He who buys what he does not need, steals from himself.
-Swedish Proverb
But there is one way to save that I very, very rarely hear about. Do you know it? Here is the number one, scariest, most effective way to save money when shopping:
Don't do it.
Are you convinced I'm mad, now? Well, before you cautiously click away, hear me out.
Not so far away from you live two girls. We'll call them Girl 1 and Girl 2. They both LOVE candles. In fact, these two briefly met at a candle sale 6 months ago, where they both bought 20 of these super on-sale candles at $2.00 a piece at an end of season blow out sale! They got to become friends, and just recently, started to have an argument about who was the smartest shopper. They called me up to be the judge.
Girl #1 -
Girl 1 was told about this Store A having a sale on candles. She knew she has already used almost half of her candle stash that she had bought before, so she popped in to Store A. Store A had candles BOGO - buy one get one free. She was excited. However, she looked on her phone and saw that Store B actually had them 70% percent off! She's a smart girl, and knew the first candles were only 50% off, so she plans to purchase them from Store B instead. But wait! At Store C (not a store she usually goes to), they would price match sales from Store B, and the purchase would earn her points at Store C good for other things! Holy Smokes, is she a smart shopper, or what?!
Well, she certainly is working to get the most return on her purchase. But, let's see what Girl 2 did.
Girl #2 -
Girl 2 was told about this Store A having a sale on candles. She knew she had already used almost half of her candle stash that she had bought before, so she went home and looked at her candle stash. Sure enough, she'd used 10 of those candles. However, she plans on that yearly sale to happen next year, and figured she had enough to get her through until then. She didn't go to Store A. She didn't review Store B's prices, nor did she go to Store C. She doesn't even have a points card at Store C, since Store C carries few of the things she buys.
So, she um... didn't shop. Well, that's not much of a shopper at all, unless you consider...
SCORING:
Now, to truly determine who is the best shopper, we need to consider 3 things that drive all quantitative analysis of 'savings' - money, time, and effort. For qualitative review, we must also look at the end result of shopping decisions on the lives of the buyer.
MONEY:
Girl 1 ended up paying buying 10 candles at $3.00 a piece, normally $10 each, and so received $10.00 off her next purchase at Store C. She would say the candle 'really' cost her just $2.00, each!
Total money spent: $30.00.
Girl 2 paid nothing.
Total money: $0.
TIME:
Girl 1 was out shopping, spent 2 minutes looking at candles on sale at Store A. She spent 3 minutes on her smart phone finding that sale at Store B, and another 10 minutes verifying to the clerk at Store C what that sale price was in order to receive the same discount. Store C also took 10 minutes round trip to drive to, and she is now set up to have to return to Store C (another 10 minute trip) to claim her dollars off on another product (which may require up to 5 minutes to pick out.)
Total time: 40 minutes minimum to capitalize on all offers/discounts.
Girl 2 spent 30 seconds counting her 'candle collection', noted it would be 6 months before she needed more, and felt confident there would be another sale before then.
Total time: 30 seconds to a minute.
EFFORT:
Girl 1 put in the time as above, but also physically drove to Store C, and now, to claim her $10.00 discount, and will have to consider what Store C carries each time she wants to buy something, to find if she can buy it at Store C to use that discount, and drive there again.
Total Work: driving, browsing, checking on Store C items
Girl 2 counted her candles, which was the effort of opening a cabinet door.
Total Work: opening a door, counting to 10
RESULTS:
Girl 1 now has 20 candles in storage. She has $30.00 less in her pocket, and a discount to claim at a store she doesn't normally shop at. Her life is otherwise unchanged.
Girl 2 has 10 candles in storage. She has the same money in her pocket as before, and has no discount to a store she doesn't normally shop at. Her life is unchanged.
So, who do you think was the winner? And what can we take away from this competitive tale?
1. Don't buy more than you 'need'.
Stocking up at a good price is common sense, especially if an item is completely shelf-stable and you are certain you will use up whatever you buy. But you also only 'need' so much stock! Buying too much at once will just fill up your cupboards and empty your pocket prematurely. You need to know yourself - the lifestyle you maintain, the things you do - and you need to 'plan' your shopping to meet those needs, not to exceed them. Think about it: what difference did having 20 candles in the house instead of just 10 make? Especially when only 10 would be used before the next sale? And speaking of 'the next sale'...
2. Understand the sale price and sale cycles of things you buy.
Both girls were aware that the candles on sale for $2.00 each was a very good price. They both knew that an end of season sale should occur at least once a year. Common sense says they would then both wait to buy their candles on sale each year for $2.00 each. Why, then, did Girl 1 go shopping for an item when it wasn't at that sale price, even when she hadn't run out of the item!? This happens a lot because either a) people like shopping or b) well... people like shopping. Buying things has become a cultural drug - we like the feeling of buying new things! We get off on finding 'deals'. We will even promise to buy more things that we don't need (e.g. getting future discounts), just to justify the first purchase we don't need (e.g. - well, they only cost $2.00 when you consider that future discount.) The stores all have sales tactics that make it all too easy to buy now and think later, but you have to stick to what you know. If you only need 20 candles in a year, don't buy 30. If you know a candle's sale price comes down to $2.00 each, don't buy when they are $3.00 each.
3. Shopping almost NEVER will change your life.
Notice how, at the end of the day, besides some dollars difference, neither girl had a better life because of their decision? This is because the things that impact our quality of life are almost never things. After our basic needs are met, our quality of life depends on how we live, not what we buy.
The next time you are considering buying something on sale, remember these two girls and ask yourself, does making this purchase today make me the smartest shopper? Or just a shopper?
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