We have a ritual for doing our weekly shopping and make a game of it.  It’s a way for us to be out together, not doing business, having fun, and getting an errand done at the same time. 

There are 6 different stores we shop in and they are all in an easy route around us so we’re never going out of our way to get to one of them. 

Part of the game is finding the deals on what we need for the week.  It’s all about spending less. This is a strategy to use for your home business as well as your weekly household shopping.  Most stores send out weekly fliers so you can pre-shop for almost anything.

I go through the fliers first and find which store has the best prices on what we need.  Because of the way we shop, eat, and live, my list of needs is usually pretty short but the fliers always steer me to the store we’re going to visit.

One of the stores on the route always has a clearance section in the meat department; the meat they need to sell that day.  There’s nothing wrong with any of it.  They just have to move it that day or it will go to the trash as spoilage.

We don’t go into this particular store just to look at the clearance meat but when we’re do stop there we always look at what the butcher has put on clearance. 

One day we were there and found a number of packages of chicken wings, all identical except that two were marked at 50% off and the rest were marked at 30% off.  Naturally  we asked the butcher about the difference. 

His comment?  Laughing, he told us, and this is the whole point of the story:

"I ran out of 50% discount stickers.  I even had to pull the ones I found off other packages.  I had hundreds of the others so I just used them.  I had to make it work so I used what I had.  Just tell the cashier to give you the 50% discount on the ones you buy and she can call me if she needs to."

No matter what you home business is, what your office set-up is, or how you manage your time, things always happen to create less-than-perfect situations.  You will have to do whatever it takes to achieve the results you want. 

Like the butcher who used a lesser discount to move his clearance inventory, you will need to refine the skill of improvising and sometimes using what you have on hand to achieve your results.  It may not be the best solution for you, but it will keep your home business moving forward.

Note:  Our postal worker isn’t happy with us.  He wants us to stop the junk mail but we actually welcome it.  So, oh, well.  He’s going to have to keep delivering.

Also, remember that asking for additional discounts is a habit you want to acquire.  If you don’t ask, you certainly won’t get.  And if you do ask, all they can do is say, "No!"

 

 

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Written by Laura Hess