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| (Image from Family Money Management) |
My Point Of View On...
Shopping Lists And
Price Comparison Lists
My Point Of View No. 1: If possible, maintain a shopping list, of the items that you need, for all of your shopping so that you don't forget anything that you need and so that you stay within your budget.
My Point Of View No. 2: If possible, keep a price comparison list of the items that you buy on a regular basis so you can compare prices—while you are shopping—among the stores where you shop for the same items in order to know that you are getting the best prices possible when you shop.
My Point Of View No. 3: If possible, combine the shopping list of the items that you need with the list of the items that you buy on a regular basis: that way, you will have a list of how much that you usually pay at each store for the items that you typically need for the purposes of price comparing. Then, you can simply highlight the items that you currently need to buy on your price comparison list for when you go shopping! Therefore, you can know at a glance if the prices of those items that you need, at the store where you are shopping at the time, are the best prices for those items. In addition to that, you can maintain your price comparison list by writing down the regular prices for each of the items that you buy from each store based upon each item's current price! I need to clarify something with regard to this idea, however: it is labor intensive over time to maintain price comparison lists that are also shopping lists—and doing so creates really long combined price comparison and shopping lists—but you can save a lot of money by always purchasing items that you need at the lowest prices possible for those items at all of the stores where you shop!
My Point Of View No. 4: If possible, set aside your "spending savings" in your monthly budget from coupons, discounts from stores, and discounts from other businesses, etc. Then, save that 'spending savings' for later use. As an example, if I buy an item on sale for $20.00, that was regularly $25.00, I set aside the $5.00 that I saved, in my monthly budget, as if I spent that money since—if I hadn't received a discount—I would have spent that money! Thus, I do this on most of my purchases that are discounted, by setting aside the money that I would have spent, as if I had spent that money. And the first full year that I set aside my 'spending savings' in my monthly budget, I saved over $900.00 in only twelve months! Also, to clarify, I only track what I have saved on discounted purchases that I made with my debit card, in order to set aside those funds in my monthly budget, and not with discounted purchases that I made with cash or credit. Otherwise, I feel that it would be too difficult to set aside funds on purchases that were discounted for which I paid in cash or credit. And, to clarify even further, I only track what I have saved at a store if that store lists the amount that I have saved on the receipt. Otherwise, I feel that it would be too difficult to track discounts on purchases where the store does not list discounts on the receipt. And, to clarify one final thing, I track other discounts from businesses that I also set aside in my monthly budget, such as discounts on my subscriptions to news outlets, or discounts on my monthly cell phone service!
-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., Math Magician)
"I can explain everything!"
My Writing About Tracking My "Discount Savings" In My Monthly Budget: I track how much I save from discounts on purchases in my monthly budget! You see, beginning in the year 2016, I started to set aside my 'discount savings' in my monthly budget from coupons, discounts from stores, and discounts from other businesses, etc. Then, I saved those 'discount savings' for later use. And the reason that I decided to start doing this is because I couldn't figure why I did not have any money left over at the end of each month, even though I was always really careful about purchasing whatever I needed to buy when it was on sale—as much as possible. Then, I realized that I wasn't keeping track of how much I was saving when I bought items on sale in order to save money! Therefore, that is why I decided to start setting aside what I saved from any discounts on purchases in my monthly budget. As an example, if I buy an item on sale for $20.00, that was regularly $25.00, I set aside the $5.00 that I saved, in my monthly budget, as if I spent that money because—if I hadn't received a discount—I would have spent that money anyway! Thus, I do this on purchases that are discounted, by setting aside the money that I would have spent, as if I had spent that money. And the first full year that I set aside my 'discount savings' in my monthly budget, which was 2017, I saved over $900.00! Also, to clarify, I only track what I have saved on discounted purchases that I made with my debit card, in order to set aside those funds in my monthly budget, and not with discounted purchases that I made with cash or credit. Otherwise, I feel that it would be too difficult to set aside funds on purchases that were discounted for which I paid in cash or credit. And, to clarify even further, I only track what I have saved at a store if that store lists the amount that I have saved on the receipt. Otherwise, I feel that it would be too difficult to track discounts on purchases where the store does not list discounts on the receipt. (I actually used to go back through a store and write down on my receipt how much I saved on each item if the store didn't list the savings on my receipt, but it was kind of a hassle to do so. That's why I only track what I save at a store if they list my savings on the receipt.) And, as I mentioned above, I also track other discounts from businesses that I set aside in my monthly budget, such as discounts on my subscriptions to news organizations, or discounts on my monthly cell phone service! –Paul Whiting (written originally sometime after 2017, then turned into a quote on July 11th, 2022, revised July 13th, 2022, revised August 31st, 2023 and revised June 26th, 2024)
My Mathematical Notes:
The reason that I wrote this prose can be summed up with the following statement: "If possible, maintain a shopping list, of the items that you need, for all of your shopping...and keep a price comparison list of the items that you buy on a regular basis so you can compare prices—while you are shopping—among the stores where you shop for the same items in order to know that you are getting the best prices possible when you shop."
And this prose was also published on my "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blog (please see the hyperlink below for the blog), since I feel that the message in this prose applies to the message that I am trying to convey through "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer."
This prose was written in Portland, Oregon.
-Paulee
https://paulwhitingwriting.blogspot.com
This "Paul Whiting — Math Magician" Post No. 006 was edited on June 26th, 2024.
"Prose is using all of the words that are necessary in order to describe all that is necessary to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]
