Know the price per ounce of all food and cleaning supplies that you purchase. Example: vegetables 4 cents per ounce, meat 10 cents per ounce or pine oil cleaner 2 cents per ounce. This will prevent financial mistakes like paying $1.49 for a 20 ounce bottle of soda pop (7 1/2 cents per ounce) when you could have drank home made instant tea mix (2 cents per ounce) Home brewed tea would have been even cheaper 1 cent for 8 ounces.
I am not telling you to keep a list of every food price but to know what you are paying for each category of food and to put a limit on the price per ounce that you are willing to pay. Canned peaches were $1.29 for a 29 ounce can and bananas were $0.39 per pound. I bought bananas because they were 2 cents per ounce and the canned peaches were 4 cents per ounce.
When you know price per ounce, the savings are automatic.
By Native Okie from Tulsa, OK
I've done this since I had my kids, my mum did it as well. It gets to be automatic doesn't it? Best of luck.
By Marg
Great idea!. I never thought of doing it this way. I just keep a list of the regular price of things I buy regularly, then I know if the sale price is really good or not. I'm going to try your way.
By Danialle
It is a good idea to check the prices per weight. I was at Wal-Mart recently and had been buying the gallon-size Minute Maid orange juice for $6.12. Imagine my surprise when I added up what two half-gallons of the same orange juice cost - $2.28 each - much cheaper than the $6.12. Plus the half-gallons are in cardboard containers while the gallon-size was in plastic. Another benefit is that one of the half-gallon boxes stays sealed, therefore fresher, while using the other half-gallon box. (11/28/2009)
By Noella
I didn't always take time to calculate price per ounce. I was really glad when stores began voluntarily includint that info on price tags and such. My variation of your tip was that I'd compare unit prices. One can of soda was $0.50, whereas buying a case made the unit price half that. Bad example, I know, since I don't even drink much soda anymore.
Okay, here's another example: For a large family, we'd have spent two or three times the money on dry cereal if I hadn't checked unit price. And I rarely bought pre-sweetened. Easier and cheaper to add your own, and you control the amount of sugar added. (11/28/2009)
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