Mr Smaggle and I have been together for quite some time now and I’ve been slowly training him in several areas of domestic importance. For example we now use rectangular and absorbent kitchen sponges that look like this…
…instead of Chux wipes. He grew up with Chux wipes in his house and he’s finally yielded to the superiority of the kitchen sponge. No daughter of Mama Smaggle would ever have Chux wipes in her sink. Good heavens above!
There’s one habit I just can’t break him of though and it’s a bit of a weird one. He refuses to buy multiple items of things at the supermarket. For example he eats a tin of salmon almost every day. He will go to the shops before lunch (5 minutes walk away) and buy 1 tin of salmon.
The next day, he’ll go to the shops again and buy 1 tin of salmon.
I’ve pointed out to him several times that he should be buying 10 tins of salmon every fortnight but he’s just so weird about it. Won’t have a bar of it. The thought of spending $30 on salmon in one day is incomprehensibleΒ to him although it’s no different to spending $1.50 every day. For example I came home with 6 bananas the other day and he nearly had a heart attack.
Mr Smaggle – ‘Whoa! What’s with all the bananas???’
Me – ‘We both eat a banana every day… These will all be gone in 72 hours.’
Mr Smaggle – ‘No way! That’s heaps! They’ll get too ripe before we even eat them!’
2 days later…
Mr Smaggle – Β ‘I’m just ducking to the shops to grab bananas.’
Mr Smaggle grew up in a house where you didn’t over buy things. You bought what you needed, when you needed it. I grew up in a house where you bought 8 cartons of long life milk in case the zombie apocalypse comes and you need enough milk to last until the end of all time.
I love bulk shopping – Costco is my bitch. I have four brand new boxes of toothpaste in my bathroom cupboard and it delights me. I love having all the things I need on hand whereas Mr Smaggle has this underlying need to forage on a daily basis. He likes to hunt, I like to gather.
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What about you? Do you bulk buy like a gatherer? Or do you shop every day like a hunter?
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31 Comments
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hi smags!
I am a mix! give me a list and I loose it! but intuitively I do the shop and get most of what I/we need! …
my sig other is king of bulk buying! … “better than money in the bank!”
he is a list maker of specials and deals … he is a hunter and gatherer! he adds it up in his head as we go along to within cents of our deal! … do you wonder why I’m with him;0x
mind you sometimes I could k… him! … I draw the line with fresh produce, as it does go off!
I’m the one yelling out “that’s too many hun!” … he goes on his merry way! … next! omg!
I’m going shopping on my own next time! love m:)X-
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I love shopping on my own! It’s the only way I get anything done – Mr Smags hates shopping and wants to get out really quickly and I like to read labels and make informed decisions!
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Anyone would only need to refer to my comment on your recent post about irrational fears to know I am a gatherer. I have a fear of running out. The general consensus in the family is that they will all come here if there is some kind of natural disaster, as we have sufficient rations for months. When my girls are visiting they always check the pantry for any items they might need. Live at home son is outraged by this behaviour and suggests a checkout counter at the front door.xx
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Ah! A woman after my own heart! Mr Smags and I would run out of food in about 15 minutes…
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I’m a bulk buyer except when it comes to most my vegies, as I like to go every 3 days to ensure they are fresh! Thanks for the bit of a giggle about Mr Smagg’s habits hehe!
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He’s such a pain in the butt, honestly. Love him to death but that buying 1 can of tuna every day is driving me spare.
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I say I’m a gatherer, my husband would say I am a hoarder. I always buy twice as much as what I need just “in case we run out.” It drives the hubster nuts but let’s put it this way, we would be neither smelly nor hungry in the event of a zombie apocalypse. However, I will say this, that no matter how much I hunt, I always forget something and need to go gather. Every single time.
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I always forget things too even though I’m a chronic list maker! We live 5 mintues walk away from Woolies so we’re never too panicked if we forget things… that might add Mr Smaggle’s casual shopping habits actually!
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Yep – i’m exactly like you and my husband is like Mr Smaggle. I get inexplicably anxious when I see we’re down to our last…errr…box of toilet paper and MUST buy another 18-pack immediately. Hubs goes to the shops every few days because we ran out of bananas or cashews or something. Weird lol
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I know right? Particularly for things like almonds… they never go off and we eat them all the time! So why the teeny tiny bags all the time??? It’s just not economical!
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I’m intuitively drawn to be a bulk-buyer. However, as I don’t drive and I have to carry my shopping home, I’m more inclined to just buy those things that I need and save the bulk purchases for when I’ve got someone with a car to help me to lug it all home.
However, I used to live with a guy who was a bulk-buyer and it drove me insane. Even though bulk buying is really useful, he would stock up on multiples of things we never used or needed. He would just buy because it was on sale and it drove me nuts.
