The Perils of Careless Shopping

The problem with bargain hunting is that there is always a better deal somewhere out there. When I plan my grocery list, based on a tiny budget, I gather the ads, which come in the mail on Monday or Tuesday. These ads are for the next sale period which in Orange County runs from Wednesday to Tuesday.

By comparing the four five ads (Albertsons, Ralphs, Stater Brothers, Vons, and Henrys) I can see who has the same products on sale and where I should buy them. I generally end up at Vons and Ralphs for groceries and Henrys for produce. This is not to say that Albertsons and Stater Brothers do not have good sales. They do, but they do not double coupons. A coupon when doubled will usually trump a slightly lower club card price.

This week however I failed to carefully check the ads. It is unusual for me, I know, especially after a year of doing this. But it happens.

As you saw a few days ago I got a super deal at Ralphs this week. But Vons had a deal to trump the Ralphs deal. he Nature Valley bars which I got at Ralphs for $1.99 were on sale at Vons for $1.49. In addition at Ralphs to get the sale price you had to buy 8 products from the list. At Vons the deal was buy four qualifying items and get the deal.

Now four boxes would cost $5.96. With four coupons, which I still had even after using the five at Ralphs, the price of four boxes was $1.96 or $.49 a box. I paid $.99 at Ralphs just an hour earlier. Now you can argue since I used my reward voucher I got a better deal at Ralphs since it did not cost any actual money whereas at Vons I had to pay. You can also argue that $6.91 for nine boxes of granola bars is still a good deal.

The deal is even better when you consider I got a General Mills coupon for $3.50 from Ralphs for five boxes and another voucher for $2.50 from Vons. This is six dollars in vouchers for seven dollars in good or an effective $.09 a box. Since I will use both vouchers within a week it is still an excellent deal.

But every week each store has an ad. They are often distractingly similar. With prices within 10% of each other. This is why I make lists and use the margins for notations to remind me of similar deals at the other stores. That way when staring mindlessly at the product in the store I can carefully evaluate whether I really want to buy it.

My point is that bargain shopping is a mind numbing and often tedious chore. Women I talk to seem to actually like the challenge, and some even call it thrill. What I like is having a little extra money in the bank every week so I don’t sit up at night with a cold sweat from the fear of being destitute.