Comments on: Pleasing the Budget Nazi http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi http://www.lazylightning.org - The South Metro "News" Source! Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:26:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Bill http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3487 Bill Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:04:32 +0000 http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3487 Karah, It just shows the lengths I will go to please my wife ;-) Karah,

It just shows the lengths I will go to please my wife ;-)

]]> By: karah http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3486 karah Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:03:48 +0000 http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3486 wow! that was some kick-ass shopping. wow! that was some kick-ass shopping.

]]> By: Bill http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3463 Bill Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:40:44 +0000 http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3463 Mrs M, I have read on your blog that you do that but I thought it was more of an inside joke of some sort. I really don't care for shopping at CVS because they require those CVS club cards to get their deals and I refuse to take part in those. If you want to pass the links along, please fire off an e-mail to me at <a href="mailto:billandkimroehl@gmail.com" rel="nofollow">billandkimroehl@gmail.com</a>. Thanks :) Mrs M,

I have read on your blog that you do that but I thought it was more of an inside joke of some sort. I really don’t care for shopping at CVS because they require those CVS club cards to get their deals and I refuse to take part in those.

If you want to pass the links along, please fire off an e-mail to me at billandkimroehl@gmail.com. Thanks :)

]]> By: Mrs Marcos http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3461 Mrs Marcos Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:25:07 +0000 http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3461 It sounds backwards, but I keep control of our budget by buying all of our health & beauty aids as well as all of our cleaning supplies at CVS or Walgreens. I know you're probably thinking "HUH?" But by working their sales combined with manufacturer's coupons I almost always come out ahead. CVS is constantly putting out store coupons to save (like last month was $5 off when you spent $15 and they also had a save $3 when you spend $15 in beauty products, and you could use both coupons). They are pretty liberal with their bargains. I used to exclusively buy Purex laundry soap simply because it was the cheapest detergent...well now I buy Tide because I can actually get it cheaper than Purex by using coupons and working CVS deals. There are entire websites devoted to bargain shopping at CVS and Walgreens. Email me if you want some links. Some of the websites are run by over zealous religious fanatic types that are saving money to glorify God...but I say as long as I don't have to shave my head or drink Kool-Aid its all good. It sounds backwards, but I keep control of our budget by buying all of our health & beauty aids as well as all of our cleaning supplies at CVS or Walgreens. I know you’re probably thinking “HUH?” But by working their sales combined with manufacturer’s coupons I almost always come out ahead. CVS is constantly putting out store coupons to save (like last month was $5 off when you spent $15 and they also had a save $3 when you spend $15 in beauty products, and you could use both coupons). They are pretty liberal with their bargains. I used to exclusively buy Purex laundry soap simply because it was the cheapest detergent…well now I buy Tide because I can actually get it cheaper than Purex by using coupons and working CVS deals. There are entire websites devoted to bargain shopping at CVS and Walgreens. Email me if you want some links. Some of the websites are run by over zealous religious fanatic types that are saving money to glorify God…but I say as long as I don’t have to shave my head or drink Kool-Aid its all good.

]]> By: Kim Roehl http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3421 Kim Roehl Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:10:08 +0000 http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3421 In school I remember reading about how slim profit margins are at grocery stores... "Food retailers experience intense competition. Profit margins are about 1 cent on each dollar of sales. After-tax net profit for the U.S. supermarket industry was 1.46 percent during fiscal 2005-06, based on FMI’s 2006 Annual Financial Review. FMI indicates stores generally rely on generating high volume sales by making a penny on each sale of 100 items versus making 10 cents by selling 10 items." http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/markets/Food/groceryindustry.htm Also the rate of redemption for coupons is very very slim... "Fewer than 2 percent of all coupons are redeemed, said Charles Brown, vice president at NCH Marketing Services in Deerfield, Ill., a coupon clearinghouse for manufacturers and retailers. When consumers started printing copies of Internet coupons, it was like printing money. That's when manufacturers began limiting the number that each user could print." http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/yourmoney/15357476.html Because the low redemption rate manufacturers and retailers look at them as flat out advertising. Now obviously different types of coupons have different redemption rates but if everyone were using the amount of coupons that we do Cub would be hurting and they would probably switch to an alternative marketing method. Grocery stores do like to pull dick moves where they will take items that are commonly purchased together and have a sale or a coupon on say jelly, but they will increase the price on peanut butter incrementally. Hopefully by buying generic and by comparing prices between two grocery stores we are avoiding that problem and because the two stores are so close together we aren't screwing ourselves on extra gas to travel to the second store. In school I remember reading about how slim profit margins are at grocery stores…

“Food retailers experience intense competition. Profit margins are about 1 cent on each dollar of sales. After-tax net profit for the U.S. supermarket industry was 1.46 percent during fiscal 2005-06, based on FMI’s 2006 Annual Financial Review. FMI indicates stores generally rely on generating high volume sales by making a penny on each sale of 100 items versus making 10 cents by selling 10 items.”

http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/markets/Food/groceryindustry.htm

Also the rate of redemption for coupons is very very slim…

“Fewer than 2 percent of all coupons are redeemed, said Charles Brown, vice president at NCH Marketing Services in Deerfield, Ill., a coupon clearinghouse for manufacturers and retailers. When consumers started printing copies of Internet coupons, it was like printing money. That’s when manufacturers began limiting the number that each user could print.”

