How to get the benefit of special offers for longer

I don't think that there is anyone who doesn't take advantage of the many offers that are thrown at them when they are doing their weekly shopping - Buy One Get One Free, Get Three For The Price of Two, Half Price, 50% Extra Free, etc, etc. You can't fail to miss these offers whenever you go shopping, but most people do it wrong.

Most people say "I get two for the price of one - that's a good offer." and they put those items into their shopping. When they get to the checkout, they pay for one, and the other one is free.

So what's wrong with that, you're asking. Simply this, most people take whatever is on offer this week, and they take advantage of it this week. Next week, they will take advantage of whatever is on offer then, and they'll do the same the week after. What is wrong is that they are allowing their spending to be influenced by what is on offer, rather than getting what they want at the best price.

So here's the best way to do it. Supposing that while you're doing your weekly shopping, you find that toothpaste, for example, is on a Buy One Get One Free offer. Most people would do just that - they would buy one and get one free. But supposing that you said "I use one tube of toothpaste every month, so if I buy six tubes, I'll get another six tubes for free" That way, you've made this offer last for a year rather than just this week.

Over the year, the saving adds up to only about £12, but once you start to extend this principle to other items as well, the savings can really add up. Just recently, I have seen these sort of offers on toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, anti-perspirant, kitchen cleaner, oven cleaner, and of course, frozen foods, to name just a few. Supermarkets have new special offers all the time, and if you think in terms of multiplying the savings over a year (or more), you can start to make big savings overall. One day, you'll suddenly find that you have a very small shopping bill because there are so many things that you don't need to get at the normal full price.

So next time you go shopping, look for the special offers and think in terms of getting a years worth of savings from your shopping rather than just saving money on this week's shopping bill.