Friday, April 23, 2010

100 Frugal Tips in 100 Days: Tip # 15

Tip # 15 Stock up!!

If something you use regularly goes on sale (say, for half price during a BOGO sale), by all means, buy several!! I've gotten so used to doing this that I cringe if I have to pay full price for a bottle of salad dressing or a package of shredded cheese! (Or pasta sauce, toothpaste, contact solution, deodorant, shampoo, lotion, coffee, pasta, frozen veggies, etc, etc etc!)

Sales at grocery stores are cyclical, meaning, every 6-8 weeks chances are the same things will be on sale (not always, there are definitely a few things that rarely go on sale - so if you come across those things you definitely want to stock up!)

If you're new to this whole concept of "stock-piling" or if you just don't have the space, just buy 2 of whatever you were planning on buying (when it's on sale, of course). It will probably be easier to start out small, because then you can really get a feel how quickly you go through various items. And as always, check the expiration date. The last thing you want to do is have to throw food away and waste money because you forgot you had something or it got pushed to the back of your pantry (I hate when that happens)!

This concept goes hand-in-hand with menu planning and keeping a price-book.

2 comments:

  1. This is normally what I do. However, as you know, as I was running out of fruit cups (my lunch staple). I kept waiting and waiting for them to go on sale. No luck (it will probably be this week), anyway, thank goodness for the fallback. Aldi!!!!

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  2. Kel - I loved your message the other night! Aldi is a great back-up for staples...maybe I need to do a Frugal Tip about shopping at discount grocery stores....stay tuned...

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