I have two ways of "saving". One-I pay only with bills, and save the coins I get in change. It adds up to about $50 a month for me. Two-when I use a coupon, I put the amount saved in an envelope in my purse. Again, depending on how many coupons you use, it is about $10-$20 a week. I use my "mad" money for treats like manicures and for Christmas and vacation shopping.

I see where you are coming from and it seems to be a creative method that works for you.

BUT, you are causing a lot of unnecessary complications at the check out line. The item that you decide that you don't want *has to be put back on the shelf*. If it is a perishable item (ice cream?) the cashier has to page someone to stop whatever they are doing, and come to retrieve it and walk it back to it's place on the shelf. If it is a deli item or bakery item the health department requires that it be tossed out. They cannot put it back, unlike a canned item. There is the likelyhood that the item has been tampered with by the customer, (Customers have been known to eat out of deli containers in the store.) or the item has been out of refrigeration too long and is not considered safe to scoop out and mix back in with the other deli items.

If everybody did this method they'd have to hire an extra employee just to run all over the store putting things back. This sort of thing drives prices up.

Even with non-perishables, there would be a glut of items stacking up at the checkout getting in the cashier's way. Who want to be tripping over and constantly pushing aside, cans of coffee and bags of cheese doodles, in that tiny space?

How about, before you get to the check-out line, that YOU pull an item from your cart and WALK IT BACK to the shelf? Then look at the price on the shelf and remember it. Sounds like a lot of extra work for you right?

If you do it *that way*, maybe you can get into the habit of not putting unnecessary items in the cart in the first place, if you know you will have to spend your time whirling back to the far end of the store to replace the item on the shelf. Eventually you will get to the point that when you look in your cart before checkout, you won't have anything to choose to put back - just real food and necessary items will be there. Then you can pat yourself on the back and feel good knowing that you have made some positive changes in your spending and eating habits.

I have a bad habit of buying treats from the vending machines at work. The only way I could stop was by leaving all my small change at home. I tell myself that if I still really want a soda or chocolate bar, I can go to a corner store after work--usually I don't bother.

I manage just fine by not putting any of the things you mentioned into my cart to begin with!

Glad you found something that helps you save, though....

I never buy things I don't need at the supermarket, so that wouldn't work for me. (and I, too, was concerned about the extra work it causes the checker, when I read your post).

However, I've been doing the change thing for years. That change adds up very quickly, and my bank counts if for free. I generally set it aside, and have several hundred $$$ for spending money when we go on vacation.

Personally, I think the simplest way to save is to limit the cash you carry, and ONLY buy things using cash. That way, you've decided before you walk out the door to take control of your finances and savings, and you have the satisfaction of knowing who's in charge.

my post says BEFORE you check out. the only inconvenience for the checker is to quickly scan it and say 2.99. no, i don't leave a perishable item on the counter to melt or rot. of course, no, i don't make the checker put it away. i MYSELF take it back. i thought that was a gimme and wouldn't have to say it in the post. never even occurred to me to leave it lay.

soooo... you stand in a grocery line twice?

I think it would just be easier to read the shelf label than to wait in line at the front of the store, go back, replace the item and stand in line again....

I'm still not clear--you load your groceries onto the belt, have the checker give you the price, then you wander back to replace it on the shelf while the checker (and customers behind you) have to wait for you? I'm still not getting how this is a really viable method.

And after a time, don't you start to set yourself up? Putting something in the cart that you really didn't want in the first place? just so you could return it to the shelf? Seems one's subconscious would catch on to that pretty quickly.

cream, i understand what you are saying and i say if it works for you, that is great.
gwen

I'm still not understanding it.................

I still like my method. Look at the circular, plan a menu, make a list, then stick to it. Unless there is an especially appealing in-store special (like the $.99 chicken breasts this week)

if you feel bad inconveniencing the checker, look at the shelf for the price.

for those of you that don't get it...if you have $5 to waste on chips and soda, you have $5 to put in savings.

it's the same principal as the latte factor, only i didn't drink lattes. if you don't know what the latte factor is, google it. good grief.

Seems to me a lot of trouble, whichever way you do it.

Unnecessary trouble, if I may say so.

Sounds also like somewhat inverted priorities, it seems to me.

How about getting your ducks in line, with the most important one(s) first/early on?

Saving shouldn't be an add-on - it's far more important than just more or less an after-thought at the supermarket.

Plan ahead - you remember that sign, that has all the letters "P-L-A-N A-H-E-A" in place ... except the last "D", and there's not enough room for it, so it's sort of stuck in at the end, mostly below the line and sometimes a bit smaller?

