen foods, canned foods, produce, milk), Costco (coffee, pre-made cook-at-home dinners,  Diet Snapple in plastic bottles, cheap clothes), Giant (fresh fish), Food Lion (Soft Drinks, Sugar Free Pudding, Cobblestone Onion Rolls, Jimmy Dean breakfast bowls, deli meats/cheese, Wise BBQ Chips), Shoppers (closest to home), Lowes, and Home Depot being the ones I shop at the most.

The savings I get or the uniqueness of some products far outweigh the cost of driving to them with my 31 mpg Honda Fit.

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I'm somewhere in between - I'll use coupons or sales codes for a number of stores, and I'll always check prices to see if something is on sale, but given time demands I'll often shop at the convenient grocery store rather than the big one a few towns over.   I'll also buy some prepared foods at the local store rather than cook it myself because it's not worth the time or money to buy all the ingredients to make a meal for one person.;

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https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/05/16/723693839/its-not-just-salt-sugar-fat-study-finds-ultra-processed-foods-drive-weight-gain

The rise of ultra-processed foods has coincided with growing rates of obesity, leading many to suspect that they've played a big role in our growing waistlines. But is it something about the highly processed nature of these foods itself that drives people to overeat? A new study suggests the answer is yes.

The study, conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, is the first randomized, controlled trial to show that eating a diet made up of ultra-processed foods actually drives people to overeat and gain weight compared with a diet made up of whole or minimally processed foods. Study participants on the ultra-processed diet ate an average of 508 calories more per day and ended up gaining an average of 2 pounds over a two-week period. People on the unprocessed diet, meanwhile, ended up losing about 2 pounds on average over a two-week period.

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2 hours ago, dennis said:

Mick, you are only calculating the cost of the food or item and not the big picture cost. How much do you spend driving around to get all of these deals.? What does it cost to drive a car? Gov't mileage reimbursement is $.55/mile(?) Multiple grocery stores? How about the cost of eating boxed/packaged food? Eating Stouffers, Betty Crocker, Jimmy Dean, etc. causes obesity and type 2 diabetes. What are your medication costs from eating this type of diet? How about your health? 

Most importantly-food should taste good. I am a much better cook than Jimmy Dean or Betty Crocker. Eating fresh produce tastes better than canned or frozen. And cooking from scratch tastes much better than anything from a box or freezer.  Quality is much more important than price. Tonight I will hit the farmer's market for produce.

I'm frugal beyond belief, but in different ways. I walk or ride my bike to the store. I go without. I'd like a new bike/car/sleeping bag/clothes etc. Instead of buying new stuff I make do with the old stuff. I buy used. 

I filled up my car with gas on April 7th. It still has a half tank. I bet I saved more than you and ate better in the process. I'm not trying to be self-righteous, rather just illustrate there are different ways to save money. 

Wait, who said anything about driving all around to get these deals and that they are all on prepared food?  Aren't you jumping the shark a bit.  The shopping list I"ve prepared is for tomorrow's one stop shopping trip to a specific market and most of it is fresh food like chicken breasts buy one get one free and a good price on potatoes.  Perhaps next week I'll chose a different market if the deals are good there.I don't understand this bent to the discussion.

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6 hours ago, 12string said:

I always check the sell by dates on the meat.  If I find one with today as the date, I put it at the bottom of the pile so it ends up in the dumpster that night and I get it for free!  No coupon required!

I worked in a meat dept a few moons back.

Today's expired roast is tomorrows fresh steak

Today's expired steak is tomorrows fresh ground meat

And the burger gets mixed in the new batch

Not much meat reaches the dumpster

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5 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

Wait, who said anything about driving all around to get these deals and that they are all on prepared food?  Aren't you jumping the shark a bit.  The shopping list I"ve prepared is for tomorrow's one stop shopping trip to a specific market and most of it is fresh food like chicken breasts buy one get one free and a good price on potatoes.  Perhaps next week I'll chose a different market if the deals are good there.I don't understand this bent to the discussion.

