Where do you find the money for good deals?

**PoorRichardsGirl** · 03-27-2005, 04:59 PM

I'm just wondering everyone finds money to "invest" in rebate offers and other good deals, like sale items to stockpile. How do you know how much you afford to use that way? (I've tried doing this stuff before, and sometimes ended up with 3 months' worth of cheap coffee on hand but not enough cash!)

Do you keep a special pot of money just for deals too good to pass up? In cash or a bank account? Do you budget for a certain $ amount per week? Or just keep recycling the rebate or "saved" money, buying the next deal with money from previous ones? Would you pass up offers that required more extra cash than you had, or would you put them on a credit card if they were good enough deals?

**forestdale** · 03-27-2005, 06:16 PM

I would never shop for groceries on a credit card.

I allow myself $5 per week from my grocery budget for stockpiling. I only ever buy things that will last and that I know we we'll eat or use. So I stockpile things like, tp, toothpaste, tissues, vegemite

, tinned baked beans, tinned salmon and tuna, dried pasta, rice, flour, sugar, tea. Things like coffee I buy fresh and I don't buy another one until we are running low. We don't drink much coffee.

With my $5 I buy whatever I consider the best special of the week. If nothing impresses me, I'll put aside that $5 in my money tin and use $10 the following week. Or if I see something particularly good, I'll borrow the $5 from the following week and use $10 this week to get the really good special.

I think the tricks to stockpiling are:
don't try to build your stockpile up quickly and leave yourself short of money;
put aside a regular amount that you won't really miss and use
that only for stockpiling;
buy only what you KNOW you'll use.

**Mom23boys** · 03-27-2005, 06:42 PM

I agree with Rhonda. I would never use a credit card to purchase groceries with.

I have a set budget for groceries. Most of the time I come under the amount budgeted and I use this for stockpiling and rebate items. If I don't have the money, I don't buy the items. I would never want to leave myself short.

**Mommy2five** · 03-28-2005, 01:24 AM

Originally posted by Mom23boys

I have a set budget for groceries. Most of the time I come under the amount budgeted and I use this for stockpiling and rebate items. If I don't have the money, I don't buy the items. I would never want to leave myself short.

ditto! We usually have a little extra in the budget for some months sports fees, or vet fees, or somehting at school... on the months I stockpile I just try to spend less on "other" things. Or maybe cut the grocery budget a little.

Good luck

**pita1213** · 03-28-2005, 09:22 AM

i allot a small portion of my grocery money to fill in gaps of my stockpile and pantry as well as set aside 5.00 everytime dh gets paid. i save the 5 dollars for weeks when i'm not doing my normal grocery shopping. usually i go on the 10th and the 25th(dh's paydays) and on the other weeks, if i see a good deal in the flyers, i use the saved money on loss leaders. for example, this past week, pepsi products were on sale for 68 cents. i bought the limit on my normal shopping day using my grocery money. this coming week, it will still be on sale through wednesday. i'll go today or tomorrow and get the limit again using my saved stockplie money.
probably not the best example of a great stockpile find, but dh can't give up soda, so i buy it when it's cheap.

**QuilterMom** · 03-28-2005, 01:05 PM

I work my stockpiling into my regular grocery shopping. I have a set goal amount each month to spend. I'm a 'cherry-picker' - I tend to only buy loss leaders.

**AmyMCGS** · 03-28-2005, 01:56 PM

Originally posted by QuilterMom
I work my stockpiling into my regular grocery shopping. I have a set goal amount each month to spend. 

Ditto.  Although, this month I ran over my goal because we stocked up on meat at Sam's Club & hadn't planned to do that.  Still, stockpiling and bargains come from my grocery budget.

 

**Missy** · 03-28-2005, 02:26 PM

i add in stockpiling costs into my monthly grocery shopping bill too. usually 5-10 dollars. This money i get from the difference in last months shopping between real cost and coupon cost. Whatever I have saved by using coupons from last month, is what i have for stockpiling (or other things if need be) this month. Sometimes especially lately, that savings goes towards the gas tank in the van.

I stockpile things I know we will use...flour, sugar, baking goods. Toliet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, baby needs etc. Although truth be told, i don't stockpile half as much as I'd like to. I would lke to always have more flour, sugar and tp on hand.

**Jerrie K** · 03-28-2005, 11:06 PM

Thanks for the info. I was wondering about the stockpiling thing. This will help me get started. Just one question though. What are loss leaders?

