I admit to being put off by the commercialism of Christmas, and the entire holiday season. I’m not quite a Scrooge, but pretty close! A while back I wrote about being a reformed emotional shopper. Might sound strange coming from a guy, but it is true. I used to shop when I was sad, happy, or just plain bored. I collected DVDs and CDs, video games, computer equipment, etc, and Black Friday ads were a thing of beauty. So was the rush of finding a great deal!

Black Friday Emotions:  The Thrill of the Hunt

For some reason, advertisers have managed to convince us that if we don’t get to stores at 4:00am on Black Friday morning we are going to miss out on the deals of a lifetime. As if the products they are advertising will never again be available, or at least not at the price they are offering. I say, bah humbug!

First of all, if you are hanging out at a mall or parked in front of an electronic store at four o’clock in the morning you aren’t going to get the best deal anyway. There are many ways to save more on typical Black Friday purchases by using eBay, Amazon.com, or Craigslist to buy new items online, or gently used items via auction.

Secondly, too many people (myself included) get too caught up in the “thrill of the hunt” on Black Friday. It’s human nature, I suppose. People hear about a great deal and swarm to the store, whether they really need the item or not. Once there, they refuse to give up their place in line because someone else might get a better deal than them, or they may miss limited quantities reserved at that specific sale price.

Black Friday Ads: Loss Leaders Galore

Some of you may be wondering how stores can afford to sell their products at such huge discounts. Well, the answer is they really cannot afford to, but they do it in the hopes that you will come in planning to fill a shopping cart full of other items at a higher profit. It is the classic game of dangling a “loss leader” in front of consumers and hoping they don’t come in to buy just that item and leave.

So where will Frugal Dad be tomorrow morning at 5:00am? I’ll be hunkered down under a warm blanket with my family, sleeping off Thanksgiving Dinner and enjoying a day off. We have officially declared it a “No Spend Weekend” and plan to do a little work around the house, ride through our neighborhood and enjoy Christmas lights, and enjoy a warm fire with a holiday movie. Plenty of time for online shopping later.

Photo courtesy of le

Our family recliner has been on its last leg (literally) for some time now.  After years of use, a couple moves, and kids substituting it for an indoor jungle gym, it finally bit the dust.  The base of the chair splintered off two Sunday afternoons ago just as I was kicking back to recline and watch a little football, sending me to the floor in a heap, and sending my wife and kids over the edge with laughter.  You know you are a member of the frugal class when the first three things you think to yourself are, “Does my back hurt?  Does my shoulder hurt?  How much is in our emergency fund?”  Sad, I know, but at least I had the priorities in correct order.

Searching for a New (Old) Recliner

A brief (and I mean brief–open furniture ad, grasp chest in response to the price of recliners, and toss ad in trash can) survey of the Sunday sale ads didn’t provide many leads.  Unfortunately, we missed the window of yard sale opportunities by one day, but decided we could make do with our old sofa (which is also in need of replacement) for a few days.  I hit Craigslist and eBay (looking for local auctions), but those searches yielded nothing. Nothing on the bulletin boards at work or at the gym.

I checked back with Craigslist near the end of the week and a search for “chair” in my area revealed a yard sale on Saturday morning with a used La-Z-Boy recliner as one of the items for sale.  We woke up early and headed over to the address listed and liked what we saw from the street.  The light brown recliner matched our other furniture well (not that this was a big concern), and it appeared to be in good shape.  Upon closer inspection and test ride (or sit) proved that the chair was sturdy and lacked any stains or weird odors.  The homeowners were asking $40, and we paid them without haggling (I hate haggling at yard sales).  Sure, we might could have talked them down a few dollars, but the chair retailed for a few hundred bucks, so I considered it a win-win for both parties.

Patience Over Impulse

With the back off from the base the recliner easily fit in the back of our SUV.  We carried it in, reattached the back and everyone gave it a try.  We’ve had it a couple weeks now and I can say it is a very comfortable chair.  My wife thinks I say that just because it costs us $40, and there might be some truth to that, but it really is a solid recliner.  I was proud of us for holding off on a new chair from the furniture store for two reasons.  One, we saved a ton of money, and two, we took an old chair off someone’s hands and kept it out of the landfill where it would take years to disintegrate.  I put our old chair out by the curb with a sign marked, “Needs Work–Free” and an industrious passerby picked it up and hauled it off.  I guess there is always someone out there more frugal than you!

I heard an interesting radio advertisement today for Sam’s Club.  According to the ad beginning this Friday, October 17th, you can sign up for a 10-week membership to Sam’s Club for only $10, which should last through the end of the year.  It could be a good opportunity to save a little money on Christmas shopping, stockpile paper products, and even save a little on gasoline (Sam’s Clubs usually offer cheaper gas than other stations). 

