Smart Shopping, Part 1: The Price is Right. Or is it?

Have you ever bought something for a price you thought was phenomenal only to see that same thing advertised at another store for less a few days later? Perhaps you have seen store advertisements with buzz phrases such as “unbeatable price”, “red hot buy,” or “great deal” flashing at you in colorful text. Have you ever wondered, “Is the price actually great or am I being duped by a well planned marketing strategy?”

Stores love to make you believe that the price for which they are selling any given item is the best possible price you can get. This may or may not be true, but how do you know? With a little practice in “price recognition”, you can easily see past the advertising and get to the truth.

So what is price recognition? It’s essentially the skill that wins people cars and dream vacations on the game show “The Price is Right.” You can acquire that same skill, and apply it to your grocery (and other) shopping. You may not win a new yacht, but you will save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on your grocery bill every year. To do so, you need to make a personal transformation from the consumer that is satisfied with paying a “fair” price to the empowered buyer who purchases goods at their absolute lowest possible prices.

Let’s talk about how to sharpen your price recognition skills. It takes a little bit of practice and some time, but it’s really quite easy. Grab some kind of notebook and a pen and then write down a list of things you typically buy at the grocery store. Browse your ads and write down the prices you see advertised for those items. Do this over the course of a few weeks and you will practically be a price recognition pro. Remember, you don’t have to do this every week for the rest of your life. It’s just an exercise to help you learn how much things typically cost so you can recognize a genuine sale price. Pretty soon you will come to see certain pricing principles that will help you get the best deal. For example, in my area, most stores regularly sell a gallon of milk for about $3, but I’ve found that nearly every week, one or more of them will have it on sale for less than $2. Understanding that principle gives me control over what I spend, rather than allowing one store power to dictate my spending. You are going to save a lot of money simply by never paying “full price” for any of your groceries again. Doesn’t that feel good?

So get out those ads, a pen, and some paper, and get started on your own Price is Right journey!