Shop around, save a fortune.
I've done shopping related blogs before but haven't given away all my trade secrets - still here's a few more. Seriously - if you can be bothered, you could save thousands a year just by following my simple advice.
It all sounds totally obvious "No shit, sherlock" type stuff, but how many people actually do get the best deal week in week out?
Just as a disclaimer before we start - if you are the sort of person who has a well paid job and plenty of money - you probably don't have the time/ inclination to scrabble around saving a few quid here and there - life's too short! This blog is more for people like me who don't work full time, looking after kids etc yet manage to maintain a pretty decent lifestyle on a limited budget.
In the past I've done blogs about rip off special offers, multisaves etc so I won't go over that old ground again - you can find them in the blog archive. In this blog I am going to cover shopping around - and in the next one
Let's deal with the unit price thing first. I'll use soft drinks as an example. Let's assume you like to drinks cans of coke or pepsi - possibly both. And you drink a lot of it - like me. OK - even if you don't - imagine another product you buy all the time.
Now when you shop for these products in a supermarket - their prices change all the time. .Different products will be on different promotions in different chains every week. Each has it's standard price e.g. £3 for 6 cans of Diet Coke is fairly standard. Yet every few weeks this product will be available at half price or BOGOF in Tesco whilst it is full price in Sainsbury, the next week it will be on offer in Sainsbury and something else will be on offer in Tesco - Pepsi for example or a different pack size of coke.
The point is that you should NEVER just pay £3 for six cans of coke. That's 50p a can. Bearing in mind when it's on promotion you are paying 25p a can. That's 25p saving everytime you open one. Say you drink 8 cans a week - that's £2.00 saving a week or £104 a year - and that's just one product.
But - if you don't have time to go to several different supermarkets or you shop online - well what can you do? Either look for the best unit price available - or stock up heavily with a month's supply or more. It's not rocket science as they say. You need to be able to do a bit of maths too. And remember - some offers are crap. Tesco this week have two eight packs of diet coke for £7 - that is a crap offer. 43.75p a can. Last week they were on BOGOF - far better. Under my system you'd have bought half a dozen packs and stocked up last week so no need to buy them this week.
There is only ever one time you can justify paying a quid or more for a can of coke and that's when you want one right now, and it's got to be cold - then you get it from the chiller cabinet of any shop going. You are paying then for the convenience of it being cold. That's how shops like WHSmith justify it - but what about other things? I think it absolutely outrageous that you can walk into one of those branches and be expected to pay 70p for a Mars Bar or 60p for a packet of crisps when you can get 4 Mars bars for a quid in the supermaket and multipacks of crisps at a fraction of the price.
Anyone who buys a single chocolate bar in a shop like WHSmith is a muppet and a fool and literally throwing their money away on a retailer that is taking the piss. If you want to throw your money away like that, come round to my house, give me 50p and I will give you a Mars Bar out of my cupboard. Would you feel ripped off by me selling you something for 50p that I paid 25p for. Probably. Do you feel ripped off in Smiths paying 70p for something they probably paid 20p - probably not. Why? Because they are a "respected" retailer and I am not. And don't buy anything else from WHSmith either while we are at it - their office equipment/ supplies are hideously over priced.
Anyway - unit prices - everything's on offer somewhere all the time, here's a few examples of products I buy all the time and my minimum unit pricing I aim for. You should be aiming to get down as low as the following prices "per unit". And in many cases you can get a lot less.
Coke/ Pepsi - 30p per can
Crisps/ snacks - 15p per pack
Strongbow 440ml can - 65p per can
Dishwasher Tablets - 15p per tablet
Washing tablets/ liquid - 20p per wash
PG Tips - 2p per bag
Mars bars/ Twix/ Kit Kats etc - 25p per bar
In terms of shopping around, all of the supermarkets will claim to be the cheapest, giving price comparisons on various products and even deductions at the till or telling you how much you have saved on your shop but these don't tell the whole story. They are based on what we used to call "KVI's" - known value items - that's the few hundred or so top selling branded lines that all consumer know and are price sensitive about. It's not possible to directly compare most fresh products for a start as the supermarkets all vary in their offerings - for example - how do you easily compare a Tesco 400g pack of "Casserole Steak" with a Sainsbury 450g pack of "Braising Steak" - different weights, different names, differing quality. You can't compare. Same goes for all those "Finest" or "Taste The Difference" meals - the mark-up on those is horrendous and there is nothing to compare against. Also these comparisons don't always take into account promotions. So let's go back to Diet Coke for another example. This week it's £3.85 for an 8 pack in Sainsbury but £3.98 for an 8 pack in Asda. So it's cheaper in Sainsbury than in Asda - you won't get any discount on your till receipt for that in Sainsbury. However what you aren't told is that it's "Buy 2 for £5" in Asda - making them the cheapest per unit if you buy 2 packs. There are loads of websites dedicated to this sort of thing. Check out the attached link and you will see what I mean (NB: prices change all the time so this might not be correct by the time you look at it).
