Know your prices

Just because you are in a Wal-Mart, don't assume they will have the cheapest price on everything.

They will often have "loss leaders", advertised items which they sell at a loss to get people in the store. If you are in the store (hopefully for something else), see a cheap item, which you need, or expect to need, then buy it.

This is the key. That you will really need.

It's so easy to buy something just because it's, cheap, it's a good deal, and surely you, or someone in your family, or a friend, can find a use for it.

I bought a couple of things at Wal-Mart this year because they were loss leaders.
They had spiral notebooks on sale for 5 cents during the "back to school" promotion.
That's right, a nickel. I bought about 8 of them. I considered buying a lot more, but I thought I really couldn't use more than about 8 of them in the next year or so.

Last week I bought pillows. They had them on sale for $5.00 each which I was pretty sure was a good price, and I could use new pillows.

The thing is, you really need to know your prices.

I was shopping for spices, but Wal-Mart wanted almost $2.00 for garlic powder, and I knew I could get it for $ .50 (50 cents) at Dollar General.

I know it doesn't seem like a lot of money. It's not so much the money, as the mentality of knowing your prices. It can add up over the long run.

Shopping at the 99 Cent store

We don't have 99 Cent stores where I live. They have them in New York, and I always enjoyed shopping (or at least, browsing) in them when I worked there.

Jay Leno had a segment on his show, highlighting things you can buy at the 99 Cent store.

I live in Wichita, Kansas. Here there are a few Dollar Tree stores, where everything is $1.00, so that's pretty much the equivalent to the 99 Cent store.

My favorite cheap store is Dollar General. There is another cheap store called Family Dollar.