I've heard that there are some people who don't shop like everyone else - make a grocery list each week, buy what's on the list, etc - they instead look for deals and buy anything that's on sale that week. And they keep doing that all year long saving lots of cash in the process. Ever tried this? If you haven't what do you think of this money-saving strategy?
I suppose I do this to some extent. I typically buy a mixture of things I have on a list and things that are on sale that week. If the product is something I buy or need regularly then I'll definitely stock up on it while it's on sale to avoid having to pay full price for it in a few weeks time. I managed to get some 3kg bags of my cat's favorite biscuits for £1 before Christmas and she still has some left now. Normally it would've been over £4 for one bag, so it was a huge saving. I don't know if this is something that any supermarkets there do but here they have supermarkets that have, for example, carrots, broccoli, potatoes, kiwi and grapes for £0.49 a pack this week, then next week it'll be oranges, apples, swede, runner beans and kale for £0.69, and every week they alternate what those items are. I do tend to stock up on fruit and vegetables that I know will keep when they have these sales. However, I don't just buy everything and anything that's on sale. If I don't use the product then I won't buy it because that's not cost effective in my opinion.
I think this can be a very good strategy as long as you can find all items you need that are on sale. Where I am, not all items get discounted and there are rarely any coupons that pop up if any, so we have to settle with getting items at full price but I guess the biggest benefit is that we just get points on our membership cards where we can exchange it for items later on. I probably would be up for only buying sale items if it were more common here, if not for the savings even just for the challenge. I'd maybe try it out for a year.
I've also seen this advocated on money saving blogs. I think this could be a helpful strategy if a person has a lot of room, and a large freezer, refrigerator, and pantry or other storage place. Growing up, we had lots of room to do this, as well as a chest freezer, to hold meat, bread, and other items that were on sale. I currently live in a small house with a tiny kitchen. Although i do have a pantry, it's pretty small, and although I bought a mid-sized refrigerator when I moved in here, it still doesn't have the room in either fridge or freezer compartment for me to be able to shop this way. I tend to buy the same items over and over, even if I use them in different ways. I definitely try to purchase items on sale, or if they're regular priced, I might switch to a generic on that shopping trip to save some money, but I do tend to purchase certain types of items when they're on sale, particularly meat. If I can stumble on a good meat sale (which has happened a few times at Kroger), I will remove other items from the freezer in order to make room for that meat. I'd rather use up my frozen veggies or bread and have to replace them later, than miss out on a meat sale.