**mrscornbread** · 03-28-2005, 11:35 PM

I usua;;y only stockpile those items that I have a coupon for and are free or very close to it. I livd an entire summer off of stockpiled foods from couponing. I purchased meat that was marked down which was usually in family packs and I portioned them out into meal sized servings. I did most of this in my regular alloted amount of grocery money, but just stockpiled every bit I could.

Do you use coupons?

**Jenlee** · 03-28-2005, 11:42 PM

Loss leaders are items that stores will price so low that they will lose money in order to get you in the door. The idea is that if they sell for instance, whole chickens for 49¢ a pound (a steal in my neck of the woods), you may go ahead and buy all of your groceries there. I always wonder who actually does it, but I guess there are plenty of people who don't shop around.

Like Quiltermom, I am a cherry picker and often shop in each of my 6 stores during one weekly ad cycle if the deals are right. However, I try to see if my Wal-Mart can match a few of them to keep from having to drive and shop in 6 individual stores.

For me, I will cherry pick meat more than anything else. That is the largest % of my food budget and if I can save $3 on a package of beef, I will pay 10¢ more for a can of green beans.

**Michele Annette** · 03-29-2005, 09:55 AM

I too use part of my grocery money for stockpiling. I would never use a credit card either. I take advantage of store sales and if that means I can only add two or three things to my stockpile at a time, so be it.

**Jerrie K** · 03-29-2005, 10:22 AM

Thanks Jenlee

**AmyBoz** · 03-29-2005, 11:59 AM

Well, we do use a credit card to buy our groceries. It's a ShopRite American Express card, and anything we charge, we charge on there. We also charge our groceries on there. With our statement each month, we get a ShopRite gift certificate based on our total purchases. We don't buy any more than we normally would and there is no annual fee, so to us, it makes sense to get the reward at ShopRite by using the card, rather than using cash. It is also easier for us to itemize under Microsoft Money when we have the credit card statement in front of us.

I buy a set list of things each week (milk, bananas, bread, etc.) and then when there are products that we will use on sale and there is a coupon out that makes them free or next to free, I will stockpile those. So, I don't have an actual set amount of money put aside for stockpiling, but I also don't go nuts and stockpile stuff that we won't use.

For example, this past week, L'Oreal Kids shampoo was on sale at ShopRite. I had some coupons and even though I have about 30 bottles of it in the basement, I was able to get four more bottles for free. You always need toilet paper, so when it's on sale and I have coupons for it and the price is REALLY good, I'll buy it, even if I have a bunch in the house already.

**Jerseygirl** · 03-29-2005, 12:17 PM

I don't really budget for groceries. My thing is always to spend the least amount possible, which means there are sometimes 2 weeks at a time that I may just spend $25 a week for the six of us for milk and fresh fruit/veggies if there aren't great sales (we live in the land of double and triple coupons so this is very possible). Today is typical for my type of shopping, I took the day off work, sick, so I will stop at ShopRite and take advantage of the Yes detergent 100oz for .99 and buy 4 of each variety (Hopefully 12 bottles)-which will be enough detergent for us for 3 months, 3-4 lbs of grapes at .99 lb, 3-4 lbs of boneless pork chops and a london broil both at 1.99lb and 5 lbs on chick leg 1/4s at .49 lb. Twin packs of english muffins are 1.99. I'll add two gallons of whatever milk is on sale for 2.69 and 3 4-packs of yogurt for 1.34. This will run around $50.00.
Tommorrow I will stop at Stop and shop and pick up 4 lbs of 1.78 lb boneless skinless chick breast, (3) .99 each cantaloupes, 12 oranges at 4/.98, Fl natural OJ 1/2 gal 3/$5 and pork loiin that are b1g1 free. Dh will get his soda for .69 probably 5 bottles.
I expect to spend about $30 there.
Notice there are no veggies/pasta etc listed, its a good meat price week. Two weeks ago I got a great deal on frozen veggies and got 16 boxes of pasta for 4/$1, mac and cheese 4/$1. Last week I picked up 5 lbs of apples and went sunday for the last day of .39 bananas. I go by the ads, get as much as I can of what's on really cheap and stretch it between weeks.
By shopping like this I spend about $250 a month on everything for the 6 - 7 of us and the house including cleaning products, I just have to manage it all properly. Hope this all helped.--Kellie