As always, do your homework before signing up for a membership.  If you doubt you will ever shop at Sam’s Club, or won’t buy enough to realize $10 worth of savings, you would do better to pass on the offer.  And keep in mind that bulk packaging is not always cheaper.  Sometimes you do better to buy smaller packaging, but more of it–always compare unit prices.

One note:  I wasn’t able to confirm this deal at the Sam’s Club website, but I have heard some buzz about the deal from forum participants in other markets, so I’m hoping it is something that is available nationally.  Watch the comments for updates, and please share a comment if you hear about this deal in your area.

Photo courtesy of dogfrog

My fellow male readers may view this as a “devil’s advocate” post, but I’m not calling it that because my wife is a reader and she may take offense!

Let’s play a little game.  Read the following line, close your eyes and pay attention to the image you have in your head:  “The shopper, loaded down with bags from a morning of scouting out sales, walked briskly towards the mall’s exit.”  Ok, you can open your eyes now.  Was your mental image of the shopper a man or a woman?  Right, it was a woman.  That’s because most stereotypical views of shoppers and shop-a-holics assume women are the major offenders.  However, I would argue that men are equally guilty.

The Male Shopper vs. the Female Shopper

After my wife and I first married she took up an interest in scrapbooking.  We bought so many scrapbook supplies that I joked we could run a scrapbooking supply store out of our spare bedroom.  Of course, I was reminded how much went into each scrapbook, including the books themselves, stickers, cardstock, stamps, etc, etc.  I wasn’t convinced.  I thought this ranked up there with one of the most expensive hobbies ever conceived.  I griped about the cost of everything, and trips to the scrapbook store frequently led to arguments about money and left us both feeling guilty–her for buying supplies, and me for being upset about it.

The funny thing is that during this same period I bought a laptop computer that I “had to have,” a pager with a texting feature (this was before the days of cell phone text messages), and a new truck.  Those three purchases alone were many thousands of dollars more than the money my wife spent on her weekly scrapbook supplies, but they were spread out over the course of a year or so.  Other than those luxuries I stayed out of stores for the most part, which somehow justified my spending over hers.  Not fair.

Women Buy Shoes, Men Buy iPhones

Some women like shoes or purses, while others enjoy spending money on cooking or crafts.  Some men like cars or electronic gadgets, while others pour money into radio controlled planes or sporting events.   The point is that we all have our weaknesses when it comes to consuming.  The infrequency of our shopping trips, or the resulting amounts, do not make one party fiscally superior to the other.  The average man has many jokes in his arsenal about how much his wife likes to shop, but if they really stopped to analyze spending they would probably discover they spend just as much (and in most cases, much more) on big ticket items.

How does this compare to the spending in your current relationship?  Are you the spender, or the saver?

Photo by ninjapoodles

Consumer Alert:  Many of your favorite brands are drastically reducing product sizes without a corresponding drop in price.  In some cases, the price has even gone up while the quantities have gone down.  This has been going on for some time, but the latest reductions in product size has been more drastic, and come at a time when consumers are already feeling the pinch of rising food and gas prices.

Last week I received an email from someone who works in the food industry (they asked to remain anonymous).  In the email they cited several examples of brands that are reducing their quantity per package:

• Starkist Tuna
• El Paso Seasoning Mixes
• Folgers Coffee

Obviously, this is not a exhaustive list, but I wanted to share the specific examples provided so you would be more aware during your next grocery shopping trip.

What Can We Do About Rising Prices and Falling Quantities?

Not much.  But, it is a good time to remind consumers to check out unit prices when comparing various product sizes.  Often times bulk packaging is more expensive per unit than smaller counterparts.  Marketing departments are banking on the popular misconception that bulk packaging is always cheaper.  Take along a calculator during your shopping trip, or use the calculator utility on your cell phone to compute the unit costs of the product your are interested in.  Here’s a real-life example from one of my past shopping trips for laundry supplies:

• $10.99 for 120 loads – $.0916 per load
• $6.84 for 90 loads – $0.076 per load

The 1.5 cent difference doesn’t sound like much, but if the larger container was offered in a 90-load size at the same unit price it would cost about $8.24 - a $1.40 premium over the smaller package.  If you go through a bottle a month that adds up to nearly $17 over the course of a year.  Multiply those savings by four or five similar products and you can easily see how checking unit prices can save you a couple hundred dollars a year.

Have you noticed any of your favorite brands reducing product sizes to reduce costs?

