I use to struggle with going to the grocery store or the mall and seeing the BIG SALE! The jelly would be marked down to $2.00 a jar.....oh that is a steel! I would buy a bunch. Or the chicken was 1.99 lb....should I buy just a few or a bunch cause it is on sale??
These questions can still bug me sometimes. But I have found that sticking to my budget is my top priority. It takes presedence over the "sale." In other words, I buy what I absoloutely need to make all of our dinner meals, lunches, breakfasts for this weak. Once I have all those purchases of necesity made then I see what's left.
Some weeks I don't have much cash left. Then I know that the extra item isn't worth it for me. It least not right now. My budget is more important. I am trusting in the Lord to provide me with a steal on next weeks needed items.
To some this may seem crazy. Poeple who are always out stocking up their pantries are screaming that I am nuts for not grabbing the deals. Yes, the pantry stockers may get a better bang for their buck, but for me I must stick to my budget.
Perhaps when we are debt free I will be able to stick my full $600 a month food budget into one evelope at the beginning of the month and then really hit the sales throughout the month. Then again, perhaps we would be starving the last week, cause I overspent the first week. Who knows??? But for right now it is more important that I stay under $150 a week.
We may have just started this blog, but we have been on the budgeting system for nearly 6 months. It took a good 3-4 to find the right food amount I needed and to learn this ability to forgo the "steal of a deal." I would splurge the first week and stock up on the deals, just to find us have a few days left before pay day and I was out of money and milk.
So now I buy what I must to make our menu work (which is based on the meat sales) then I take another stroll for the few deals I feel I can afford to get. Sometimes I look in my envelope and see only $10.00 left and know I have to pass it on by!
But I have peace with it now. I know peanut butter will be on sale again and this weaks deal was not meant to be mine.
I'm very leery about bulk buying now...I read a great piece in the WSJ a couple of months ago talking about the dangers of warehouse shopping...similar concept to what you're describing by stocking up....I'm going to see if I can find it and write a few lines about my experiences and impressions.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are working your plan and it is successful for your family. Like you, I want to develop good spending habits while I'm paying off debt, so that when I am debt-free, I'll just keep following the plan I've already implemented.
ReplyDeleteI do buy in bulk, but only items I am very sure we will use up, and quickly.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, for awesome steal items, I have learned that it's not an awesome steal if I don't truly need it. Even if it's only $2.00, that's $2.00 more in my pocket if I don't buy the item that we really don't need. I once racked up a whole closet full of clothes that were bought at cut-rate sale prices; then I realized that I didn't like many of them but had bought them because they were such good deals. They didn't seem like good deals when I shipped them all out to charity (felt good to give to charity but from now on I'll be more careful about what I buy.)
good for you! I struggle with this sometimes too - that is why I started to leave my debit card at home. I just take in my pocket of cash for the week & that is all --- it helps so much!!!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work!