I am the Stock Market Shopping Strategist, who grew up poor. At nine years old, I figured out how to provide food for my parents and brother without money, by using manufacturer’s coupons at stores that doubled coupons. Lately, it has been bothering me to see people taking advantage of those trying to scrape food together, to survive.
It is morally wrong, to profit off the naïveté of those struggling to survive, by promoting false “bargain” advice, so their blog can make them money.
Also, those in debt are so called financial “experts” by teaching people how to handle their money, are also profiting as bloggers!
No can do. No. I will not stand for it, as I once was poor and my parents were paying off my heart surgery that I had at five years old, out of their pockets!
It was time, to educate those, to help them in their struggle to survive in this economy, without others trying to profit off their hardships. I refuse to profit off other’s hardships, instead I am taking the time to educate, by writing this blog post. It is my way of giving back to society, by making the world a better place to live in.
The list is shocking, an eye opener. I am constantly on top of why over 50% of the Americans cannot afford food, choosing to pay the rent instead, to keep their families safe.
• Eating out, the cost has a high markup of 325% or more!
• Store Ads, are NOT to save you money, but to lure you into the store to SPEND! Those ads have regular priced items in the mix! Know your prices, so you won’t be taken for a ride! Shocking I know, now you know!
• Location…Why location? The exact same chain of grocery stores in less than a 5 mile radius, have different prices! The well-to-do grocery store areas, the prices are cheaper! The poorer grocery store areas, the prices are higher! Here’s proof, the exact same grocery store prices, depending on location!
Poor area / Rich area
1/2 gallon milk:
$1.94 / .89 cents
Honey Wheat Bread:
$1.29 / .99 cents
• The differences between name brand and store brand? Basically, the same product off the same assembly line. They produce X amount of name brand product, slap a higher price name brand label on it. Then they stop the assembly line to switch to store brand labels, produce X amount of store brand product at a LOWER cost, for the same product!
• Manufacturer’s Coupons, are included in the higher price of name brand products, as part of advertising.
• When you buy name brands, you are financing the corporation, the CEO, the workers, and so on for the same store brand product, that allows you to keep more of your money!
• Coupon fraud, you pay for that in higher prices. Run away from people that practice shady couponing practices, like buying/selling coupon inserts, which is illegal! Manufacturers will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. They busted an Arizona coupon ring a few years ago. The ringleader and her cohorts, are in prison!
• When people shoplift, the cost is passed onto the innocent consumers, in the form of higher prices!
• An item is FREE, in your store digital coupon app, get it checked out separately from your other purchases. Like a FREE 2 liter bottle of soda, which I got recently, was FREE. If I had bought other items with the order, I would have gotten slapped with a 6 cents sales tax, on the FREE item! No can do, it says FREE, not FREE with sales tax! Here where I live, there is no sales taxes on food. But they slap sales taxes on convenience foods, snacks and sodas. It adds up fast, 6 cents for every dollar, in sales taxes!
• Check your purchases closely, to see if has been tapered with, to see if the sell by date isn’t past. Check the meats, poultry or seafood, smell the package(s) for telltale signs of food starting to go bad. Also, check the sodium content, like the soups. Recently, I spent $3.00 on a name brand bag of soup mix, took it home, fixed it up, it was nothing but SALT SOUP! Never again, will I make that mistake! By the way, I took back the two other bags of that SALT SOUP to the store, for a $6.00 refund! So check your food over, before buying it, read the labels.
• Buy your fresh fruits and vegetables from a store that has a high volume of shoppers. Why? Some stores mix “old” fruits and “old” vegetables, into the mix with the new fruits and new vegetables! When you buy your fruits and vegetables at a high volume shopping store, the produce moves faster, thus your fruits and vegetables, have a “longer” shelf life at home.
• Keep in mind when you buy cut up shredded fruits/vegetables/cheeses, they add chemicals to it to preserve it! With cut up/shredded cheeses, they add chemicals to prevent clumping and I once read they add LISTERIA to the cut up/shredded cheeses!
• Watch your shopping cart of purchases at all times. Watch your purchases being rung up. When the cashier isn’t paying attention, they have a tendency to “over” scan, thus overcharging you on purchases!
• Check your receipts, before leaving the store, for overcharges. Pay attention to the change they give you back. One time I bought something that cost me like $4.25 and I paid for my purchases with a $100.00 bill. I got short changed, the cashier thought I paid with a $10.00 bill! After that incident, I try to pay with near exact amount of the purchase price in cash, at the cash register.
• It’s expensive as it is, paying higher prices when you shop, because of others greed, being passed on to us. Never let your shopping cart out of your sight. I had $30.00 worth of groceries stolen from my shopping cart, this past December!
• I did try to warn others on a grocery store Facebook Group, about my groceries getting stolen. They won’t post my warning, it would hurt their “power” of having thousands of people following their page! They are enablers of criminals, by turning a blind eye! Unfollowed them, as I wasn’t having enablers of criminals, in my feed!
• Be diligent, be aware. Crooks are everywhere. It only takes them less than a minute to steal your purchases, turn around and “sell” it off, making a profit.
As you shop, stay safe and secure with this newfound knowledge of the dirty secrets of the shopping world…
Happy Shopping!
Brenda Lee, The Stock Market Shopping Strategist 🛒
Godiva Chocolate Caramel Instant Pudding Mix, $1.38.
The Stock Market Shopping Strategist 