First - decide how much you should be saving, to add to emergency fund and other major items that come all at once, e.g. annual premium on auto insurance, plus investing toward making a larger downpayment on your home (if you haven't bought one). Some believe that their largest expendiuture in their lives is their home, but for many it isn't - it's their mortgage. Add together the price of the home, plus closing and other incidental costs at the time.

Consider the amount that you're to pay on your mortgage monthly, and if taxes are included, deduct that amount, for if you'd paid cash, you'd still have to pay the taxes. Multiply that by the number of months until the mortgage would be fully discharged, then deduct the price of the home plus incidentals - you may well find that you'll be paying more interest that the price of the home! Many have.

Thus it makes sense to make as large a down payment as possible, to avoid paying interest on that extra money for - what - 25 years?

Plus a fund toward helping educate your kids (or upgrading your own/spouse's).

Plus some invested to fund your retirement - if you invest a certain amount for half a dozen years in your early 20s and let it run, it'll be worth more at age 65 than if you start at age 30 and invest the same amount annually for the next 35 years.

When each paycheque is deposited, first thing to do is deduct the amount that you need to fund those systems, put it into a separate savings account (1) ...

... and learn to live on the rest.

Sounds a bit complicated - but the main task is to change your way of thinking and do the major calculations in the beginning, amending them a bit from time to time as indicated, rather than chasing your tail by pulling groceries off of a shelf, adding them to the bill, then replacing them.

Every time you go in to shop.

For how many years?

You'll be cutting some years off of your life, doing that ... well, maybe not quite - but wasting a lot of time, energy and emotional turmoil.

Unnecessarily.

Prioritize.

Then go to work on the system that you choose.

Good wishes for getting your money management skills in good order.

Learning how money works - a great hobby ...

... ***that pays well***!!!

Good training for your kids, as well.

ole joyful

1. Deposit the savings into a savings account temporarily, meanwhile learn about skillful investing and when you have a substantial amount in the savings account (including enough to manage in an emergency - or two), invest some into an investment vehicle (or several types, eventually, to spread the risk), which will produce a good average rate of return over a number of years, without incurring too much risk.

To make your money work efficiently for you. And yours.

Either you boss your money - or it'll boss you! And there are lots of folks out there who want to separate you from it, putting a good chunk of it into their pocket.

o j

Good grief!!! Another plan may be to use a list of what you need and stick to a budgeted amount of money in the first place, to help optimize your savings. You'll quickly learn to carry a calculator and tally your purchases before you ever get to the check-out. Why be a pain-in-the-neck with the poor clerks and your petty "price-checking game"? If you insist on using this unusual method for saving, then why don't YOU go back through the store and check the price of the item and place it back on the shelf and note the amount.

I pay with cash and have a $50 budget for groceries and $50 for everything else for the week. I don't spend the $1 bills from my change and save them in a separate savings account to be used as an emergency account, Christmas account, or special purchases. Perhaps this method would work for you and make the clerks happy. We've saved as much as $1,000 a year using this method when hubby adds his dollar bills to the mix.

-Grainlady

Grainlady,

Just think - when your country does like ours and puts out coins (which last wa-a-a-y-y longer) to replace the One Dollar bills ...

... you'll be able to save really **heavy** money!

Won't that gladden the cockles of your heart(s)??!!

We all call ours a "Loonie" - 'cause there's an etching of a loon on the back.

Really!!

(Would I lead any of you dear people on this site astray??).

ole joyful

Hey OJ!

I know of your 'Loonies' and your 'Twonies'... and the USA DOES have a dollar coin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacagawea_dollar

It has been around for 6 years, but no one wants to use them!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sacagawea dollar

Don't forget Susan B. Anthony. There are still a lot of them out there too but probably in someone's piggy bank.

And lest we forget--Starting in 2007, the US will be issuing new dollar coins that commemorate the presidents (releasing 4 each year). Since the quarter coins were so successful, I guess they figure a collectible dollar coin might just make people more inclined to use dollar coins--although they really haven't been too popular in their other incarnations (SBA, and Saca.)

If you were into collecting the quarters, now's the time to get ready for the dollars--there are folders out already for collecting them. Looks like the new dollars will be just a 'smidge' larger than a quarter.

The government just won't admit their mistake in issuing the dollar coin and now they are coming out with another one next year. Geeesh. Some people blame the failure of the dollar coin on the fact that they used a portrait of a women on both of them and people did not want to touch them. I think that is ridiculous, but I have seen that sentiment posted on discusssion boards.

The Liberty dollar coins from the 19th and early 20th century were successful due to the fact that the average days wages back then where about a dollar. A dollar had a lot of purchasing power in 1903. Nobody would have to carry around a bucketful of them in order to shop with them.

