To Buy or Not to Buy? Determining the Best Place to Make Your Purchases

We like to shop at Sam's Club.  They have carts that hold multiple children, it's on the way home from work for my husband and the food lasts a long time since you get a larger amount at once!  If you frequent a bulk grocer like Sam's or Costco, I'm sure there are many reasons you enjoy shopping there.  But, have you ever wondered if you're really getting the best prices on things you purchase there?  I know I have many times.  Well, I finally decided to do something about it and I thought I'd share that idea with you.

A screenshot of part of my spreadsheet.

I created a spreadsheet of items I regularly purchase at Sam's.  This doesn't take much time and can easily be done in in the comfort of your own home (in other words, while snug in your pajamas after the kids are in bed!).  Sam's Club lets you select your local club on their website and look up items which show their in-club prices.  So, you don't even have to walk around the store to do it!

As you can see from the picture, once I got the list of items with prices, I used Excel formulas to determine cost-per unit on each item.  This makes it much easier to tell if a sale price at a regular grocery store is cheaper than Sam's Club's price.  Here's a close-up view of just a few items:

You have to make sure you write the size of the product (ounces, number of items, etc.) so that you can figure the cost per unit.  Here is a close-up view of the price per unit:

All you have to do here is divide the price by the number of units and you'll get the price per unit.  This makes it simpler to cost compare with the grocery store sale papers.  Also, it doesn't require much upkeep.  Just check periodically to make sure your prices and product sizes are up to date.  If you use a formula to determine the cost per unit, then it will automatically update when you have to change a price.

If anyone local (you know who you are!) would like to have a copy of my spreadsheet, just let me know and I'll be glad to send it you as a starting point.  I hope this is helpful for your stewardship of the resources God has blessed you with!  Also, I'd love to hear tips on how you make sure you're getting the best deals when grocery shopping.  Leave me a comment with your tips!

Are You Making the Most of Your Online Purchases?

So, I recently discovered an amazing website, thanks to my aunt.  It's called My Points and the site is www.mypoints.com.  If you make purchases online, you definitely need to check this out, because it will give you points for every purchase you make as long as it is with an affiliated merchant and you click through to their site from the My Points site.  There is no fee to be enrolled in this and it really helps you be a good steward with your money.  Let me tell you specifically how it has benefited our family recently:

We are currently building a large home addition to make room for our growing family.  Yeah!  So, I had to order some things like toilets, flooring etc. and I found some on sale for a great price on Black Friday sales last November.  Well, I ordered these things and got 8 points per dollar credit on my My Points account.  From these points, I was able to get $220 in gift cards to great stores, like T.J. Maxx, Wal-mart, Amazon.com and Cracker Barrel.  All this, by just clicking through to the merchant's site from My Points.  How great is that?  Here are some highlights of how it works:

1. Log into your account at My Points.
2. Click through from their site to the merchant of your choice to do your online shopping.
3. Shop!
4. Points are credited to your account automatically, as long as you entered the merchant's site from your My Points account.
5. When your points are eligible for redemption, go pick out what great gift cards you'd like to get for free!
6. Wait for gift cards to arrive in the mail.  

Step six is where we are right now.  It was disappointing when I chose my gift cards that they did not tell me how long they would take to arrive, but, even if it takes awhile, they are still free money, so I can wait!  

Something that's really great is the selection of merchants from which to choose your gift cards.  Check out this sample list of some of the stores listed right now:

• Kohl's
• Subway
• Applebee's
• Olive Garden/Red Lobster
• T.J. Maxx
• Wal-mart
• Old Navy
• Home Depot
• Lowe's 
• GameStop
• BP gas stations
• Hyatt
• Bath & Body Works

As you can see, there's quite a selection!  You can choose from merchants that carry things you need or stores which might have things you want, but can't usually get on your regular budget since you're getting some "free money" from your regular purchases.

Now, I do have to point out that we did get quite a large amount of gift cards and this isn't going to be your typical experience.  There are two reasons for this: 1) we made a large online purchase and 2) the merchant with whom we purchased had 8 points credit per dollar to your account.  Oh, and here's something else you might want to know.  About how many points does it take to get an average gift card?

• $10 gift card - about 1,600-1,700 points
• $25 gift card - about 3,600-3,800 points
• $50 gift card - about 6,500-7,500 points (points required vary by merchant)

So, if you make purchases online, I totally recommend setting up a My Points account and earning free gift cards from the purchases you regularly make!