That might seem a little counter-intuitive. After all, usually people are snobby toward cheap things. But “low-price snobbery” is about the best term I can come up with. Except “grudging” maybe.
It just seems like no sale can quite satisfy me. I look at prices and am, by and large, unimpressed.
This is especially noticeable with Tim’s cereals. A year or so ago, I was thrilled to get any cereal for $2 or less. That’s about half price, after all. But now? Now I tend to pass up boxes over $1.50 (except when we’re completely out of cereal). Heck, I get grumpy about paying even $1.30. Part of me feels like I should be able to get these items for about a buck.
Similarly, I’m unimpressed with most sales on indulgences. Yes, Quaker bars are normally something like $2.79. But I’m not willing to pay more than a dollar a box! I prefer 50 cents, really. (Which is why I was thrilled to get 20 boxes for free awhile back. Tim was thrilled, too — so much so that they were gone in under a month.)
I don’t know if it’s the looming June deadline — when I will probably lose my contract work — or what, but suddenly, when buying in bulk, $1 just doesn’t sound like as good a deal. Because if I truly want to stock up, that means at least $20 out of pocket for something unnecessary.
Honestly, I think I’m just spoiled. When we first got to Arizona, there were a bunch of good sales. And then I found out that coupons were doubled. A lot. In fact, Safeway rounds all coupons up to $1; so now I get peeved when Fry’s will only DOUBLE my coupons. “Eighty cents off?! At Safeway it would be a dollar off!” I mutter. Then I realize I’m being ridiculous. But that lost 20 cents still bugs me. Once you get used to ridiculous prices, it’s hard to go back. You come to expect them, in fact.
Of course, it doesn’t help that prices have risen. I noticed an ad for Fig Newtons on sale for $3.49. Except I remember when they were $2.50 a package, and it wasn’t that long ago! (Or maybe it was; and I’m just getting old. But let’s pretend it’s the other thing, okay?) So when I see prices like this, I feel insulted. Like maybe the grocery store is just seeing what people will believe is a good deal.
Frustration aside, my attitude has saved us a lot on groceries. We’ll go to the store for a couple of odds and ends, but unless there is a really killer sale, I don’t stock up. Of course, we still spend too much on junk food; but I figure we’d spend that anyway, so we’re still saving $10-20 a week thanks to my snobbery.
Still, I need to be careful and accept “sub-par” sales as stock runs low. Otherwise, I’ll wait too long for a good deal and end up paying retail. Heaven forbid!
Have any of you experienced something like this? Are the frugal victories worth the frustration at the rest of “sale” prices?
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I'm getting to be kind of snobby when it comes to sales, too. I did stock up on Fiber One bars at Kroger yesterday. I hated to pay $2.29 a box, but that's much better than $4 and I had coupons. Although, I was a little upset because I had to purchase three boxes to cover my electronic coupons when I could've used paper coupons and they would've been doubled. I'm going to have to remember to only load high value coupons or coupons that I never have in paper form on my store cards.
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