When DH Goes Shopping...

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Forum -> Shopping

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Does Sending DH Shopping Save You $?

Yes

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[ 18 ]

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Total Votes : 59

amother

Goldenrod

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 5:19 pm

When DH goes shopping, do you find that it saves you money or costs you more?

I'm price conscious and I can usually tell when something is cheap/expensive. I also have a good eye for sales. But I often buy treats that are not on the shopping list.

When DH goes shopping, he does not really notice prices and will sometimes come home w/ the wrong thing, but he usually sticks pretty closely to the list.

I do most of the shopping, but I'm trying to figure out if it costs me or saves me when he very generously offers to go shopping.

Tablepoetry

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 5:21 pm

It saves money. He's more frugal than me. He's a great shopper, sticks to the list but knows what else we may need. He usually does more of the 'big' shops.

vicki

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 5:22 pm

DH is much, much more frugal than I am. We save tons of money. For one thing, he never checks my list and comes home without most of the items. Buys poor quality and things we don't like in order to save. It's actually pretty funny.

amother

Hotpink

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 5:49 pm

If I send DH to the store for bananas, he will come back with $30 worth of junk food/treats and no bananas.

gp2.0

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 5:53 pm

It probably pays for your DH to do the shopping. Price comparisons and sales will only save you a few cents or at most a dollar on a few items while impulse buys will add several dollars per item to your order. Put another way, all your price comparisons are maybe worth one impulse item.

FranticFrummie

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 5:54 pm

amother wrote:

If I send DH to the store for bananas, he will come back with $30 worth of junk food/treats and no bananas.

LOL, same here!

Frumdoc

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 6:20 pm

Nope, he comes home with 20 boxes of a "special offer" of something we don't really need and is always on offer anyway, so blows our weekly budget on unnecessary stuff. But he is so well meaning I can't get mad at him. He is always so proud of his "great find" :-)

So I go myself. I do enjoy grocery shopping anyway and am far more economical than he is.

Fox

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 6:32 pm

Not only will my DH come home without bananas, he doesn't have a good sense of substitution. This isn't really his fault. I prepare all the meals, and his culinary accomplishment is hot dogs.

But if I'd planned to serve tuna sandwiches and I discover that tuna is crazily expensive, I'll mentally adjust my meal plans and get something else. Likewise, if I'd planned hamburgers but tuna is on sale, I might adjust in that direction.

DH can't really do that, so even if I get what I need, it's not necessarily the best value.

We've started using a menu and food shopping app, but that has its own problems. I take pictures of what I want, but if that size isn't available, it doesn't necessarily occur to DH to find another brand or get two of a smaller size.

momX4

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 6:35 pm

I only sent dh for bread,milk or a very simple list. He refuses to go anymore because it takes him one hour and 10 phone calls. He calls about every item he finds on sale while he is browsing. He complained that he met way to many people to talk to. Spends way more than he should.

He also once one made a weird substitution. He got a green vegetable instead of string beans because it was cheaper. I think he did it on purpose.

mille

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 6:52 pm

Save me money? No, but it doesn't cost me 'extra'. It's the same as if I went. We have a list, we buy what's on the list. That's it.

Since we are both involved in meal prep, we both can make judgment calls about items, and we both pretty much know a good sale. Honestly, whoever does the shopping comes down to convenience in terms of time. Whoever gets home earlier, or is able to go buy some stuff during lunch break, or whoever wakes up earliest on a Sunday... That sorta thing. We split it.

Bsimcha

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 7:04 pm

I wrote No, as he somehow never gets the actual item on sale that I requested. He'll manage to get the smaller one not on special for double the price, or the expensive brand that I don't care for.
On the other hand, he sticks only to the list, will not realize when he's in the store that we need a staple even if he noticed we were out at home. If it's not on the list, we don't have it.
He also calls for every item and somehow I's never what I wanted!
I prefer to do the shopping, only ask him to pick up items here and there.

pause

Wed, Apr 01 2015, 10:07 pm

He'll buy everything on the list plus a treat for me, for himself, for the kids... Very Happy

LittleDucky

Thu, Apr 02 2015, 12:32 am

I am totally the frugal shopper, possibly to my detriment. He balances me out but appreciates my ability to nab a good cheap find. He also thinks of things I would never try/even think of. But he cooks too so that makes a huge difference! Like if I say get a mix of canned tomatoes- he will think diced, stewed.... Ok, he does not want to search for obscure items (who does?) so may leave without them...

cfriedman2

Thu, Apr 02 2015, 1:50 am

Deff costs me more but I've learned to look past that and rather appreciate the fact that he's going shopping for me. Although when I make my lists I specify- store brand, cheapest one, chicken should cost $so and so amount, ect that deff helps

amother

Goldenrod

Thu, Apr 02 2015, 2:34 am

OP here (can't remember my color).

Totally forgot this point. Sometimes the store doesn't have what I'm looking for and my DH totally doesn't know how to substitute and think of s/t else. Either he skips it or he gets the wrong thing to make up for it.

While he generally sticks to the list, he does have a few things that he likes (and I would get otherwise) and he'll buy the more expensive one. Ex. there's this type of cereal called Delipecan and you can get about 5 bowls of cereal from a box. It's regularly very expensive, so we don't get it. Sometimes it goes on sale for the same price as the other cereal (that I usually buy). He sees SALE (and yes, it could be a good price for what it is), but I see 5 bowls of cereal, so it would have to be VERY cheap (more than reg. sale) to justify that and maybe bought w/ another cheaper cereal so it doesn't get eaten in 2 sittings.

I also do what Fox mentioned. I'll meal plan based on sales or interesting foods I find. DH can't do this.

About the impulse items, I usually have great self-control (besides for the fact that I like buying interesting ingredients for interesting dishes), but when pregnant/nursing, I get all kinds of cravings and going to the store sparks them.

ETA, I am so thankful when he goes although it also takes him FOREVER. He has to find everything and he always likes to pick the best fruits and veges which takes a nice amount of time.

MMCH

Thu, Apr 02 2015, 9:24 am

absolutely not!!!!

He is definitely smart, and good out figuring out the sales, and what makes the most sense per pound, but he buys anything that peaks his interest.

if you knew how many bags of garlic bagel chips we have you would laugh.

amother

Jade

Thu, Apr 02 2015, 9:28 am

Oh boy, YES! I have to admit that it drives me nuts sometimes, but for most part it's great.

water_bear88

Thu, Apr 02 2015, 10:21 am

He'll usually call me if there's an item on my list he can't find so I can tell him what/if to substitute, and he doesn't get drawn in by sales the same way as I do. He won't price-shop as thoroughly as I do, but I still think it balances out in favor of his being the more frugal shopper.

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