Mastering Multibuys

There’s no doubt that multibuys can be great money-savers if bought wisely, but don’t be enticed into buying large quantities of items that you will never get round to using, just because of the amazing ‘savings'.

First and foremost, you should reserve your multibuy purchases for items that you regularly use, so that the savings are genuine. It’s good to stock up on items with a long shelf-life (providing you have the storage space), making savings while you can. Toilet rolls, baked beans, cans of soup, bottles of squash and tea bags are all items I regularly purchase on multibuy offers.

Of course, perishable goods may not always be a good idea to buy on such an offer. You possibly won’t get through three bumper bags of casserole veg before they go rotten, although there is a way to make use of this kind of multibuy – join forces with a friend or relative. Just buy the offers between you and split the cost and therefore the savings.

Don't overdo the perishable stuff!

When buying any offer goods, I would advise you to read the promotional labels/posters very carefully. Sometimes ‘3 for 2’ or ‘buy one get one free’ offers exclude certain varieties from the product range. For example, a certain flavour of soup or colour of toilet roll many not be included.

However, another reason for reading the offers carefully is that they are sometimes BETTER than you would first think. The first time I spied a Tesco ‘buy 1 get 2 free offer’, I really thought that I must have read it incorrectly. But no. It really did say that – and deliver it. Do watch out for these offers in Tesco from time to time: so far I have bought cereals, crisps, chocolate, baked beans, instant cappuccino and tinned tomatoes on this kind of offer. When ‘buy 1 get 2 free’ promotions do occur, they tend to be for quite a limited time, much shorter than the other offers, so grab them while you can!

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