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Oh my god that would drive me nuts too! I’m not in to over buying things but I’m a big fan of buying 5 apples for the week if I’m planning on having an apple every day. That’s just good maths!
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I’m definitely a gatherer!! I gather all of the things. I don’t cope well if it looks like our pantry is running low. I found a spare cupboard to live in our garage for the extra tins because our kitchen pantry is actually quite small. I also like having bulk ‘boring things’ like soap and toilet paper in the house because I always forget to order them in the grocery shop otherwise!
Costco is a wonderful, magical place. I love it when we go!-
Oh me too! I want a WALL of toilet paper otherwise I’m in a bit of a panic.
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He would never cope here on the farm. We grocery shop once a month. I buy 5 bottles of dishwashing detergent, 4 packets of cereal, and 10kg of flour at a time. Costco is a fair drive from here, but I go to stock up on bulk toiletries twice a year. Needless to say we have a lot of storage space. I gave up daily (or even weekly) shopping when we moved here because it takes 45 minutes each way to the nearest shops…
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Whoa! Yeah he really wouldn’t cope with that – it must be lovely not having to shop all the time! Grocery shopping is the bane of my existance so it sounds like bliss.
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I am absolutely a gatherer. I was always taught to look for things on special and stock up. My partner is more of a hunter. It works out quite well- I will do a big shop once a week and then know that he will be more than happy to go to the shops in the meantime. I just detest grocery shopping these days- thinking of switching to online but i just don’t know…
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I’ve done online and I don’t love it – I like to pick my own veggies and things. Also my life isn’t very consistent so I hate buying lots of veg and seeing it go to waste when I get 3 dinner invitations in the one week.
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Hot gathering tip – did you know that if you separate each banana off the bunch they will ripen more slowly?
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No way! That’s an amazing tip! I’m going to try it! I do the 5;2 diet so I have a banana 5 days a week and sometimes they do go ripe a bit too quickly. This is most excellent.
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A) Chux is DEFINITELY superior. Those sponges don’t rinse clean and get all stinky. And b) I’m more of a bulk buyer. We both hate the supermarket so only shop once a week. If we had storage I’d live at Costco for sure π
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A) I’m never speaking to you again. Chux get all slimey and don’t clean benches properly and you only need to chuck the sponge in the dishwasher once a week to get it all clean again. You suck. π B) Costco rocks. We have a tiny apartment and still manage somehow! x
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You crack me up! Hmmm, putting them in the dishwasher does sound like a good idea… also I told Chris about this conversation and he said he prefers sponges too – you learn something every day!
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At least he’s getting some incidental exercise π
I like to plan ahead and do a big weekly shop but need to check useby dates when doing that as we have been caught out. I also like knowing when I get up what I have planned for dinner, whereas Mr Vehs will know what we are having for dinner and then say that he doesn’t feel like it throwing the meal plan and useby dates out of wack
.. also you can give your sponges a quick zap in the microwave to disinfect them if you need to.
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Oh I love your microwave tip! That’s very excellent! I like to pop them in the dishwasher to give them a good clean!
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I’m training myself to be less of a pack rat. I spent my teenage years on a farm and have the hoarding tendency from that, plus years of growing my own fruit and vegies means jars and bottles of preserves, sauces in the pantry and a very full freezer (grow cherry tomatoes. Chuck them into the freezer in bags of 250/500g and you’ve got them ready to cook with).
BUT something I’ve slowly learned – no point having so much that you forget what is in store and it goes bad. And always replace something before you run out of it.
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Oh you can totally train it out of yourself. I used to be a major hoarder but now I’m a major cleanser. I don’t hold on to anything at all – I’m happy to buy non-perishables and cans and things in bulk but I’m always more careful with things that can go off!
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I find this way more fascinating than I probably should…maybe Mr likes the routine of going to buy the salmon? am trying to make sense of this? buy 10 tins man! haha.
I think we are pretty good at meal planning and I’m getting better at grocery shopping (only been out of family home for about a year and a half so I think it’s alright) but often I’m tempted by crap if we go too often, so the meal plan saves our butts sometimes. My dad is such a bulk buyer, we ‘shop from his shelves’ when we visit π
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I can’t make sense of it either. It drives me bonkers. I need to get better at meal planning this year – I’m usually not too bad but my life is a bit chaotic these days with no real routine so I’m sucking a bit! Might do some big veggie/lasange bakes this week!
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I live alone and buy in bulk especially tins of salmon on special. Costco is fantastic for bulk purchases.
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Omg, I hate those sponges so much (they smell!). Team Chux all the way. π
LOL @ the zombie apocalypse comment.
We don’t live walking distance from a supermarket so willing myself to go do groceries once a week is effort enough without revisits. I like to have enough for the week, but not endless supplies (we have a small fridge). I will usually buy a week’s worth of pantry, diary and meat products, just a few days of fresh food and then top-up mid-week at the fresh markets in the city.
