For me, it depends. When I had money, I would sometimes pay more for added convenience. I still do that sometimes, when I can, because often, convenience does come at a cost. I don't mean simply shopping in a convenience store, I mean overall convenience, such as food or other product delivery, shopping at a store that might be closer to your home or one that provides other services, one stop shopping, etc. Sometimes it's nice to save a dollar or two, and occasionally, I've been known to drive across town for a special deal. I see and hear about a lot of people though who will drive to 3 or 4 different stores just to use particular coupons, or shop specific offerings at that site, which doesn't work in my situation. Which is more important to you, price or convenience?
It depends . . . at what cost that convenience comes. If it means paying a little extra to get something delivered at my doorstep then I'd consider that as an option only if the weather won't permit to go out. Otherwise since my home is but a walking distance away from a farmer's market and some stores where I buy most of my stuff from, I prefer to walk over and buy all I need. It's possible save some decent cash at the farmer's market because bargaining is allowed!
That's something I would do, also, if I had a farmer's market nearby. The only thing here in my neighborhood is a convenience store, which I rarely go to, unless I'm splurging on a lottery ticket. I don't like the huge prices charged at that type of store, on every day products, but I do understand the convenience, especially when you can't go far from home, or are in a rush. What a great thing, to have such a handy farmer's market. Here, to get to a farmer's market, I'd have to make a concerted effort, and fight the crowds, because the 2 local ones are across the bridge, in a tourist destination. I agree about the weather. I would definitely have a lot more items delivered if I lived in a place that was particularly cold and stormy, but here, I usually just work around the tropical rainstorms we sometimes have.
Price comes first, but convenience becomes a factor when it's late at night or if you are short on time. If you have time to shop then you have time to compare prices like my parents who are retired. However if you are working a 10 hour day, convenience is more important as I used to. In those instances you don't have much choice, and you don't mind as long as the prices aren't sky high.
I choose price. I'm willing to walk everywhere and save bus fare and I'm willing to prepare food the hard way instead of paying more for convenience foods. It's ridiculous how much a bag of chopped lettuce costs versus buying a head of lettuce and chopping it yourself.
It sounds as if you're very serious about saving money, which is great. I am always flabbergasted at the prices of some of those packages of lettuce. When I have bought them, I have purchased the small generic bags, and sometimes they are good deals. The fancier ones with multiple types of lettuce or other vegetables added in, can be very pricey. Another thing is, they state that the contents have been washed (or triple washed), but I've heard that isn't necessarily the case, so even when i do buy them, I still wash the lettuce myself before using it.
I live in an area surrounded by malls and convenience stores, so in my case, what matters more is the price. I also rarely buy at the convenience store, because their items are more expensive. I only buy there when I think that going to the mall would be too fussy for 1 or 2 small items.
I always love it when I can save a pound or two, or a few pence, but I have to weigh up the pros and the cons in my head. Is the price worth the convenience for the product that I want, or is it worth going out of my way so that I can get certain things for a better price? But overall, I'd say that what matters to me the most is the price of any one thing.
I choose price. Even though not all the stores are very close, I have to drive a bit just to get to the closest one. But I still rather go to the asian supermarket where they sell food at a lot cheaper price then your everyday supermarket. The price really matters because overtime, the numbers add up. If you go shopping every other week and just buy in bulk, you'll save a lot more on groceries and gas because you won't be going out for them as frequently. So when I take a trip to the cheapest grocery store near me, I make sure I buy everything that I'll need for about 2 weeks before I go again. So in this case, price is rather more important to me then convenience because I don't go to the groceries every other day anyways.
