How I pick

Revised 06/15/2026

People ask why the roundup is so short. It is short because most of what is advertised in a given week fails one of four tests, and once something fails a test there is nothing more to say about it.

1. Would I have bought it anyway?

If not, the discount is a purchase, not a saving. This removes roughly half of every circular. It is also the test that people find annoying, because it disqualifies the fun ones.

2. Is it actually below the usual price?

Not below the sign, below what the shelf has been charging. This is what the price book is for. A great many promotions are the ordinary price in a coloured box, and the ten-for-ten format in the 08/24/2026 roundup is the clearest example I have written up.

3. Can I store it without losing it?

Freezer space, shelf space, and whether I will remember it is there. Food thrown away at the back of a cupboard was bought at infinity per pound. The arithmetic on this is in bulk buying.

4. Does the trip cost more than the saving?

My threshold is about four dollars and one extra stop. Below that, the petrol and the twenty minutes are the whole margin, and I would rather have the twenty minutes.

What I will not do

Report a percentage off without the actual price. Forty per cent off a thing I do not want is still money.
Run a “deal of the day”. Once a week is all the honest material there is.
Recommend a store card as a saving. It is a credit product, and working out whether it is a good one is not what this site does.

Who writes this

Renata. I shop for two adults and a teenager, mostly at one regional chain and a discount grocer four miles apart.

I have kept a price book since 2019. That is the only reason any of this is useful.

Standing rule

If I would not have bought it at full price within the month, a discount on it is not a saving. Most of what I skip each week fails that one test.