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Best Stuff Not to Buy in Bulk
Candy
One consumer put it best on Savingadvice.com: "If I go to my local store and but 2 candy bars for $1 a piece, I spend $2 and they will last a week. I buy a box at Costco of 24 candy bars for $12, they still will be gone in a week. Even though the unit price is less, I end up spending more."
We buy candy bars in bulk to save money. Believe it or not, we do not actually eat 12 times more candy bars per week just because they are in the house. I know it is hard to believe, but it is true. We apparently have some self-control.
I should also mention that it does not actually cause you to spend more money on food. You can easily spend just $4 per day on food if candy bars are all that you eat. A Snickers Bar has 280 calories of food in it. That said, you should probably plan on getting scurvy at some point though.
Paper Towels
It may sound like a good idea at first. Paper towels are not perishable and they do tend to cost less when you buy them in bulk.
They do tend to cost less when bought in bulk and they are not perishable. Don't stock up on them though, especially with oil sitting at $83 per barrel. Keep the money in your savings account earning 1% interest instead.
Toilet Paper
Just like with paper towels, you don't want to go overboard purchasing toilet paper.
Good grief. It must be a slow news day. It's a great day for sarcasm though.
Realtor.com Reports Active Inventory Up 25.9% YoY
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*What this means:* On a weekly basis, Realtor.com reports the
year-over-year change in active inventory and new listings. On a monthly
basis, they report t...
57 minutes ago
9 comments:
Stag,
It's already time to update the title or the post - oil is trading over $84/bbl!
I'm thinking Bernanke's CONsumer pain scale goes to 11!
http://painconsortium.nih.gov/pain_scales/Wong-Baker_Faces.pdf
I shouldn't be too hard on Gentle Ben Bernanke though. He has quantitatively eased the pain of the OPEC countries.
mab,
Here's some optimism.
Higher oil prices AND wage pressures? Prosperity here we come! Sigh.
The wage pressures are to the downside, as in record wage disinflation. See Chart 5.
Stag,
The wage pressures are to the downside, as in record wage disinflation.
Disinflation? Total private wages and salaries were lower in Q4, 2009 than in Q4, 2006! They are off ~ 6.5% from the peak in Q3, 2008.
If we were to remove the ponzi wages and salaries stemming from mark to fantasy accounting, the numbers would be far worse.
Wall Street siphoned off ~ $140 billion in bonuses in 2009. Not all of it was cash, but still, the $140 billion in bonuses is ~ 2.8% of private wages. Plus, hedge funds had a banner year so their cash bonuses were likely enormous.
Main St. is a mess. We've disinflated into deflation. Bernanke has prevented a depression of Wall St. where it belonged.
mab,
Here's some more optimism on this April Fool's Day.
Stag,
Yesterday, my accountant asked if I had made my estimated quartely payments.
I said, "no way, those things cost money".
As it stands, I'll be getting a refund this year. Usually I owe money, but the recession has indeed taken its toll. No biggie, I just spend even less.
You get 1%?
Lucky.
mab,
II usually owe too. Next year I will for sure, unless we enter the deflationary penalty box again.
AllanF,
I see you're drinking 1%. Is that 'cause you think you're fat? 'Cause you're not. You could be drinking whole if you wanted to.
I wish my bank would pay me whole interest, lol.
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