I had a friend e-mail me this morning to ask me about this. She wanted to know how she could tell if something was a good deal or not. That is SUCH a good question!
As a result of her inquiry, I am going to start to keep track of what I notice to be an OK deal, a good deal and a “DROP EVERYTHING AND BUY THIS” deal. It will take some time to compile, but as I learn things, I will share them with you. Here are a few things that I can pass along to you right now to try to help.
When you are looking at the Price Chopper ad for the week, the best deals are the 2, 3 or 4 day, a separate insert and the items on the front and back of the ad. There are things on sale in the center of the insert, but they are not “hot deals.”
There are ways that retailers also try to reel you in to purchase something you normally wouldn’t. One of them is the “limits”. If a sign said 3/$10.00 on lotion, most would pass by. However, if the same sign said 3/$10.00 – Limit 3, more people would be apt to put the item into their cart as they think that there is a shortage and they MUST have it. So don’t fall for the limits trap.
Another way that you may fall for a not so great deal is the 2/$x.xx sign. For example, last week PC had Pringles on sale – 2/$3.00. That makes them $1.50 each. The regular price is $1.59 — so you are saving only $0.09. However, people see that and they believe that 2 for anything is better than 1 for something marked down even $0.25.
For me personally, I look for items to be marked down 25%+ before I think it could be a good deal. And then, I really try to have a coupon to go with it, as much as possible.
On average, when I am going to the store these days, I am spending around $60 – $70 for one week’s worth of food, but my receipt also shows a savings of $45 – $55. This is a average savings of 35%+.
As you find the deals that YOU think are good – why don’t you post them here as a comment or contact me. The more information we can share, the more money we can ALL keep in our own pockets!