I confess–I’m not the best coupon organizer. I am good at clipping them, but bad at filing them, and even worse at remembering to use them in the store. However, I recognize the savings potential for using coupons, which is especially important in the current era of rising food prices. But, there is a danger in using coupons.

Often times we found ourselves buying things we didn’t really need just because there was a great coupon deal. We decided to focus our coupon strategy, taking advantage of store sales, coupon-doubling and eBay to maximize savings on the few items we actually used.

How it Works, a Recent Example

Our family likes adding I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray to vegetables such as corn on the cob. It has zero fat, is calorie free, and is generally healthier than real butter alternatives. It is also expensive, especially in the spray bottle packaging. Our local Kroger store recently offered I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter 2/$3.00 dollars. The $1.50 price was competitive with other stores, including Wal-Mart and another smaller, regional grocery store. The deal also included larger 16oz. tubs, and smaller double packs of 8oz. tubs.

eBay to the Rescue

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any coupons for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. Luckily, there are many people out there making a small living as “coupon clippers,” selling their time to clip coupons on eBay and other coupon exchange sites. It is important to emphasize that selling coupons is technically prohibited according to the terms of use on most manufacturer coupons.  However, coupon clippers make the distinction that they are merely selling their time to clip them, not selling the coupons themselves.

A quick search on eBay shows several auctions for a lot of 10 $0.40/1 coupons for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, expiring at the end of June. The buy-it-now auction price is $1.00 with $0.42 shipping. I ordered a lot of 10 coupons and they arrived a couple days later. Our local Kroger store doubles up to 3 manufacturer coupons per item per transaction up to $1.00, so we will actually save $0.80 on each product we purchase. If we buy just two products the coupons will more than pay for themselves ($1.60 in savings versus $1.42 cost). But the savings don’t stop there. I picked up three spray butters, and my wife picked up another one along with two large tubs that we will use in recipes. Total savings, $4.80 off the retail price. Take away our $1.42 cost to acquire the coupons and we saved $3.38, or roughly 37.5% off the sale price.

Check the Expiration

Notice in the explanation above we only used 6 of the 10 coupons I bought from the eBay coupon clipper. I could have gone back in for a separate transaction and purchased three more units, but based on our average length of use for each item they probably would have expired long before we could have used them up. The $0.70 spray bottles we did buy, and both tubs, will keep in our refrigerators until ready for use, but it is a good idea to check the expiration for any perishables when stockpiling in the manner I’ve described. After all, the point of being frugal is to eliminate waste from our lives, not add more to it!

Do you have a similar coupon strategy?

photo by: ninjapoodles

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We have been loyal Kroger grocery store shoppers for some time, and thanks to their double-coupon deals we’ve managed to save quite a bit of money on sale items. As an added bonus, Kroger grocery stores also offer a loyalty card that allows members to receive a $0.10 per gallon discount on gasoline for every $100 you spend on groceries. I ran gasoline purchases through my Discover More Card (check out my short list of the best credit cards) for the rebate.  For several months I refused to shop anywhere else because I was convinced this was saving us money. That line of thinking came to a screeching halt when I finally sat down to do the math, and a little comparison shopping.

My Car Can’t Hold More Gas

Gas prices are steadily climbing, but Kroger’s fuel discount only provides a flat discount off the retail price of gasoline. Since my car can’t hold any additional gasoline this means my savings are fairly well capped to $2.00 per fill up (assuming an average of about 20 gallons per fill up). During the last few shopping trips I’ve noticed significant price increases at Kroger, particularly on dairy, meats and a few packaged dried goods (crackers, cookies, etc.). I knew prices were up everywhere, but I decided to shop around.

Wal-Mart vs. Kroger

I visited a local Wal-Mart Supercenter last weekend armed with the receipt from my last trip to our Kroger grocery store. What I found confirmed my suspicions – Kroger was more expensive. Several items were significantly higher at the Kroger store – some even as much as $1.25 higher for the exact same product and size. It wouldn’t take a lot of shopping at Wal-Mart to offset the $2.00 I saved per weekly fill-up at the Kroger gas pumps. In fact, we could save quite a bit of money by moving the majority of our grocery shopping to Wal-Mart.

The Kroger fuel discount, and the Kroger Plus card, are great examples of how loyalty programs work. Companies create the perception that by sticking with them you will automatically save money. As my impromptu research has shown, that is not always the case. Be sure to shop around, and stop to do the math to figure out if saving money is costing you more than you think.

Receive 5% cash back in categories like travel, home improvement, gas, restaurants, and more. Earn 1% cash back on all other qualifying purchases. The Discover More card comes with no annual fee, a 0% intro APR on purchases and balances transfers. I use this card almost exclusively for travel and gasoline purchases.