Comments on: Spend to Save Trap

By: financialfemme

financialfemme — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:26:47 +0000

Alison,

The point of communication is to communicate. While he was grammatically incorrect, his point was made. Maybe you should ask yourself if YOUR point was made and whether it was in fact, the point you intended to make…

By: Crispini

Crispini — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:50:17 +0000

Ok, I LOL’ed. Sorry about the mishap. Aren’t cats fun? Hahahaha.

By: Alison

Alison — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:51:40 +0000

This certainly affects my wife more than ME.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:08:09 +0000

I’ve fallen into this trap with bulk foods from costco. It’s so easy to buy something, but if you don’t eat it that often, then its not worth it. You can even find it’s cheaper to buy them with coupons in grocery stores. Clothing stores do this a lot as well when they announce huge sales on their already over priced merchandise. They seem like great deals at the time, but are not really much of a deal.

By: Angrywhiteman

Angrywhiteman — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:23:42 +0000

Yes, the #10 can of chili, I ate chili for what seemed like forever. I still like chili, but will freeze half the contents next time.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:25:50 +0000

Well, it is cereal and not something more perishable. I think bulk purchasing makes sense as long as you don’t end up throwing a lot of it out.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:10:36 +0000

I do this all the time. My wife yelled at me for buying 16 boxes of my favorite cereal from Amazon because they were having a sale. It probably would have made more sense just to buy a box or two at Trader Joe’s and pay a dollar more a box rather than have to worry where to put it all. I’ll eat it before it goes bad, though.

By: Matt Fyffe

Matt Fyffe — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:04:56 +0000

It’s a tough debate here Jim.

For instance, you might spend more if you use the coupon on the brand name versus the generic brand, BUT, if you enjoy the taste of the brand name better, you’ll be getting greater pleasure by buying it. Even if you are spending more than you normally would (since you would typically just buy the generic version), you might get greater pleasure out of it.

Looking at the going out to a restaurant, maybe you wouldn’t have gone to that restaurant. BUT, if you were going to go out anyway, you’re still not spending more than you otherwise would, your just spending somewhere else.

I understand the concept you’re getting towards, I just think it’s careful to recognize every situation. If you’re going to get something for cheaper that you normally wouldn’t get, but have always wanted, then go for it. Just don’t buy a deal simply because it’s a lot cheaper than normal.

This is an issue I have with movies/games. I’ll buy movies/games when they go on sales… and then never open them. I don’t really know why i do it, I just get excited when they finally get cheaper.

By: The Personal Finance Playbook

The Personal Finance Playbook — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:01:16 +0000

My wife went a little crazy and bought 8 coupons off of restaurants.com. The problem is we’re moving in about a month and a half and hardly ever find the time to eat out. Now we need to eat out 8 times over the next 6 weeks! She said she just wasn’t thinking, and it’s fine, we’ll use the coupons now that we have them, and she only spent a total of about $20 (using coupon codes to make the certs cheaper), but this is a perfect example of spending to save – as the certificates require you to spend more than face value in order to use them.

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:57:53 +0000

I almost fell into this trap. The brand name rice cakes were on special in the grocery store, so I was tempted to stock up. Then I noticed that the no-name brand ones (which are just as good!) were still cheaper even with the discount! No need to hoard — I’ll just buy a bag when I need it.

That being said, I have a friend who loves garage sales but is always buying useless stuff because it’s so cheap. Now she refuses to take me along because I’m always asking “do you really need that?”

By: Salesman

Salesman — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:47:16 +0000

I ’saved’ a fortune by bulk buying my breakfast oat flakes. The 25 kilo sack worked out at less than one third of the price per serving, compared to small bags of the stuff. Days later, still feeling satisfied with this smart buy, I go to get another bowl full. This is when I discover my cats have found an alternative use for oats. Now it’s not looking like such a bargain.

By: Fairy Dust

Fairy Dust — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:44:50 +0000

I really have to be careful of this trap. The comedian Gallagher shot the point home for me once in a bit he did about how his wife was so excited that she bought some hideous piece of clothing because “it was on sale!” but she never would’ve bought it otherwise and also never wore it because it was hideous. But, it was On Sale

When I do the couponing thing, I do get sucked into the thrill of the deal hunt. So for a long time, I gave up on coupons and bought only store brand or bulk (non-perishable). But recently, I’ve been having so much fun with double couponing at the one store in town that still doubles $1 coupons, that I realize it’s become a form of entertainment that actually makes the drudgery of shopping fun. As long as I’m aware and careful, and truly am getting a deal that’s useful to us, I think it’s okay. Just having purchased two trips of $200 worth of food and sundries for $50 each trip, and having fun, and knowing we’ll actually eat the food and use the shampoo, it’s all good But yeah, it’s a slippery slope.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:04:35 +0000

I think buying in bulk is great, I try to do it whenever possible, but it’s tricky when the product is perishable (which makes your crowd buying solution absolutely wonderful).

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:03:37 +0000

You either LOVE canned peas or hate them now right?

By: Nate @ Debt-free Scholar

Nate @ Debt-free Scholar — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:00:19 +0000

We did that once during the Y2K. Ate canned peas for months….

Thanks,
Nate