Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Once a Year Shopping

Over on Frugal Hacks they posted an article about Shopping Once a Year. I wanted to give my thoughts about it. I had read the article that DL had read. It was about a couple that shopped only once a year for things that they could store. They didnt buy perishables in bulk of course but the idea is to stay out of the grocery stores and to save money by not spending it on the items that are impulse purchases. They started out slow and worked their way up to a year's worth of food.

My husband and I looked at the article and actually thought about trying it. We got so far as to write out the list of things that we use on a regular basis to see how much it would cost if we were to buy enough for the year. It would have been a little more than $1000, and it would have taken us a few months to gather the cash to buy all those things. I had also looked at the possibility of working our way up to the big once a year shopping trip. Shopping for one month at a time for three months, then for three months at a time, then six months, and then for one year.

We also looked at the fact that because we were still young, things would change drastically in a year. We only had one child at the time. There was always the possibility that we would have another child. There was always the possibility of our jobs not working out or having to move and having to start over again. Now granted this idea would work if it was just the job, but what would happen if we had to move to a smaller home (or across the country, as our hometown was 2000 miles away)? Then we would have been stuck with a lot of food and no where to put it.

Things like spices, canned goods, and cleaning supplies are good to have on hand, but I think that you could do just as well with coupons and get the things you need. People have been known to get a lot of items (enough to store for the year) for either very cheap or free by using coupons at the drugstores. It's just a matter of preference.

Personally, I like to buy a few items in bulk (because I have a large family now) to last a few months so Im not constantly in the store trying to get those items. Its not very fun to have to buy a box of pancake mix every time you want to make pancakes. So instead of buying that at the grocery store, I buy it at Sams Club and get a large bag of the mix to last me a month. (We really like pancakes here!)

What's your thoughts on Shopping Once a Year?

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