the Diva Platform

The Boy and I, like many of you, have a household budget that’s shrunk dramatically in the last couple of years, due to my career change and his lack of permanent work.  Therefore, we’ve had to really watch how we spend our money.

It’s funny, back when I worked at the Firm, we did a book about the “trading up” phenomenon, where people spend more in certain categories.  The concept included the fact that the middle class had significantly more money and would always be trading up….until the second book “Treasure Hunt,” came out, which showed how people managed their pennies and maximized them as much as possible.  The penny pinching book did come out a little while before the recession hit, but I think the two are an interesting set because with the second, this trading up/trading down philosophy really takes hold.  Basically, in order for most middle class people to trade up, they have to trade down somewhere. And when they lose a significant chunk of income, the trading down happens a lot more.

However, I think that even though times are tough for us, we aren’t trading down for everything.  At least, not in a way I imagined.  Sure, we don’t go out nearly as often as we used to, and our wardrobes aren’t going to get replenished as much as maybe they should.  Yet, there are some things I’ve chosen not to skimp on.  Those would include:

• beer/liquor - Again, we’re not buying booze nearly as often as we used to, but on the rare occasions we do get beer, it’s microbrew.  Liquor has to be a brand we enjoy–otherwise it’s not worth drinking.
• toilet paper - I’ll get Angel Soft (a cheaper brand), but I won’t go to one-ply.
• toothbrushes - I had to replace my toothbrush, and we had a cheap one in the bathroom vanity.  I bought a new Oral-B the next day.
• toothpaste - I used to skimp (bought cheap more because it only came in one flavor), but the dentist said I needed to use the Sensodyne enamel building stuff.  It did make a difference at my next visit, so it’s worth it.
• shoes - My everyday shoes are pretty pricey Merrells (not pricey as in $400 Jimmy Choos, but they’re closer to $100).  I love them, and they’re good for my feet.  I also buy pricey insoles (take expensive shoe and make it even more expensive), but it’s totally worth it.  My running shoes are also around $100.  However, even for dress shoes and loafers, I like to spend a good $50-$100.  Anything lower than that, and they either won’t last or won’t be comfortable.
• Diet Coke - enough said

What about you?  Is there anyplace you don’t skimp?  How about categories where you found it’s OK to skimp?

So I’m currently having an internal debate (soon to become external, since the Boy reads this) about how much cereal I should stock up on.  I like Kashi Go Lean, which I’m currently out of (and which I would like to purchase because I have milk in the house.  Milk in our house is a rareity–I don’t drink it too much, and when we buy milk, it has to be lactose-free.  So I bought some milk, which means a mad rush to make a lot of milky stuff so we don’t pour most of it down the drain.  Cereal is helpful in this situation).  Jewel has it on sale this week for 2/$6.  I also have a coupon for $1 off  2 boxes at Whole Foods.  I could very well end up with four boxes of cereal in the house.  We do have shelf space–we’ve gone through the umpteen boxes of pasta and probably six cans of oatmeal.  But the cereal will take up a fair amount of room, meaning not much space to stock up on anything else.

This is kind of what Angela was saying in her comment on Friday.  Who has room to store all this stuff?  If you have a house, you have more of an advantage than those of us in apartments/condos, though vintage places do sometimes have walk-in pantries.  I did have friends who were looking for a condo at one point, and one of their criteria was having a pantry.  The real estate agent said that new places don’t have pantries because nobody cooked in those fancy kitchens.  Needless to say, they didn’t buy.  I wonder if people in these types of condos are cooking more now.

But I think you have to have a basement and/or a decent-sized garage to be able to take full advantage of this.  Or a lot of kitchen cabinets.  And are those home prices out of reach for regular folks?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no, I think.  What do people with crawl spaces do?  Or those who don’t have room to freeze five million pounds of chicken at a time?  Well, you struggle with space and making trade-offs for what you’ll save on.  And if you’re lucky, you don’t get trapped into a coupon obsession (which at some point your friends will laugh and say, “Remember when you were in that couponing phase?  Oy!”).

I’ll also speak a little to dollar sales versus volume sales.  I don’t know all the nuances of this (and if you do, please chime in), but sometimes manufacturers would prefer to sell a lot of volume, rather than dollars.  You sell more volume than your competitor, and you can claim a higher market share based on volume.  Sell the “We’re #1″ fact (based on volume) to customers, and they may buy more.  Sometimes having a greater market share is more important to a company.  Plus, as you sell more volume, items may become cheaper to manufacture.  Your cost per item is less, and you can get more profit out of it.

At any rate, I’d love to continue the couponing conversation.  Let me know what you think and how you’re doing.  Do you have the ability to remember prices of certain items at each store?  Can you memorize the sale papers and know what you’re buying this week?  Or do you just throw up your hands and say it’s not worth the time and effort?