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/#/Shopping/FindProducts.aspx?Query=diet coke
Click on the diet coke 8 pack and you can see the various offers, and where to buy. It also demonstrates how crap Tesco's current 2 for £7 offer is. I've said it before and I'll say it again - never be lulled into thinking those little yellow shelf stickers mean you've got a good deal.
Note on the link also the graph - and the ups and down of the price. Think of it like the stock market - you want to be buying at the bottom. Diet Coke doesn't go off that quickly so if you get what I call a MEGA deal - the sort that doesn't come up very often - when it's say 20p a can, buy as many as you can afford/ carry! You can also do it online - though remember online shopping comes with other factors you've got to take into account like delivery charges and such like.
The site I linked to above Mysupermarket.co.uk is a great place to make comparisons. Particularly if you want to do your shop online. Personally I wouldn't - more of that next time, but there's nothing to stop me doing a "mock" shop at Tesco and then going up to the shop to get it. The other thing I like about this site, is it does highlight for you what the best deal is, taking into account unit prices and promotions.
What it doesn't do is let you do one shop from several shops. Now wouldn't that be good - if you could cherry pick online and have a home delivery come for £100 quids worth of stuff, a third each from Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda. Probably not logistically or economically feasible but still a nice idea! I still wouldn't food shop online though - why not? That's coming in the next entry.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason x x
It all sounds totally obvious "No shit, sherlock" type stuff, but how many people actually do get the best deal week in week out?
Just as a disclaimer before we start - if you are the sort of person who has a well paid job and plenty of money - you probably don't have the time/ inclination to scrabble around saving a few quid here and there - life's too short! This blog is more for people like me who don't work full time, looking after kids etc yet manage to maintain a pretty decent lifestyle on a limited budget.
In the past I've done blogs about rip off special offers, multisaves etc so I won't go over that old ground again - you can find them in the blog archive. In this blog I am going to cover shopping around - and in the next one
Let's deal with the unit price thing first. I'll use soft drinks as an example. Let's assume you like to drinks cans of coke or pepsi - possibly both. And you drink a lot of it - like me. OK - even if you don't - imagine another product you buy all the time.
Now when you shop for these products in a supermarket - their prices change all the time. .Different products will be on different promotions in different chains every week. Each has it's standard price e.g. £3 for 6 cans of Diet Coke is fairly standard. Yet every few weeks this product will be available at half price or BOGOF in Tesco whilst it is full price in Sainsbury, the next week it will be on offer in Sainsbury and something else will be on offer in Tesco - Pepsi for example or a different pack size of coke.
The point is that you should NEVER just pay £3 for six cans of coke. That's 50p a can. Bearing in mind when it's on promotion you are paying 25p a can. That's 25p saving everytime you open one. Say you drink 8 cans a week - that's £2.00 saving a week or £104 a year - and that's just one product.
 |
| How much would you pay per can? |
But - if you don't have time to go to several different supermarkets or you shop online - well what can you do? Either look for the best unit price available - or stock up heavily with a month's supply or more. It's not rocket science as they say. You need to be able to do a bit of maths too. And remember - some offers are crap. Tesco this week have two eight packs of diet coke for £7 - that is a crap offer. 43.75p a can. Last week they were on BOGOF - far better. Under my system you'd have bought half a dozen packs and stocked up last week so no need to buy them this week.
There is only ever one time you can justify paying a quid or more for a can of coke and that's when you want one right now, and it's got to be cold - then you get it from the chiller cabinet of any shop going. You are paying then for the convenience of it being cold. That's how shops like WHSmith justify it - but what about other things? I think it absolutely outrageous that you can walk into one of those branches and be expected to pay 70p for a Mars Bar or 60p for a packet of crisps when you can get 4 Mars bars for a quid in the supermaket and multipacks of crisps at a fraction of the price.
Anyone who buys a single chocolate bar in a shop like WHSmith is a muppet and a fool and literally throwing their money away on a retailer that is taking the piss. If you want to throw your money away like that, come round to my house, give me 50p and I will give you a Mars Bar out of my cupboard. Would you feel ripped off by me selling you something for 50p that I paid 25p for. Probably. Do you feel ripped off in Smiths paying 70p for something they probably paid 20p - probably not. Why? Because they are a "respected" retailer and I am not. And don't buy anything else from WHSmith either while we are at it - their office equipment/ supplies are hideously over priced.
Anyway - unit prices - everything's on offer somewhere all the time, here's a few examples of products I buy all the time and my minimum unit pricing I aim for. You should be aiming to get down as low as the following prices "per unit". And in many cases you can get a lot less.
