Issue time 5:33 am, by CTreit
Category:personal finance
Is shopping behavior changing?
October 28th, 2010Since the start of the Great Recession, American households have “traded down” to store brand products. Consumer Edge Research has found that store brand products for staples like milk, bottled water, and cooking oil have become more popular. I am certain that in most cases one cannot distinguish one kind of bottled water from another, anyway. Heck, read the label of Coca Cola’s own bottled water Dasani or go to the website. It is “purified water enhanced with minerals for a pure, fresh taste.” Dasani goes through a chemical process to make (industrial?) water taste like, well, water. Store brand water can’t be any worse than that, can it?
Other studies have come to the conclusion that Americans also have become more frugal. A survey by the consultancy firm PwC has shown that 93% of consumers have changed their shopping behavior since the start of the Great Recession. Another consultancy firm, McKinsey, found that 18% of buyers switched from a premium brand to a cheaper brand during the recession because the pricier brand was not worth the extra money.
When I wrote recently about store brand organic milk, I realized that my wife and I were firmly entrenched in the current fashion. Well, truth be told, we must have been early adopters! As long as I can remember we never avoided store brands and have always bought a mix of store and (premium or name) brand products. If supermarket store brands make our taste buds happy, we have never had a problem buying store brands rather than premium brands.
All this research points to a frugal lifestyle becoming more and more fashionable. Now if only retail sales numbers would reflect that trend, I would be a lot more convinced that frugality is taking hold in our society. Alas, U.S. retail sales have increased by 0.6% in September on the heels of an increase of 0.7% in August, both larger than previously estimated by economists. We in the U.S. are back to our old ways (on that measure) of spending…. Do you think we’ll remain more frugal as a society? Or was that simply a weird blip and we’ll be back to our old habits in no time?
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These posts were included in the following festivals/carnivals.
Spend Money on Relationships! in the Festival of Frugality hosted by Budgeting In The Fun Stuff.
Why I like 30-year mortgages better than 15-year mortgages in the Carnival of Personal Finance by Cash Money Life.
How to remodel a room in 6 easy steps in the Carnival of Money Stories hosted by Canadian Finance Blog.
10 observations from our recent trip to Europe in the Carnival of Wealth hosted by Personal Dividends.
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Issue time 11:48 am, by CTreit
Category:setting up a budget
Our family budget has to accommodate this chocolate snob
October 26th, 2010When I went to the supermarket yesterday, I was tickled happy to see that the store-brand organic milk we usually buy was $4.99 a gallon versus $5.99 normally. I know it is only a dollar and perhaps that single dollar doesn’t have much affect on our family budget, but saving that dollar made me feel good! It’s weird. Why don’t I feel as good when I buy store brand organic milk – saving $1.50 because I don’t buy the brand name organic milk? I’m saving money, right? And saving even more than that single “on sale” dollar! (Well, we’re not really “saving” but rather, we’re spending less. It’s not like I put $1.50 in my bank account! I just didn’t give it to the brand name milk guys.)
I am amazed that one dollar off on a gallon of milk can make my heart jump with joy for a little while. Isn’t it funny how our brains operate sometimes?
Store brand products can save you money. I don’t know what the difference is between store brand organic milk and brand name organic milk. They taste the same to me. (In fact, it might even taste just like non-organic milk! But I’m worried about giving too many hormones to my preschoolers, so we go organic in milk because they drink a whole lot of it!) Store-brand and brand name milk producers all follow the same rules to get the milk to the store, pretty much. They all get the milk from the cows, they all pasteurize the milk, they all use the same kind of packaging! So I buy store brand – at least in terms of milk, which to me, again, seems just as good as “name” brand.
This is not to say that my family and I prefer store brand products under all circumstances. We stick with certain brands if we are convinced that there is a difference in quality. At times when our more-expensive name brand fav is out of stock, we’ll skip buying it altogether rather than get the cheaper one. For example, I rather not eat any chocolate at all if I can’t spend the money on good chocolate than eat inferior chocolate at a lower price. And I guess my wife is right: what I consider “good” is a whole lot different than what other people think is good, or good enough. According to her, I am a chocolate snob! So, in the case of chocolate (which my wife doesn’t even like: so weird!), our budget buys the “best” or none at all, but with milk, we buy what’s “good enough” and don’t spend a penny more than we have to. Go figure.
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Issue time 8:09 am, by CTreit
Category:setting up a budget
Spend money on relationships!
October 22nd, 2010A while ago I read a story on hooking up. It explained that dating involves expenditures of money, but hooking up is far cheaper. One point of the story was that intimacy was costly, but hooking up was less costly and lest risky. Eye opening!
As creepy as I find the whole hook-up thing, it is obvious that relationships of all kinds cost bucks: the dating relationship, marriage – got to keep it alive, the relationship with your children, friendships, relationships in a community like a congregation. You name it. All these relationships cost money!
But these “investments” in relationships are well worth it. We humans are social beings and we need to nourish our relationships of all sorts. Money is not an end, but a means to an end – the enjoyment of life. I think we all need a reminder: to the extent that your family budget can accommodate it, be sure to budget in some fun that benefits the relationships in your life. By fun, I mean both the everyday kind (that include hobbies, and sharing good food and good cheer with friends and family) and the special occasion kind (holidays and vacations).
Remember the old saying: no one on their deathbed wishes they’d spent more time at work! Think ahead to the things on your deathbed you think you might wish you had more of in life, and squeeze them in now. As long as you don’t ruin the budget by doing it, you’ll enjoy your days on the planet so much more! If you can save your family some money as you get your giggles (be it baking, gardening, sewing, building things, or doing a babysitting exchange with your neighbors once a month so you can have a date with your significant other), well, have a go at it! Be creative, and I know you can fit it in the budget, and probably strengthen your intimate relationships at the same time!
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