I use to shop at traditional grocery stores for the food, and general home goods. I know for meat, you usually can not beat a good butcher but I never took the time to find one. Then as money got tighter I started using a great place called Trader Joes. They were not the best in price for most your groceries but they do care many items cheaper than their larger Stop & Shop and Big Y counterparts.

   Now of course the economy has changed greatly. And I am sure you know groceries have increased dramatically. Unlike oil and gas, the prices of milk, bread, meats and most other groceries has not fallen. I feel this is because they are using the economy to keep inflated prices , though I suspect their underlying costs have decreased. This leads me to warehouse discounters. I never joined because of the membership fee and having to buy bulk. This of course means that you may get more at a lower cost per unit, you have to store it and use it before it expires.

   I have joined Costco and can tell you with the greatest certainty that I have recaptured my membership cost many times over. The membership starts at $50 a year. For this to be worthwhile to a family of four ( me ) you would have to save $4.17 per month. I would say we have to go twice a month so now we are talking $2.08 per trip. Very easy to do. They offer a discount on gas as well which was useful while prices were crazy. That is not to say everything is a deal and cheaper than buying it from a mainstream supermarket. But if you have kids and go through milk and Orange Juice like I do you will save your membership costs on those items alone. They sell a store brand organic store brand of milk in a case of three. When compared to other organic milk brands it ends up being roughly buy two get one. And for the orange juice most stores charge $3.00 plus per 64 ounces. Costco sells these items in a case of four for which I think ends up being about buy two get two.

   In summary if you have one of these stores close to you I think the membership costs will more than pay for the discounts you will receive. And I forgot to mention, they carry very good apples that last for weeks, making them an excellent purchase. So check out the costs and benefits to see if you can start saving real money on those items we buy most often.

~Matt

AT&T Massive Layoffs 12,000 to Lose Jobs

Apparently AT&T has announced that they may cut up to 12,000 jobs.Apparently this will lead to the first time they have had a total drop in employment since merging with Bellsouth. Then there is DuPont which manufactures industrial products and they are looking to cut up to 2,500 jobs. Deep breath, let us not forget starbucks who has closed 600 underperforming stores to date, and I am sure there are more to come. This is in addition to the thousands of jobs already cut and only a couple weeks after Citigroup announced their massive layoffs of 50,000 jobs.
I know I sound like a broken record, but people need to tighten budgets and get some emergency savings in place. I am sure many of those who get cut in this next wave of layoffs are thinking to themselves , ” I never thought it would happen to me. ” People, if you have a private sector job, it is considered “at will employment”. That means at your will to work there and at the employers will to continue to employ and pay your salary. We are in hard times and can not stumble along with the dangerous mentality of shutting out worst case scenerios.

This all of course leads to my final point that you must always be learning and reading. The more skills you obtain the more marketable you remain and or valuable to your current employer. You need to make the time to continue to grow yourself as a person and as an employee. Because if they need you its less likely you will be let go , than if you are just going along with the flow like everyone else. Stand out, make a difference , and show how much value you are adding to the business. This of course will not make you invincible but it may be enough for them to hold on to you through the tough times.

~Matt