Money-saving deals

"are you on top of how much you spend?"

We have all seen those offers where you buy ‘3 for the price of 2’, and oftentimes those are actually quite good offers. However, it pays to check the best-by dates on those items as it’s common practice for shops to shift items that are in danger of having to be thrown away. Just saying: be vigilant.

If we scale this up and consider buying in bulk properly, we run into a completely different set of issues. Assuming that the pallet of 20 tins of mixed veg is going to be in date for an acceptable period of time, and the price is reasonably attractive, have you thought about storage at home?

I have had my share of clients with expired foods that have resulted from buying in bulk and then either forgetting the tins, or losing interest in eating that particular stuff.

You need to ask yourself: how and where do you store things? Most of us don’t have enough proper pantry space. Storage in a typical British home tends to be limited, so bulk-bought foods often end up in the garage or somewhere in the back of cupboards, where they are easily forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind. And then the same items are bought again, eating up the savings you make on the initial bulk-buy.

Add to this the psychology of shopping: can you refuse a cheap deal that is offered on your way to the checkout till? A special offer? Or – even worse – Black Friday deals? The real question to ask yourself here is not so much “Can I refuse this ‘cheap’ offer?”, but “Do I actually need this?”

When you find yourself in front of an “offer”, keep in mind that someone else wants you to buy this, and ask yourself why that would be the case: check expiry dates and conditions. And then consider where the “offer” ends up in your home. You may just come to the conclusion that you don’t really want to go ahead.

Speaking about paying for things, you may have encountered one of the many “buy now, pay later” services that allow you to pay purchases in instalments over a period of time. Those payments are usually interest-free, but only as long as you pay them in time. If you don’t, you may find yourself paying significant interest, though.

Such services can be particularly troublesome for those who struggle with managing money because it’s easy to accumulate instalment upon instalment and lose track of the total of repayments due. In my mind, they are more problematic than paying with a card, because the card payments CAN easily be followed up with bank extracts or a banking app. The delay payment services tend to claim money irregularly, and it’s a bit of a nightmare to follow up on the status quo, and it’s easy to overspend.

There is something to be said for cash payments when it comes to staying on top of your spendings.