Imagine the clerk's ire when you go to pay for your gas with a fistfull of dollar coins, or worse yet, a combination of dollar coins and paper dollars.

The reason the gov thought dollar coins would be needed, is the fact that prices were going up and up and a lot of things we purchase nowdays are from vending machines. They never thought that vending machine manufacturers could come up with a machine that could take paper money! Duh.

I remember when cigarette machines took only quarters and it got so that you needed to get three, then four, then five dollars worth of quarters to slooooowly drop in, waiting to hear each one rebound and clink when it hit the bottom before dropping in the next quarter. The dollar coin would have made this easier, but voila, enter the paper money reader onto the scene and there was no need for a new coin.

In Mexico, where I have vacationed a number of times over the last few decades, I remember when they were phasing out the paper one Peso bills, in favor of the one Paso coin, due to inflation. That made sense waaay back then, as technology was not up to what it is now and there could be no such thing as a laser paper money reader that could be made cheaply for soda machines. If they still had paper Peso bills it would be like having paper money for nickels and dimes. Inflation has done away with the lower denomination Peso bills.

I hope everybody collects these soon to be released dollar coins, so that I never get them as change when I shop.

I think they should STOP making the bills... then we would all have to get used to the dollar coins quickly (no matter WHO is on them)!

"I think they should STOP making the bills..."
That's what they did in Canada.

you need to start a different thread on this topic. not here.

Dollar coins make it to hard to count your change at the store. We use a decimal system for our coins. Everything before the decimal is paper money and everything after the decimal is coins. Mixing it up is too confusing, at least for me.

For those who toss all of their change into a jar everyday as a savings plan, dollar coins are really going to add up your savings FAST.

It isn't confusing once you get used to it. I'm in Canada, and I love the dollar and two dollar coins. As a previous poster said, they have to stop making the dollar bills in order for people to get used to using the coins.

As inflation increases, a dollar isn't worth what it used to be. So it is now considered 'pocket change' instead of 'real' money.

Personally, I think they should phase out the penny and round all of the prices to the closest nickel.

I agree, if they phase out the dollar bills and pennies it would be better; I think that the dollar coins need to come in to replace the bills, not to supplement them.

Hi again folks,

As the one that started this discussion here, and who, after someone complained, pleaded guilty to highjacking someone else's thread, and then started a thread to discuss this topic ...

... can I ask you please to carry on this discussion there?

