3 ms·

Buying the right BOGOF items saves money. For instance, after spending a lot of time trying different options, I now know exactly what face soap I want and I al

by scraft 8y ago

Buying the right BOGOF items saves money. For instance, after spending a lot of time trying different options, I now know exactly what face soap I want and I also know the price it sales for. From time to time, it'll be sold as a BOGOF, so providing the price makes sense (i.e. it is the normal price or less than 200% of the normal price) then it is a good buy (it has long shelf life, and will always be used). I use up about 1.5 loaves of bread per week, so some weeks I buy one loaf, some weeks I buy 2. If it is a week where I only need one, but it is BOGOF I just buy 2 and put on in the freezer (and then take it out the following week). It is a similar story for cheese (although that doesn't need to be frozen, staying in the fridge, sealed, lasts for long enough). One of the bigger savings we have got from a food perspective is to move towards making a 'menu' of food we are going to eat that week. Then buying the ingredients needed for each dish. This means little or no wastage (good on so many levels), being able to buy at a good price (rather than not getting something required then picking it up at somewhere convenient buy more expensive halfway through the week) and knowing the quantities up front makes it easier to either buy in bulk, or knowing when a deal that involves extra quantity will be suitable. The above approach has also meant eating much healthier food, not finding ourselves in a position where we order take away because we don't have anything in. Ensuring we have not only meals planned, but healthy snacks (fruit etc) factored in too. It isn't a binary choice of by doing this we get everything 100% perfect, but it has been a hugely noticeable improvement. I have read several times that some of these approaches and typically favoured by those who have more disposable income, which isn't ideal, as we really want those with less income to be getting all the good savings to try to ease/stop the wealth gap.

austincheney 8y ago
> I have read several times that some of these approaches and typically favoured by those who have more disposable income, which isn't ideal, as we really want those with less income to be getting all the good savings to try to ease/stop the wealth gap. The disposable nature of income is orthogonal to wealth. It is possible and common to be wealthy and still be broke. Consider the pro athletes earning 7-8 figure income that are still forced into bankruptcy. It is also unrealistic to think people who are weak at saving money need a nanny to follow them around and police their spending habits in an effort to close the wealth gap. The most straight forward means to close the wealth gap is to tax capital gains as regular income and incentive spending from the wealthy with a punishing estate tax.
- sokoloff 8y ago
  A punishing estate tax probably does more to incent trust formation, life insurance sales, minority ownership transfer structures, and other such mechanisms to bypass the estate tax than it does incremental spending. It's largely unprepared idiots that pay any substantial amount of estate tax.
wil421 8y ago
I agree with you. Generally I shop at the same grocery store. When certain BOGO items go on sale I know to buy because I can ball park the usual price. BOGO chicken breast, pork tenderloin, certain tolitries, yogurt, and a few other things. I usually freeze BOGO meat but I can see how it can go bad and you lose money. My wife and I usually recognize the good deals. We avoid buying stuff we don’t usually eat just because it’s on sale. Certain things are terrible to buy BOGO especially at gift shops, firework stores, and generally any tourist area. Another commenter mentioned Nashville boots and I can attest it’s a rip off trying to make you spend more. Single items have inflated prices at these places.
- Spivak 8y ago
  And if you don't shop at a store often enough to figure out the real price of goods using one of those historical price sites can help you figure out if you're actually getting a good deal. The 'true price', if you can say such a thing exists, of an item is almost always what it periodically goes on sale for. If you watch the historical pricing it will dip to a specific price anywhere from 6-24 times a year. As long as your happy with that price then feel no shame for pulling the trigger -- if not then you at least know when it really is on sale. Example: my personal vice is Diet Coke. The true price in my area is $0.25/can but it often retails at $0.41/can to make it seem like a sale. I will buy in at $0.25 but it's not a real sale until it hits $0.20.

by scraft 8y ago

austincheney 8y ago

> I have read several times that some of these approaches and typically favoured by those who have more disposable income, which isn't ideal, as we really want those with less income to be getting all the good savings to try to ease/stop the wealth gap. The disposable nature of income is orthogonal to wealth. It is possible and common to be wealthy and still be broke. Consider the pro athletes earning 7-8 figure income that are still forced into bankruptcy. It is also unrealistic to think people who are weak at saving money need a nanny to follow them around and police their spending habits in an effort to close the wealth gap. The most straight forward means to close the wealth gap is to tax capital gains as regular income and incentive spending from the wealthy with a punishing estate tax.

sokoloff 8y ago
A punishing estate tax probably does more to incent trust formation, life insurance sales, minority ownership transfer structures, and other such mechanisms to bypass the estate tax than it does incremental spending. It's largely unprepared idiots that pay any substantial amount of estate tax.

wil421 8y ago

I agree with you. Generally I shop at the same grocery store. When certain BOGO items go on sale I know to buy because I can ball park the usual price. BOGO chicken breast, pork tenderloin, certain tolitries, yogurt, and a few other things. I usually freeze BOGO meat but I can see how it can go bad and you lose money. My wife and I usually recognize the good deals. We avoid buying stuff we don’t usually eat just because it’s on sale. Certain things are terrible to buy BOGO especially at gift shops, firework stores, and generally any tourist area. Another commenter mentioned Nashville boots and I can attest it’s a rip off trying to make you spend more. Single items have inflated prices at these places.

Spivak 8y ago
And if you don't shop at a store often enough to figure out the real price of goods using one of those historical price sites can help you figure out if you're actually getting a good deal. The 'true price', if you can say such a thing exists, of an item is almost always what it periodically goes on sale for. If you watch the historical pricing it will dip to a specific price anywhere from 6-24 times a year. As long as your happy with that price then feel no shame for pulling the trigger -- if not then you at least know when it really is on sale. Example: my personal vice is Diet Coke. The true price in my area is $0.25/can but it often retails at $0.41/can to make it seem like a sale. I will buy in at $0.25 but it's not a real sale until it hits $0.20.