A frugal life is an easy life!

Supermarket's make huge profits on the exploitation of their customers!
They know for example, that if winter's coming, that people will buy more heinz soup. Guess what happens in the run up to winter?
That's right, the price shoots up for no apparent reason.
Our Asda increased the prices of Heinz soups from just under 60p to 84p in the run up to winter.
So what does the customer do?

Well Supermarkets know that when presented with the new higher price, the customer may not like it, but they will still buy it as they imagine where else they can buy it from and then consider the inconvenience of going there to get it.

This is where the thrifty shopper escapes price hikes.
You can almost guarantee, that after a month or so of sales falling flat, an end of aisle offer appears, to boost sales and/or clear their stock.
The multi buy offer can, if used correctly, save you some money. Many of these multi saves can also cost you more!

RULE OF THUMB: MULTI PACK BUYS - Always calculate how much each individual item is costing you!

Four tins of Heinz beans for £2 sounds good - it is in a big dump bin - with big red POS (Point of sale) all over it - it has prime location in the aisle - but stop and think!
Prior to this "offer" the regular price for an individual tin was 37p.
Then the price of an individual tin went up to 54p.
Now it is back, in a prime location at 4 tins for £2

Compared to the current shelf price - you would save just 16p - not good value as you are taking 4 tins of the product (Buying in bulk is supposed to be alot cheaper!)
Compared to the former shelf price - you are actually paying 52p more for your 4 tins!
The individual price of a tin of Heinz beans in this "special offer" is of course, 50p per tin, not good value when compared with the former shelf price is it!

On the other hand - I have about 20 tins of various flavours of Heinz soup in the cupboard.
Once increased in price to 82p per tin (from 58p per tin if memory serves me correctly), they remained this price right through the Christmas run up and after in the cold weather, I stopped buying them. I also didn't fall for the "own brand" soups at 2p cheaper than the over inflated price of the Heinz tins!
Having lots of stock, the offer was not long in coming just as I thought.
5 tins for £2 was the offer - at 40p per tin, 18p per tin LESS than the old regular shelf price, I'll have some of that!
So I stocked up on the various flavours.

The offer lasted about 10 days, as quick as it came on, it was taken off.
The price of an individual tin now is being advertised as a "rollback" at 74p - but this is 16p per tin MORE than the regular shelf price was before winter - not good value at all!
I now walk past the area where they are, with a little smugness - I bought those same tins from their shop at 40p each, everyone else who cannot resist the urge to pick up a tin or two, are now paying a staggering 34p per tin MORE than I did - and it is the same stock on the shelf as they had weeks earlier!

GOLDEN RULES OF SUPERMARKET SHOPPING:

1. DO NOT assume that a "Multi pack" buy is good value - work out the individual price per item - surely if you are buying 4 of an item it should save you more than 16p?
2. RESIST THE URGE to pick up a product that you know is over priced - if you have to go without it for the next couple of weeks, then do so. Don't be forced into paying over the odds for a product just because it is something you normally buy.
3. WATCH THE PRICES and wait - if the price increases then sales will fall and in a month or two weeks later expect a "sale" to start - especially if it is a popular seller.
4. DON'T FALL FOR THE "OWN BRAND" TRICK - supermarket's own brands used to be very cheap alternatives and therefore good value. This has not been the case for many years now, the branded product is artificially high in price and the "own brand" is then reduced to just a few pence below the artificially high branded product price. This is because the "own brand" profit made for the supermarket, is considerably higher on it's "own brand" products.
5. KEEP WATCHING PRICES of things you buy regularly every week or so. Even if you don't need them one week, make a note of the price.
6. IF YOU FIND A GOOD DEAL on the price you pay for the items you would normally buy, then stock up, keep in mind any sell by dates though.

When you walk into a supermarket, you are at the risk of a multi million pound business, who have spent millions on exploiting the shopping habits of their customers to make profit!
You can expect products at premium locations in aisles, varying prices to try and catch you out, etc, all to persuade you to buy things you would normally never buy.
Even warming up bread and wafting the smell around the store and locating it is done to influence your decisions on what you buy.

Put your cynical head on and be aggressive in resisting all their marketing attacks!