Chapter 6 - Spending

By Richard Valentine Reily, author of Gregory's Hero.

Since you’re on the way to the store because you didn’t buy the gas and pay the gas taxes to pick up that one or two items, let’s talk about the store. Everyone’s favorite place is filled to the walls with more of everything then is even imaginable.

My sister is a master shopper. She knows when and how to say no, she carries and uses coupons and she maximizes the stores contribution to whatever causes she finds important. She is particularly proud of the deal that allows her to double a coupon for an item that is already on sale and is on her list. Now that makes for a deal! A good trip to the store yields a coupon saving off the total purchase price in the area of 10%.

More than the savings, however, is the list. Her list is in sections! It follows the layout of the store and mostly she is able to march down the list without backtracking in the store or on the list. Nothing not on the list gets in the cart.

Even her kids who accompany her are in awe of the process and rarely suggest she pick up anything without it being on the list. Her shopping is past efficient, it is pure discipline. The result? My sister swears that nothing in her house is ever thrown out. They use it all. There is no overspending going on there.

How do you go to the store? How many times a week do you shop? How many different people in your family shop? I’ll bet you don’t even know!

Remember a few chapters back when the car deal was going on? Then I told you about buying a car can every few years and the dealer selling cars all day long. Like you can’t win at the car dealer you can’t win against Madison Avenue marketers who have earned and spent fortunes determining how to make you buy their goods.

You don’t have a chance in the aisles of the supermarkets of America! Unless you come to the battle – oops I mean the store – armed with a plan, a list, and the resolute discipline to enforce it without exception you are a lame duck destined to arrive home with bags full of stuff you have no idea why you purchased or what you will do with it now that you own it.

Do you remember that irritably polite and well mannered boy with the neat clothes who always stopped the ice cream truck in the same spot?

When he was very young he rode in the folding seat of the grocery cart as Mom pushed it, and him, up and down the aisles of the local supermarket. Like most kids in shopping carts the bright colors and vivid images on packages caught his eye and he want each and every one of them. His mother, however, knew that the marketing was doing its job and he really didn't want any of it, he only thought he did. She firmly, consistently and lovingly said no to each request and went on about her business.

As he got older it was no longer cool to ride along in the shopping cart and he strolled along the aisles touching each pretty box and asking for about one in ten. Mom still firmly, consistently and lovingly said no to each request and went on about her business as he followed happily along. If he had had the capability to reason out his requests even he would have known he had no use, nor interest in feminine products, laundry detergent and canned peas. Many of the things you pick up in stores you do not need either. About twenty percent of all food purchases are thrown away. Don’t buy it and keep the money for yourself.

Just for discussion sake let’s assume that you have the list, and the discipline to make the foray into the supermarket. What’s on the list? What’s not on the list?

Here are some simple rules for on and off the list. On the list are foods that return true nutritional value; real food like fresh fruits and vegetables, unprocessed foods, grains and nuts. Not on the list; anything in a four color box, package, can or bottle. That’s right, and simple.

Never buy anything in a four color container. If the container has to be that attractive to get your attention just remember the Madison Avenue hawkers. If the food is good and of good value the market will already know it without resorting to a four color box. By the way, guess who paid for the four color box? Wasn’t the food processor; sorry to say it’s you. When you are all done with it you will pitch it into the recycle bin, or the trash and that’s the end of your hard earned spending.


Buy those things that are closest to the root, the least unprocessed. They have the highest food value for your spending. Buy the item in a bag instead of a box; it costs less because you don’t have to buy the box. When the two choices are in a box, buy the one in the least colorful box; it is probably less processed, less has been spent on promotion and less has been spent on the packaging. All you really want is the product.

Avoid meats, soft drinks, snack foods and deli items. They tend to be overly processed, of low nutritional value and high cost. In many cases they are simply poisons and though they may have a low perceived price as compared to similar items around them, they deliver little nutrition and are therefore of little value.

Enough of the supermarket already! If you keep up with me you will be slim, fit and rich. Who needs that? You, I hope!

Let’s drop by the mall on the way home; on second thought, let’s not. You don’t really need anything do you? After all the closets are stuffed tight, the shelves are full and you park the car in the driveway because the garage is a storeroom.

What you really need is a yard sale, but we’ll get to that later. Stay out of the mall. It is the magic emporium that easily casts a spell upon you to buy stuff you don’t need, and probably won’t even want in a very short time.

If you shop for relaxation, take a walk, stretch out your muscles, read a good book. You will get a higher level of long lasting good feelings without the bill at the end of the month or the bounced checks at the bank.