I was doing my grocery list for this week, and realized I don’t think like most people when doing the same task — I don’t ask myself, “What do I need?” I ask, “Is this the lowest price?” Of course, I only buy what I will use (or can donate), but I don’t look at immediate needs, I look at price and stock up.

This coming week is Fourth of July, so every condiment is on super-duper special. But, by combining with coupons, I am going to stock up on free mustard, BBQ sauce, and 99 cent Best Foods mayo and Heintz ketchup. I don’t need any of these right now, but in three months when other people are paying $3.99 for mayo, $1.50 for mustard, $1.99 for BBQ sauce and $2 for ketchup, I will have paid $1.99 for the same $9.50 in products that they waited to buy until they ran out.

This is using grocery store marketing to your benefit. The stores this week are luring people in with great deals on all the extras they may need for barbecues, but the meat is not that great of a price. They know you will buy the meat, but they are using the condiments as the loss leader.

But you can be smart, skip the meat (’cause you have enough in your freezer, if you’ve been following the 12-week cycle), and just hit the loss leaders now.

I can guarantee you, you will not see such good prices on the condiments until Labor Day in September. In the winter, these deals will be non-existent.

So, the lesson today is don’t think of this week what you need; instead, buy now when you know it’s the lowest price.