You're not "Saving," You're "Cost Avoiding"

There's a big difference between "saving" and "cost avoiding." It's pretty thrifty to keep this in mind if you're out shopping. After grocery shopping, often times on the receipt it'll say "You saved $xx amount of money today." That's not true. What you've actually done is "cost avoided." If you put the money you cost avoided into a savings account, then you've actually saved.

Know the difference. Saving is powerful. Cost avoiding is just shuffling funds.

Aaah... Those "Deals" on Grocery Endcap Displays

This is something I'd never noticed before, at least with the "sale" endcap displays... Obviously, at grocery stores, some endcap displays are for promoted sales and others are just there to... I dunno... Pimp out certain products that aren't selling fast enough?

I came across this niftiness in an article on cost-cutting your grocery bill:

If ‘salad dressing’ is on your list, do not pick up a bottle from an attractive endcap display. Even if it’s advertised as being on sale, it is probably not the best deal. Instead of buying from a display, always go the salad dressing aisle where you have the full selection of brands and prices to choose from. If you still want to buy the brand featured in the display, it will be there too.

From Suite 101

I'm going to have to pay attention to that... I know there are less expensive items to be found (generics, eg) on the shelf, but what about comparable products? I've noticed this with toilet paper - that the big deal "on sale" brand is not necessarily the least expensive, but usually the least expensive is the cheapest - the kind of TP that'll tear off and stick to your butt once it gets a little wet, if you're not careful enough.

Anyway, thought this was a piece of nifty thriftiness, if it rings true, so passing it along.