It’s on sale so you must have it! Not necessarily. A good money saving habit to add to your life if you haven’t already is to realize that just because something you don’t normally buy is available at a lower price doesn’t mean you need to buy it. 

This is the exact opposite approach my dad has at the grocery store. I can’t tell you how many boxes of cereal he has given to me over the years because he never had any intention of eating it. But because those sugary breakfast squares were cheaper than usual, he felt the need to get a 30 cent bargain.

Sales and coupons can save you money but don’t rely on them

If you’re always looking for the best sale or spend your weekends clipping coupons, you might fall into some traps. Don’t get me wrong; sales are great. But just because a store is going out of business doesn’t mean I need to buy another set of bedsheets that I don’t even need or is still more expensive than a similar product would be at another store.

Coupons work the same way. Whenever we go grocery shopping, a couple of coupons shoot out for things we don’t typically buy. I’ve received several $10 off coupons for my next purchase of Hallmark Greeting Cards. Greeting cards aren’t something we normally buy. It’s not because we aren’t nice people. We just don’t feel the need to spend money on a note. There are other ways to express your gratitude or well wishes without purchasing an item that is just going to end up in the trash.

What we do with sales is look for items we need or typically buy. We are those people who will take the price of toilet paper in the store and calculate which brand is the best deal. I wonder if people think we’re researching reviews online on the softness or just that picky about overspending on the most thankless product we own: toilet paper.

If ever there is a situation where something we buy weekly is at a huge discount, we might stock up on it. This is especially true for meat. When chicken prices go down, we turn our freezer into a mass chicken grave.

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The book that convinced us to start investing and being more proactive with our money and lives: The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias

The gear we use to make our YouTube videos at the Practically Humans YouTube Channel

• Sony ZVE10 Camera
• Sony Retractable Zoom Lens
• MOVO Shotgun Microphone
• Audio Cable
• Memory Card
• RGB Lights
• Studio Light

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