One of my wife’s favorite cosmetic products was recently discontinued. For years she’s used a certain facial cleanser from Avon, so when Avon stopped selling it, Kris was frustrated. She’s tried similar products from other companies, but prefers the one from Avon.
It occurred to Kris that maybe she could find the product online. She tracked down a seller on eBay and ordered a two-year supply for $50 (plus shipping). This is double what she had been paying, but she decided it was worth the cost.
For the next couple of years at least, Kris will be able to enjoy one of her favorite products. She’s stocked up.
This is just one example of a dilemma I’ve faced lately. When does it make sense to stock up on a product you like and use regularly? I’ve learned that when I find a wine I love, I should buy a case. This makes sense. But it doesn’t make sense to stock up on laptop computers when I find a great one. This would be an expensive habit, and the technology would quickly become obsolete.
But many items fall somewhere between a case of wine and a lifetime supply of computers. Lately I’ve wondered when it makes sense to stock up on products I’m passionate about. (And does it make a difference whether these products are consumable or non-consumable?)
Timberland Chocurua
I’m not usually the kind of guy who notices brands or model numbers. I wear my clothes and use my appliances without much thought. I can’t tell you which company manufactured my cordless drill or who made the shirt I’m wearing. They all seem to work fine, and that’s what matters.
Before our trip to London and Dublin, I bought a pair of hiking boots. I didn’t pay much attention to the brand; I just went into the local sporting goods store and bought the pair that felt right. As it turns out, I love these boots. They’re amazing. They’re functional and comfortable. If Kris would let me, I would wear them for every occasion. (“You are not wearing those tonight,” she once told me as we were leaving for a nice dinner with friends. I’d been wearing them for days on end, and she decided to put her foot down.)
The store that sold me these boots is going out of business. It occurred to me last weekend that maybe I should see if they still had these boots in stock. Maybe I could buy a pair for cheap. The store didn’t have these boots, but Amazon does. Now I face a dilemma. Should I order a pair or two to keep on hand for when these wear out?
iPod Shuffle
On a less utilitarian note, I was a little alarmed to learn that Apple has discontinued (well, “re-configured”) one of my favorite products. I’m a huge fan of the little clip-on iPod Shuffle. I use mine constantly.
Last week I had a chance to look at the new iPod Shuffle. I don’t like it. I don’t want to own one. My Shuffle is showing no signs of failure, but I began to wonder: What would I do when it does die? (Or, as is more likely the case, when I lose it?) I’m not willing to purchase a new model. I want the old one.
Then I thought: What if I stocked up? What if I found a source for the old iPod Shuffles and bought two or three or four just to keep on hand? Assuming I could afford this, is it a smart thing to do?
Does stocking up make sense?
My previous bad habits have made me wary. Whenever I want to spend, I question myself. That’s true in this case, as well. I cannot decide: Are these impulses foolish? They don’t feel foolish, but sometimes I’m not as smart as I should be about these decisions. Would buying these extra iPods or boots just be a sort of hoarding? Would I be bringing more clutter into the house? I don’t know. All I know is that I don’t feel guilty for considering these options — so long as I can afford them.
We already stock up on paper products like kleenex and toilet paper by buying in bulk. Kris has boxes of empty canning jars in the garage, donated by friends, for when she needs them. But we’re not devoted to a particular kind of jar or picky about a style of tissue. Is it different when I’m merely anticipating that something I like will be unattainable later? Am I merely postponing the inevitable? I don’t know the answers to these questions.
What about you? Have you ever stocked up on a product you like? Do you think that you might do so in the future? Why or why not?
SEARCH FOR RECENT ARTICLES
Guys, we stock up on EVERYTHING that is non-perishable when it comes on a RIDICULOUS sale price……We have stocked up on Colgate Toothpaste when we got it for 59c for 9oz from Meijer. We stocked up on Toilet Tissue when we get the ‘best’ roll (best in our definition) at 12c per roll. We stock up on 2 liter Pop when we got it for 25c at Walgreens. We stocked up on Sugar and Butter when we got the 5lb sugar packet for 99c or 1lb butter for 99c! We stocked up on Ragu Sauce (large) for 75c. We bid on brand new warranteed $8.00 Dual 6.0 DECT Cordless Phones (with CID) and got 4 boxes of them to give away as gifts at the next house warming. Now, we consume these things with 2 teenage boys, so when we buy 20 or 40 of these items (sounds ridiculous), we are looking for it in 6 to 18 months. We are basically beating inflation of these products which has been hitting hard in the $2-$4 gas prices in the last 2-3 years.
In the same vein, we will buy ‘Gifts’ from specialty stores when they are on a deep sale for some ‘future use’. This has given us the freedom to just go ‘shop in our basement storage’ where things are extremely well organized to pick/pull what we need for the party we are going to, and whalla > We paid deep sale price for it.
