(Nope, no nifty little icon today, folks. You're lucky to be getting a Thrifty Thursday post at all, as I've been home all day with a baby who apparently has an ear infection and has been battling the same cold for the better part of a week. She's been in bed since 6:25, though, so I've got a bit of time on my hands now)
My tip for the day is to buy non-perishable or freezable items BEFORE you need them. This may sound odd, but think about when you last ran out of shampoo. You had to run to the store (or at least pick it up next time you were there) and buy it, no matter whether it was on sale or there was a good coupon out for it at that time.
This is especially true if you're brand-loyal. Keep an eye out at all stores for a good sale on your favorite brands and keep tabs on the newspaper and printable coupons for coupons for your brand.
I, for one, am only partially brand-loyal. I use my specific brand of deodorant, have a few acceptable brands of shampoo and conditioner, but can use any type of toothpaste. I have a big stockpile of all of these toiletries on hand, waiting for me to run out of the bottle I'm using.
For instance, today I was in CVS and saw that Colgate Total with Whitening was originally priced $2.79, but was $2 off, and I had a $0.75 off coupon. A tube of toothpaste for $0.04? That's a 98.6% savings off the shelf price!
This also holds true at the grocery and sort of feeds off the discussion from last week. If you use black beans on a regular basis and find them for a great price one week, buy 5 cans! Why buy them every week and take the chance of it being regular price when you get get them all cheap?
All this stockpiling, so to speak, does require a bit of storage space, but you could just devote one cabinet or one shelf in a linen closet to some extras, as long as you don't go hogwild (I, for one, have gone hogwild, but that's okay--we've adjusted accordingly).
Have suggestions for next week's post? Have any questions for me? Have any great "buy it before you need it" stories? Just want to say "hi"? Post a comment!!!
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3 comments:
I am frequently "guilty" of doing this (I say guilty because my think-ahead attitude leaves us with no storage space for anything else - especially when it comes to frozen items). My best example is with cereal. Kroger had a HUGE sale about 6 months ago and I had a ton of coupons. I was getting boxes of cereal for around $1.00 (or less) each. I went hogwild and ended up buying like 15 boxes of cereal! We're on the last box right now. Great tips Allison!
You simply amaze me with your coupons!!!!!!
I'm glad you wrote about this, because I definitely do it and I think everyone else should too. Last night at Kroger they had bacon on sale for $2.25, so I bought four packages and froze 3 for future use. I know I'll always use bacon! And you should see me when they have their chicken breasts on sale for $1.79/pound...I go a little bit crazy.
Hope Baby Girl is on the mend soon!
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