Mick did. I'm not jumping the shark. He listed many stores like Walmart, Aldi's, and Costco. He said he eats packaged foods like Sugar Free Pudding, Cobblestone Onion Rolls, Jimmy Dean breakfast bowls, deli meats/cheese, Wise BBQ Chips  . I'm not making this up. Did you read anything he posted?

Scroll up.

I'm not sure you understand what jumping the shark means. 

 

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11 hours ago, dennis said:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/05/16/723693839/its-not-just-salt-sugar-fat-study-finds-ultra-processed-foods-drive-weight-gain

The rise of ultra-processed foods has coincided with growing rates of obesity, leading many to suspect that they've played a big role in our growing waistlines. But is it something about the highly processed nature of these foods itself that drives people to overeat? A new study suggests the answer is yes.

The study, conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, is the first randomized, controlled trial to show that eating a diet made up of ultra-processed foods actually drives people to overeat and gain weight compared with a diet made up of whole or minimally processed foods. Study participants on the ultra-processed diet ate an average of 508 calories more per day and ended up gaining an average of 2 pounds over a two-week period. People on the unprocessed diet, meanwhile, ended up losing about 2 pounds on average over a two-week period.

Things that can also make you fat:  beer and a desk job with long commute and eating a diet of mostly veggies and froots but with enough bigger meals and snacks thrown in to keep the weight on.  So ultra-processed foods are not completely to blame!

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58 minutes ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Things that can also make you fat:  beer and a desk job with long commute and eating a diet of mostly veggies and froots but with enough bigger meals and snacks thrown in to keep the weight on.  So ultra-processed foods are not completely to blame!

Nobody said life would be simple.

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21 hours ago, MickinMD said:

People's Strange Reaction to Comparison Shopping & Coupons

Seems like it is just one of many personality quirks/traits folks have.  Everything in folks' lives is around "bandwidth" and priorities.  Time, money, energy, and other resources are different for everyone and likewise carry different value per individual.  If you highly value "time" and are able to "buy" it via using money, then many folks opt for that.  At the poorer end of the spectrum, though, folks should use comparison shopping and coupons to break the cycle of being broke - if possible - but that would also entail the ability to get coupons, use smart apps, visit multiple grocery stores, to actually HAVE multiple groceries to choose, storage space, extra money for bulk/discounted buys, etc..

I routinely use the "unit" or "per ounce" price to suss out better options, and try to find best cost options.

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5 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Things that can also make you fat:  beer and a desk job with long commute and eating a diet of mostly veggies and froots but with enough bigger meals and snacks thrown in to keep the weight on.  So ultra-processed foods are not completely to blame!

maybe you need to some chair exercises. 

 

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1 minute ago, dennis said:

We're all going to die, some of us will just have a more fit corpse.  

Wiki helped me out again:

Robert Earl Hughes: It is often said he was buried in a piano case. This error stems from a sentence that appeared in successive editions of the Guinness Book of World Records, which read, "He was buried in a coffin the size of a piano case." His headstone notes that he was the world's heaviest man at a confirmed 1,041 pounds (472 kg).

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3 hours ago, wilbur said:

My wife watches the online flyers for sales and we take advantage of that.  We also buy bulk and vacuum pack things. That said, I bought her a silk scarf and some custom shirts for me in Italy that destroyed 6 months of economizing.  :) 

Still trying to talk my wife into buying me a big ole expensive lens for my birthday.  You know that is going to happen!!:whistle: Her comment when I first asked, was "What are you going to sell, you've already sold your boat?"

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2 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

Seems like it is just one of many personality quirks/traits folks have.  Everything in folks' lives is around "bandwidth" and priorities.  Time, money, energy, and other resources are different for everyone and likewise carry different value per individual.  If you highly value "time" and are able to "buy" it via using money, then many folks opt for that.  At the poorer end of the spectrum, though, folks should use comparison shopping and coupons to break the cycle of being broke - if possible - but that would also entail the ability to get coupons, use smart apps, visit multiple grocery stores, to actually HAVE multiple groceries to choose, storage space, extra money for bulk/discounted buys, etc..

I routinely use the "unit" or "per ounce" price to suss out better options, and try to find best cost options.

Our grocery stores are not very far apart.  When I go to town, I go to town.:P

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