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/yourmoney/15357476.html

Because the low redemption rate manufacturers and retailers look at them as flat out advertising. Now obviously different types of coupons have different redemption rates but if everyone were using the amount of coupons that we do Cub would be hurting and they would probably switch to an alternative marketing method.

Grocery stores do like to pull dick moves where they will take items that are commonly purchased together and have a sale or a coupon on say jelly, but they will increase the price on peanut butter incrementally. Hopefully by buying generic and by comparing prices between two grocery stores we are avoiding that problem and because the two stores are so close together we aren’t screwing ourselves on extra gas to travel to the second store.

]]> By: Sank http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3418 Sank Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:38:08 +0000 http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3418 Our food budget for five s about 3X yours, and I try to keep a lid on expenses as much as possible. However I'm not very genuine about it as don't like shopping at Cub... I'm not a coupon clipper and I hate the crowds there. I do Target and Rainbow. Target, for their house brand stuff, Market Pantry and Archer Farms, you can't beat the price anywhere. The problem at Target is their produce sucks. The meat is OK, prices are good and the quality is excellent for their beef.. the rest not so much. Rainbow is where I go for fill in stuff and produce. When I'm comletely sick of eating processed food, which happens more and more these days I got to Valley. There prices are high, but I love the quality and, if you know how to cook and can use bulk raw indredients, you can actually save a ton of money there. Our food budget for five s about 3X yours, and I try to keep a lid on expenses as much as possible. However I’m not very genuine about it as don’t like shopping at Cub… I’m not a coupon clipper and I hate the crowds there. I do Target and Rainbow. Target, for their house brand stuff, Market Pantry and Archer Farms, you can’t beat the price anywhere. The problem at Target is their produce sucks. The meat is OK, prices are good and the quality is excellent for their beef.. the rest not so much. Rainbow is where I go for fill in stuff and produce.
When I’m comletely sick of eating processed food, which happens more and more these days I got to Valley. There prices are high, but I love the quality and, if you know how to cook and can use bulk raw indredients, you can actually save a ton of money there.

]]> By: Bill http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3415 Bill Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:38:13 +0000 http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3415 1. Yes, I know they are turning a profit. I'm not trying to beat them at some game, I'm just trying to feed us w/o bankrupting me ;) 2. E-mail them and see if they'll add SuperOne. 1. Yes, I know they are turning a profit. I’m not trying to beat them at some game, I’m just trying to feed us w/o bankrupting me ;)

2. E-mail them and see if they’ll add SuperOne.

]]> By: Pear Head http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3414 Pear Head Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:26:48 +0000 http://www.lazylightning.org/pleasing-the-budget-nazi#comment-3414 You understand however that Cub/Rainbow/whatever is still probably turning a profit, even though you've "saved" all that money, right? :) Although the other way to look at that is imagine how much MORE of your money they would have gotten without your work... Personally, I clip some store coupons here and there when I see them, more so in the past year than before, although we tend to stock up on the better priced items quite a bit - some things we'll buy a year's supply of if they're priced right, so we're not shopping for two weeks at a time or whatever. Also, the GroceryGuide website looked interesting when I read about it, but it doesn't cover one of the two major chains up here in Duluth (Super One). That really only leaves Cub here... I tend to shop Cub a lot more than Super One as Cub is 24/7 and Super One is closed when I head home from work, although Super One has much better meat deals and meat prices... You understand however that Cub/Rainbow/whatever is still probably turning a profit, even though you’ve “saved” all that money, right? :) Although the other way to look at that is imagine how much MORE of your money they would have gotten without your work…

Personally, I clip some store coupons here and there when I see them, more so in the past year than before, although we tend to stock up on the better priced items quite a bit - some things we’ll buy a year’s supply of if they’re priced right, so we’re not shopping for two weeks at a time or whatever.

Also, the GroceryGuide website looked interesting when I read about it, but it doesn’t cover one of the two major chains up here in Duluth (Super One). That really only leaves Cub here… I tend to shop Cub a lot more than Super One as Cub is 24/7 and Super One is closed when I head home from work, although Super One has much better meat deals and meat prices…

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