Wednesday, April 01, 2009

When a Deal is Not a Deal

So, I have quickly learned that not every 'steal' you find is indeed good for you. Especially when you run out of storage room, and have some brown bags of groceries stashed under the kitchen table *ahem*

Anyway, when Jewel first had the Kellogg's deal (read online before it was in their ad) about getting free milk with cereal, Matt and I went, but the ones on sale were not the ones we would eat. So even though we could have paid $5 for 10 boxes of cereal and 3 gallons of milk, it isn't worth it. Sure, even if we had given away all of the cereal to friends who would eat it, it would be $5 for 3 gallons of milk, which isn't even great, and I would have 'wasted' coupons in the process.

We waited until Special K turned up on sale, which is something we love, and had coupons for. We did the deal twice for a total of 3 free milk and 8 boxes of cereal. Our cereal shelf is now full, and we are happy.

Also, my work had a free pizza lunch today. I did end up having a little bit, but at first I wasn't going to. Matt was like "but it's FREE. Save your leftovers for another day." However, I have enough leftovers to last me all week, so I needn't do that. I am also working on healthy eating and don't always WANT something that's 'bad' for me. But I did have a few pieces, because it was actually pretty good once I sopped up the grease. I also can 'guess' the calories fairly accurately, based on other pizza I have had recently.

Basically, just because something is free, doesn't mean you should buy it. But if you can make it work for you, go for it! If you have the means to buy things for pennies on the dollar and donate to shelters and share with friends, then by all means go for it!! Just be sure you aren't out growing your storage space (or your familiy's patience)

3 comments:

Amanda Grant said...

This is a good point. I'm teaching a savvy shopping class at waubonsee this summer, and i have some time dedicated to the "Deal that really isn't". When I was new to hounding, I made this mistake a few times before I realized that not every 'deal' is the deal for me.

Bezzie said...

Amen! For example I can't imagine buying 3 gallons of milk--deal or no deal. It would go to waste so fast at my house! This is why I love powdered milk--you can make small quantities that get used before they go bad.

Marcy said...

Yes! I will bring coupons to the store, but often the store brand is so much cheaper than the coupon/brand item I don't buy it anyway. Store brand rice crispies at a dollar a box are fine for the growing child who swallows without tasting. :)