Do you carry a calculator with you when you go shopping and
keep track of how much you're spending?
I have a budget and can't go over a certain amount when I
shop. . . for groceries or anything else, so I add together the
cost of every single thing that goes in my shopping cart.
And then I add on for tax, too.
I kind of guess at the tax, but when I check out my calculations are within 20 cents or less than the actual cost
so I think that's pretty good.
I see people shopping all the time that are just putting things in their carts. They don't have a calculator. They don't have a
notepad and pen. They're not using the calculator on their cell phones. They're just shopping. Maybe they're keeping a total
in their heads, but I can't do that. I have to write it down
or I lose track of how much I'm spending.
So when I see people just grabbing things and throwing them in the cart with no apparant means of keeping track of the money being spent, it makes me wonder if they don't have to worry about the cost.
How about you?
Do you keep track of how much you're spending when you're
at the grocery store?
Do you keep track of how much you're spending when you're at the mall or other retail stores?
Do you use a calculater or a notepad or do you just keep a
running tab in your head as you shop?
.
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Comments: 43
We just prioritize everything before going shopping.
I always have a list, and am not an impulse shopper, so its easy to do.
Generally at the grocery store I am within a dollar of the actual total.
Most weeks I spend less than my budget because some of the items on my list are out of stock, and there is no acceptable substitute.
We pay bills first, then buy groceries, then put money into savings, THEN spend it on other things. So I always know that I have enough for groceries, as long as I don't go completely crazy. :) I do keep close watch on the individual prices of things, so I never really go over, without knowing ahead of time (like when they have the huge sales that they have twice a year, we generally each fill up a cart to overflowing, so we obviously go over our normal spending).
When we are shopping for anything except groceries, we keep a running total, in my head if I just have a few things, or with a calculator if we are buying quite a bit.
Thank you for posting to sparealine.gather.com
Pen.
Round up as I go.
Running total on the back of the list.
It works for me.
I think we have some pretty good shoppers here.
at the grocery store?
Nope. My husband does, though.
Do you keep track of how much you're spending when you're at the mall or other retail stores?
Sorta. Only to the point of not withdrawing too much off my debit card. Otherwise I don't watch too closely.
Do you use a calculater or a notepad or do you just keep a
running tab in your head as you shop?
Running tab... only using whole dollars, though, so it's off quite a bit.