This principle has gotten us to being wealthy, and if you read the Millionaire Minds or other books, it will tell you that it is ‘exactly what wealthy does’, and NOW I AM A 100% BELIEVER of it, since I have gotten there too (not bragging at all, since this was all by design, and is still so).
Black Friday is our MOST FAVORITE SHOPPING day and we arm ourselves at 4AM in the morning to go and grab these deals. It allows us to get deals that we will NEVER find all year (almost), even in electronics.
TAKE ADVANTAGE of “GIMME” SALEs where stores are trying to attract customers thinking they will shop for much more than the sale items. Figure out what is a ‘Sale Tag’, vs. “On Sale” vs. “Lets Sell this product” vs. “Its Outta Here”. We wait fro the last 2 attitudes by the store manager (online and in brick and mortar stores).
I take a lot of pride in my organization skills in the basement with shelves and such.
In conclusion, hoarding and buying in bundles is a GREAT idea and it beats ALL other methods of buying/shopping/hunting for deals.
Good luck Y’all……
Kenny
loading....
Get the boots. Like numbers 9 and 45 said: wear them on alternate days to let each pair dry out.
My attitude to shopping goes like this. I go to a store, find a bra or a pair of trousers that fits and buy 2 or 3 more about a week later via the store’s own internet shopping facility. Loathe shopping for bras and trousers and this saves me time. Oh, and it saves money as I don’t go and buy books or music when I haven’t found clothes as the shopping demon will have its sacrifice.
loading....
Get the shoes. Perfect shoes are SO hard to find. I hate shoe shopping, so when I find ones I love, especially comfortable work shoes, I buy a few pairs. $ up front, but you know you won’t be spending later on shoes you may or may not end up liking once these, inevitably, wear out.
Also, I keep them separately and boxed up in storage, to encourage me not to pull them out on a whim. It reminds me to take the dying shoes to a cobbler to see if they can be cheaply reheeled or buffed up so I still have a pair of pristine perfect shoes to look forward to once they really bite the dust!
loading....
Don’t buy technology, especially something with batteries in it. By the time you are done with the initial model, the batteries may not be any good on the stored model. I would buy the SanDisk Clip anyway. Sound is great and the price is nice.
Shoes, buy them. Good shoes that fit are, IMO, one of the great pleasures in life and if you can find something that feels that good, get them.
We usually stock up on the basics for food, particularly canned goods. When they are on sale we will get a couple of cases of canned tomatoes or tuna or whatever it is we use a lot of.
loading....
Okay, read most of the comments and here’s my two cents:
I stock up on things I know I will use and while they may not be scarce a good sale is hard to find. A prime example is motor oil. A few years back Kragen was selling a case for $17.88 with a $12 rebate. For $5.88 I got 12 quarts each just 49 cents. I bought a case, one for my dad, and each of my grandparents. I go about 25,000 miles a year and do 5 oil changes so I can use 20 quarts in a year. Same promotion netted me two oil filters for $7 making the total cost of an oil change $5.46 for a filter and 4 quarts. I saved $97.70 a year purchasing in bulk and get the added benefit of working on the car myself. I’m 24 yo and female and most of my friends think it’s a great deal to pay $20 to have someone change their oil.
The only risk is that I wouldn’t keep my car. Well, it’s almost at 50,000 miles, no problems, and paid off. I’m keeping it.
loading....
Personally, I’ve found it’s not very frugal for me to stock up. Nor does it help with my desire to be organized. I remember back to an organizing book I read years ago and try to calculate how much “rent” I’m “paying” for the products sitting in my basement or closets based on the square footage of space they’re taking up.
We shop at Costco, so we do buy things like toilet paper and laundry detergent in ‘bulk’, but if I can’t use it up in three months, I’d rather buy less. Mayonnaise is a good example. We don’t use much, so even though the cost per ounce is higher, I’d rather buy a smaller jar than having a huge one sitting open in my fridge for 6 months.
I used to stock up when there were good prices on personal care products or “triple coupons” on cleaning products. But it turned into less of a deal when I ended up with too much stuff in our small space or decided I wanted to switch to different products and gave away a lot of the stuff I got at a “great deal”. How much did I really save then?
NOT stocking up is actually kind of freeing for me as I can choose something new when my shampoo runs out. With the internet, it’s pretty easy to find coupons so not stocking up doesn’t mean always paying full price.
loading....
I’ve stocked up on stuff that was on clearance. I have found decent shirts and shoes for $1 to $3 and bought all they had in stock. I don’t think I would stock up on something I really like because I like to experiment with new things.
loading....
My advice: stock up on everything. We do our shopping about once a month in a big self-service wholesale. Then we buy all the stock we need en then some. For us, it is a treat, and although it is a lot of money to spend in one go, it saves us money in the end.
From time to time, we have to discard some items past the date of consumption, but this is less than 5% of all perishable items.
In addition to saving money we have the luxury of never have to think about having enough to serve a dinner for guests. We know we always have a choice of options.
Finally it saves a lot of time as well, and time=money! Regained time might just be the biggest saving of all!
loading....