Our family recently became Costco shoppers, something we should have done a very long time ago. Since starting the Save Money Blog I have been more aware of our shopping habits. Besides staying away from the more expensive grocery stores we are now bulk buyers. I recently blogged about putting some shelves up in a closet, well they are no filled and I am looking at clearing some storage space away downstairs.

I cannot believe how much you can save by buying large bulk items like paper towels, toliet paper, cases of soup and other canned items. For the most part these are items that have a longer shelf life on them and they are things we are going to use. So by spending a little more on a case of soup we won't have to buy it again for a long time. The savings are evident.

There is a cooking item I buy. At any grocery store it is about $3.00 a can. I just bought a three pack of bulk cans for $5.00. I save a ton and now I won't to buy the item again for a long time. It's a no brainer.

I will say that buyer beware, just because you are shopping at a club store or a Costco doesn't always mean you are getting the cheapest price. You still have to look through those flyers and check other places for sales.

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If you work in an office or anywhere that has a lunchroom really then you have probably have seen those monthly items for sale. They include flashlights, photos albums and of course recipe books. My other half was going to buy one for over $20 the other day before I caught her. I asked her if she have ever heard of the internet before? She was looking for a recipe for sweet potato casserole, she's hooked.

So my suggestion to her was, save your twenty bucks and go online and use your printer to build your own recipe book. You can even write them down in a journal if you want to save paper and ink. Why buy a recipe book when you can make your own and even have fun doing it. They come with so many unappealing and useless recipes and you are paying for something you never going to use. So build your own and then you can get what you want and go looking for the foods that you want. And, if you are writing or printing them off you can always add your own spins on them without ruining a book.

There are also many forums and chat boards dedicated to cooking and recipes. Save your book money and spend it on something you need.

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I am still amazed how many online deals you can find on items that people are going out and paying top dollar for at stores. Some of my cheapest penny pinching friends will travel to a store paying for gas and wasting their day and paying full price for their goods. When I ask why don't you get it off of ebay or the web they are simply too lazy to learn how to use it. I don't think they understand the type of savings to be had. Why would anyone pay top dollar for something like golf clubs, electronics, iPods, video games accessories or even meds and diet pills such as Ephedrasil Hardcore. I think if you threw the money at them they would realize what they can save. I just bought a nice mp3 player for a fraction of what it would have cost me at any other box store and that included shipping and taxes.

If you want to save some coin then start to shop online.

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I was just reading a post on a forum that I frequent about a home made Salsa Recipe. It looked real tasty and I got to thinking just how much money we spend on commercial salso every year. Every time we get groceries we are buying a bottle of salsa that we enjoy with chips or various chicken recipes and nachos. How much money can we save by buying are own fresh ingredients and making our own? I would imagine the savings would be pretty good. The same would be for things like home remedies and do it yourself products you can make. I realize there are certain things that you would have to buy like top rated acne pills or cough medicines but there are so many other things that we pay top dollar for that you can probably get away with by making it at home. Remember the internet is your friend, think of things you are buying often and search it out and see if you can make it yourself at home.

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The other day a local hot tub company sent out a flyer to drum up some business from all of the people they have in their computer. I was one of them. The one thing they were offering was a  pair of hot tub steps at a decent prices and we really need them as we have almost killed ourselves getting out a few times. So we ordered them and I just put them together the other day

The bottom line, I could have saved myself a pile of money grabbing some plans or even a picture of one and building them from scratch. If you have the right tools at home why send out for somebody else to do your work for you. Why pay more when you don't have to and you get the satisfaction of completing something on your own. You have to search out prices of things and see if there is a real savings or not but things like bookshelves, speakershelves, cabinets and workbenches you can probably get enough information to do on your own. That is, if you aren't looking for anything special or fancy. Then you will  have to send out. And if you do, research your prices, warrenties and shipping charges and try to save money.

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I meant to share this story with you earlier in case you missed it. Shoppers are starting to notice a that cereal boxes and the amount of cereal inside are shrinking along with most food packages in the grocery store. As manufacturers cope with the rising cost of raw ingredients and fuel, downsizing their package sizes is one increasingly popular way to pass along a price increase without drawing too much attention. They are also rising the prices a bit at a time as well. The article says that Kellogg has slimmed down it's cereal boxes by about 2.4 ounces on average. "But Kellogg isn't the only company downsizing, or charging the same price for a package that contains less food. Consumers are discovering more air in their bag of chips, fewer sheets of paper towels on the roll, thinner garbage bags and even smaller squares of toilet paper."

It's an interesting read and it seems everyone is doing it. Shrinking the size of the product without shrinking the price. It really is a hidden increase. Give it a read.

Maybe it's time to start thinking about bulk food buying?

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So I have a few friends that are hunters and already they are talking about their upcoming holidays and hunting trips. I wonder how many of them prepare by buying their gear and some of the supplies before the season starts. I have talked about buying pool supplies and outdoor supplies out of season and the same would hold true for all of you hunters out there. It doesn't matter if you are looking for something along the lines of Nikon rifle scopes, camping gear or any of your miscellaneous gear. Start searching for deals now and try to save some money instead of just walking in and buying your gear with no planning. Trust me, you can and will save some money by planning your hunting trip and doing a little digging on the prices.

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I guess printer cartridges are kind of an enigma these days. I remember my old printer cost just under $100 each for the two cartridges it needed. Today you can probably get a couple decent printers for $200. So my Epson was due for a change today and I was getting ready to head out to the local office supply store to get new ones when my other half mentioned a place in the mall that refills them. I knew it was there but never thought of going there as I don't make it to the mall too often. I packaged the old ones up and she took them to get them refilled today. We saved just about $12 getting the four cartridges refilled as opposed to buying ones. I will be back every time. In the past I tried the refill kits myself which you can save even more with but it turned out to be a mess. If you like a mess you can always try that route. Otherwise, have a look in the phone book, the net or ask around for a place that will refill them and start saving money.

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Being a Canadian black friday is something I don't think about often until I started to see a lot of Black Friday ads on the web this week. Already the website and stores are starting to gear up for a shopping and savings bonanza.

For those not familiar Black Friday is the Friday after the US Thanksgiving holiday. This year it is Friday, November 28. It is the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season. It's marked as I previously mentioned by huge sales and door crashing specials. You don't have to look far to find a deal on most items. If you are in the market for electronics or home furnishings it might be best to hold off if you can.

You have lots of time to prepare. Make a good list of items you are interested in, compare prices once the official ads come out, make sure you have all of your coupons ready if you need them and make plans to get to stores early if they have limited quantities of the item you are after. Stay tuned, If I come across some good resources I will post them.

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I thought I would make a quick blog post about our last shopping experience. We stopped by the pool place to pick up some chemicals to close out our swimming pool this season and there were lots of savings to be had. I think the rainy and cool summer left a lot of seasonal places holding the bag on product. A lot of the pool products and toys you never think of getting at this time of year were going pretty cheap. This included such things as pool floats, balls, pool games, noodles, floating solar lights and more. If you need to stock up on your pools supplies now seems to be a pretty good time.

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