Coke/ Pepsi - 30p per can
Crisps/ snacks - 15p per pack
Strongbow 440ml can - 65p per can
Dishwasher Tablets - 15p per tablet
Washing tablets/ liquid - 20p per wash
PG Tips - 2p per bag
Mars bars/ Twix/ Kit Kats etc - 25p per bar
In terms of shopping around, all of the supermarkets will claim to be the cheapest, giving price comparisons on various products and even deductions at the till or telling you how much you have saved on your shop but these don't tell the whole story. They are based on what we used to call "KVI's" - known value items - that's the few hundred or so top selling branded lines that all consumer know and are price sensitive about. It's not possible to directly compare most fresh products for a start as the supermarkets all vary in their offerings - for example - how do you easily compare a Tesco 400g pack of "Casserole Steak" with a Sainsbury 450g pack of "Braising Steak" - different weights, different names, differing quality. You can't compare. Same goes for all those "Finest" or "Taste The Difference" meals - the mark-up on those is horrendous and there is nothing to compare against. Also these comparisons don't always take into account promotions. So let's go back to Diet Coke for another example. This week it's £3.85 for an 8 pack in Sainsbury but £3.98 for an 8 pack in Asda. So it's cheaper in Sainsbury than in Asda - you won't get any discount on your till receipt for that in Sainsbury. However what you aren't told is that it's "Buy 2 for £5" in Asda - making them the cheapest per unit if you buy 2 packs. There are loads of websites dedicated to this sort of thing. Check out the attached link and you will see what I mean (NB: prices change all the time so this might not be correct by the time you look at it).
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/#/Shopping/FindProducts.aspx?Query=diet coke
Click on the diet coke 8 pack and you can see the various offers, and where to buy. It also demonstrates how crap Tesco's current 2 for £7 offer is. I've said it before and I'll say it again - never be lulled into thinking those little yellow shelf stickers mean you've got a good deal.
Note on the link also the graph - and the ups and down of the price. Think of it like the stock market - you want to be buying at the bottom. Diet Coke doesn't go off that quickly so if you get what I call a MEGA deal - the sort that doesn't come up very often - when it's say 20p a can, buy as many as you can afford/ carry! You can also do it online - though remember online shopping comes with other factors you've got to take into account like delivery charges and such like.
The site I linked to above Mysupermarket.co.uk is a great place to make comparisons. Particularly if you want to do your shop online. Personally I wouldn't - more of that next time, but there's nothing to stop me doing a "mock" shop at Tesco and then going up to the shop to get it. The other thing I like about this site, is it does highlight for you what the best deal is, taking into account unit prices and promotions.
What it doesn't do is let you do one shop from several shops. Now wouldn't that be good - if you could cherry pick online and have a home delivery come for £100 quids worth of stuff, a third each from Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda. Probably not logistically or economically feasible but still a nice idea! I still wouldn't food shop online though - why not? That's coming in the next entry.
If you have enjoyed reading this blog, please take a look at my books on Amazon (Paperback & Kindle), where you can read lots more of the same! Click here.
Jason x x
I think to get the deals driving around to tesco, lidl, aldi and then all the way to MK or High Wycombe and back kind of defeats the object - petrol and time etc. I am on my online stuff... Asda next week £3.00 delivery more than covers the petrol. I won't howver compromise on continental meats and cheeses - lidl/aldi all the way!
ReplyDeleteI think to get the deals driving around to tesco, lidl, aldi and then all the way to MK or High Wycombe and back kind of defeats the object - petrol and time etc. I am on my online stuff... Asda next week £3.00 delivery more than covers the petrol. I won't howver compromise on continental meats and cheeses - lidl/aldi all the way!
ReplyDeleteI don't do much of the driving around to be fair - I'm limited by where I can walk to which at present only really gives me Tesco, Iceland, M&S & Aldi - the loss of Somerfield was a blow though Sainsbury in town will add a much needed extra dimension.
ReplyDeleteWhen we went to Asda last week - a one off as we were going to IKEA anyway I only bought lines that I knew were on offer/ cheaper than in Tesco - so did not come away with any Coke from there as I knew it was cheaper in Tesco that week.
Aldi - meats and cheeses are amazing. I'm loving their sliced Bavarian Smoked Cheese at the moment - with each slice individually separated like good Parma Ham - nice touch and dee-lish! x x
Mike posted this on my facebook page - have copied here plus my reply as it may be of interest.
ReplyDeleteMike Fulford: Informative as ever Jason, can you explain why multipacks have printed on them ' only sold in a multipack' are they a difference size, like mars bars four or a quid but they are smaller? Thankyou, michael from Basingstoke
9 minutes ago via mobile · Like
Jason Ayres: Hi Mike - that is a very interesting question! Well in some cases yes, some no. Coca Cola is in a standard 330ml size, yet some brands such as Walkers Crisps are in 25g in the multipack size as opposed to 37.5g in the single serve pack - that's 50% more crisps for your money! However that 50% doesn't count for a lot when you are asked for 60p+ for a single bag, yet can often buy packs of say 28x25g for as little as £3 - i.e not much above 10p a bag. The same is true to a lesser extent on Mars Bars which are 54g in the multipack size and 58g in the single serve so hardly any difference there. These change size over the years. If you think they are not as big as they used to be - you are right! The 58g single serve was 62.5g until being reduced in 2008. Same goes for many other confectionery brands. So it's not just that you have got bigger - they have got smaller! Hope this helps! Happy shopping!