Showing posts with label cut your grocery budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cut your grocery budget. Show all posts

Sunday, May 1, 2022

My Argument with Extreme Bulk Buyers

Today is my story of my argument with extreme bulk buyers. By extreme....I mean the ladies who insist on shopping only in large quantities even when they are trying to stick to a budget.

And so today I brought an example. See to your left the lovely photo of a box of garbage bags I purchased this week at Dollar Tree in Ontario, Canada. If my memory serves correctly, I paid precisely $1.50 Canadian funds plus 13% tax for this box of 5 garbage bags.

Now, my extreme bulk buying friends are already pooo-pooing my choice...because they  say ¨ Why on earth would you pay good money for only 5 bags....when I shop I buy big boxes of garbage bags with at least 40 bags in a box!¨

But my comment to them is this ...Why on earth, if I am trying to stick to a predetermined grocery budget, allow such a large portion of my expenditure for the week to be allocated to the purchase of garbage bags.
I know, I know....people like to stock up.. People dont like to run out of things, and they really dont like shopping as often as I do. 

But, I must assert, that if you have a certain dollar figure that you try to stick to with your grocery shopping, then you need to discipline yourself not to splurge on a certain category, just because it happens to be a good deal. Do you understand what I am trying to say? 

Sometimes I see extreme bulk buyers go and spend 100$ on bathroom tissue because there is a good sale on....but they dont buy enough food for their children to make it to their next grocery shopping trip. Does that make sense? Is  it really a good deal if it leaves someone without the calories they need to function well during the week?

The painful part of disciplined shopping means being willing to pass up great deals, in order to stick to your preplanned budget. It may not feel like you are winning to buy a small box of garbage bags at your local Dollar store.....but you will most certainly feel a great sense of accomplishment when you realize that you can actually stick to the list you wrote to yourself and stick to the budget that you and your spouse or family members have agreed to. 

I can hear some of you saying....well, if you were rich, you wouldnt need to budget your grocery shopping. And to that I would tell you a little story about the great Mr. Warren Buffett...who is still one of the richest men in the world. I have watched ( several times over) the HBO special biographical film of Mr. Warren Buffett in which we, the viewers, are permitted a small peak into Mr. Buffettś daily habits.

One part of the film, shows Mr. Buffett with a handful of change his wife gave to him before he left the house, to spend on a preplanned breakfast sandwich from McDonalds on his way driving to the office. He knew exactly how much the breakfast sandwich cost and his wife gave him exactly that amount to pay for it. How wonderful! How disciplined and modest he is! 

If even, one of the richest men in the world, sees fit to preplan his modest  drive-thru breakfast meal, then certainly it is adviseable for us also to consider such a habit.

What is this habit? Simply the habit of planning what you are going to spend each day or week based on your income and outgoing expenses and savings and investing plans, and charitable giving.

Planning is good. 

Sometimes folks who are recovering shopaholics get their shopping fix by overspending on sale items in bulk purchases. They presume that they will not feel guilty for overspending because they got such a good deal! They soon figure out that they still feel guilty, because they have spent more than they planned to spend.

Well, thatś all for now. I apologize for the lack of ¨ apostropheś as this keyboard is hiding them from me as I type today :) Ha....lol!

Well friends, have a great day....and plan to succeed.

Peace,
Carla.

Saturday, March 12, 2022

Review of Flash Food App















So, If any of y'all are bargain hunters...you are definitely going to want to check out the "Flash Food" app. It is easy to download and very user friendly. You don't even have to handle payments in the grocery store....it is all done online.

So, what is "Flash Food" ? It is a way for grocery stores in Ontario to offer products at steep discounts rather than tossing them in their dumpsters when they are trying to reorganize their merchandising or getting rid of foods that are near their expiry dates.( i am sure that it operates in other provinces too....and maybe even the USA)

Above are all the items I was able to get  this week, for just under 20 Canadian dollars. I know that the choices are heavy on dairy...but that is just the way it is.....Dairy products are most sensitive to expiry dates...and stores have more dairy products near expiry than they know what to do with. It saves the store money to be able to sell these items instead of letting them be disposed of. It is also an environmental and social benefit for stores to be able to claim that they reducing their "land fill" items and offering lower cost food options for those who may need it.

I like that there was a broad assortment....including even some meat and high value cheeses. The yogurts are easy to freeze and kids like them for snacks. 

Do you have Flash Food app operating in your locality? Do you like it? Does it freak you out to buy foods near expiry? Do tell.

I thought those frugal friends of mine would appreciate a glimpse into what a Flash food order can be. Well, that's all for now. Be well....and take advantage of those blessings that God provides. Be well and prosper "biggly"!

Peace,
Carla.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Stuck Under A Dollar

Want to go on an adventure? I would like to dare you to try, just for one day or hour of grocery shopping to only buy items that you can find for one dollar or less. And yes that would include bulk or fruit or veggies that you can buy for under one dollar per pound.

It can be quite challenging and liberating all at the same time. If you have watched Jeff Yeager...a.k.a the Ultimate Cheapskate hunt down the best bargains, he uses this little general rule, which is to always try to seek out items that are either priced at one dollar each or less or priced loose/bulk at 1 dollar per pound or less.

Are you ready to try? Even if you don't NEED to try this kind of experiment for financial reasons, I would like to challenge you to give it a try just for fun, just for the purpose of learning something new and interesting.

I guarantee that you will never look at grocery shopping in the same light again, once you realize all the great things that you purchase for a buck or less.

Ready to try?
Here's a few that I find are sometimes/often selling for dollar or less:

Tins of chunk tuna
bananas
fresh garlic still in the bulb
carrots
red grapefruits
crackers
red lentils
apples (at box stores/wholesale clubs)
fresh white potatoes
packages of pasta
large cans of diced/whole tomatoes
regular sized cans of black beans
regular sized cans of red/white kidney beans
garbanzo beans/chick peas
dry packages of quicky soups
cans of quicky soups
bulk all purpose flour
TVP (texturized Vegetable protein)
6 pk of bagels


I'd love to hear what sorts of items you can find at your country's equivalent of one Canadian or U.S. dollar.
Your comments are most welcome in the comment section!
 A Smart shopper is a happy shopper!