(red in the face) ole joyful

Attention, shoppers!
If you take a half-gallon of fudge ripple ice cream from your supermarket's freezer case and then remember you are on a diet, don't leave it to melt on the rack where the tabloid magazines scream "Tom Cruise Marries Alien!" Likewise, in a department store, if you suddenly realize that a pink poncho will be passe in a month, don't fling it over a display of men's socks and walk away. Nor should a four-pack of 60-watt light bulbs be wedged between the boxes of fettuccine and ziti.
For a few minutes, pretend I'm your mom -- your shopping mom: Were you raised in a barn? Will you never learn to pick up after yourselves? Stop rolling your eyes and look at me when I talk to you!
Listen up: More and more of you are not putting things back where they belong when you go shopping. It happens at high-end and low-end and everything-in-between stores. It occurs in supermarkets, clothing stores, toy stores, stationers and any place where merchandise isn't too heavy to lift. It even goes on at the Gap, despite clerks -- only those with eyes in the backs of their heads are hired -- who attempt behavior modification in customers by pointedly refolding polo shirts milliseconds after they are mussed.
It occurs even in bookstores, where, as in libraries, there are often tables or carts with posted pleas to place unwanted books on them so that people who know exactly where they should be shelved can do so. Still, you'll find a John Grisham tome next to "101 Ways to Cook Cauliflower." Especially during sales, the dressing rooms of department stores look like pigsties -- clothing in dumping grounds on the floor or falling off hangers and hooks -- because customers won't even return them to collection racks at the mouth of the dressing room so employees can restock them.
Don't make the excuse that everybody does it. What if everybody jumped off a cliff? Would you?
Experts who study what is called "shrink" -- the term for inventory loss due to shoplifting, employee theft or error, and damaged or "distressed" items -- estimate that less than 1 percent of all shrink is caused by shoppers who act as though they are royalty being shadowed by a maid. (A major grocery chain has about $500,000 worth of shrink a year, according to recent studies.)
This number would be higher if alert shoppers and employees didn't see wrongs and right them, says Larry Miller, president of Trax Retail Solutions in Scottsdale, Ariz., and national director of the National Supermarket Research Group. Miller estimates that shoppers (acting as mothers the world over do) or store employees rescue about 60 percent of dumped grocery items.
"Most people don't look at a pound of ground beef sitting on a grocery store shelf and ignore it. They take it back to the refrigerated meat section," Miller contends.
"This has always been a problem, and it occurs at all stores no matter where they are," says Barry F. Scher, vice president of public relations for Royal Ahold NV's Giant Food LLC chain. He notes that the cost for supermarkets is especially high when the item involved requires refrigeration or freezing. Even though employees are instructed by managers at various times during the day to scout for misplaced items, perishables most often have to be thrown out because it is not known how long they've been sitting around.
Scher says that Giant stores don't have staffers dedicated to performing the task called "shop backs" but that it takes employees away from other duties.
"Stores also lose out because the stock isn't where someone can find it and sell it," says Jon Schreibfeder, president of Effective Inventory Management Inc. of Coppell, Tex. This means that, to be confident that they have enough of any product, managers must overstock items. Schreibfeder, whose company advises retailers on ways to control inventory, says that although the practice isn't nearly as large or troublesome as shoplifting or employee theft, "we talk about the [dumping] problem continually" with clients. Schreibfeder's prescription has been to have his clients schedule regular "stock straightening" for several times a day, especially when the store isn't busy.
He also said a retail customer in Bermuda learned that nothing works as well as a departing ship in making people evacuate a store, leaving stick deodorant next to the asparagus.
"A cruise ship would come in and the passengers would begin shopping. They'd find they were running out of time and would leave stock scattered everywhere," Schreibfeder recalls. He and his employees helped the store employees realize that they should scurry to round up misplaced products in between dockings. He also advised the owner to mark shelves that were most often victimized by shoppers and to have employees combing those prone areas.
Schreibfeder says it's conceivable that, down the line, radio frequency identification (RFID) might be able to beam out an all-points bulletin (APB) to store managers, saying, in effect: "I'm over here -- and I'm defrosting!" to help in the roundup.
Both Schreibfeder and Scher are inclined to be soft on consumers who dump products thither and yon. "People these days think they are too busy. Everybody's in a rush," Scher says.
But Dorothea Johnson is unforgiving.
Johnson, founder of the Protocol School of Washington and an etiquette teacher for 40 years, says we all must put things back because it is right and proper and is a tiny thing we can do to keep the world from chaos. She can think of no excuse for not returning merchandise to its shelf. Practicing this daily has the side effect of increasing self-esteem, she says.
"Oh, you see, not putting things back is not being mindful of the next person who comes along. Although salespeople are trained to watch out for such things, I always put things back. I can then tell myself I did the right thing," says Johnson from her home near Portland, Maine.
Even parents who spend the livelong day harping on children and spouses about tidying up can slip up now and then and ignore their inner Miss Manners. The other day, in a fit of fitness, someone left a pound of bacon next to a mound of tilapia packages after glancing about the store furtively to see if anyone was looking.
But do as I say, not as I do. And don't run with a stick in your hand. You'll poke your eye out.

Amen

You know, though, part of a grocery clerks job is putting things back. I would never leave something cold out of its place, but I have been know to lay down some chips down if a better similar sale priced item came along later, or if one of my kids had mysteriously placed something in the cart. Sometimes I can't even find where to put the item back; the stores are just not set up well. Why aren't all the chips together? And, to tell you the truth, the cashiers are often very rude if you say you don't want something, they role their eyes and stuff.

Doing a quick run of the store, for nonperishable items and/or being friendly when someone says they decide they don't want something after all, shouldn't be so hard to do for paid employees. When I'm carting 3 little kids around in a car cart the size of two aisles, the last thing I want to do if figure out where the baby got some canned frog legs from.

Now planning to do it purposely everytime you shop, or ever doing it with cold food is just wrong. But, other than that, I would say employess having to put back items is just a part of the business.

On a side note, I did see some ground beef laying out the other day and thought of returning it, but then my brain kicked it and reminded me that I had no idea how long it was sitting there! So good tip; don't try to do your good deed for the day by return other people's cold items to their right places...they could have been out for hours and need too be tossed; let the employees decide.

I agree with Carla when it comes to supermarket shopping.

When shopping for clothes, I think a person should try to rehang those items they're not buying after trying on the clothes. But I always take the hangers with me to the checkout of clothes I am buying. If they are plastic, most stores will give them to me. I prefer these hangers to the ones that are sold in a 10-pack bundle and besides, they're free.

I often pick up cold stuff that I find in the wrong (warm) place and give it to an employee, which increses its possibility of being retreadable.

Or, if I don't see one, give it to the cashier.

ole joyful