My buddy's 3-second rounding rule saved my grocery budget

Tbh my friend Jake told me to round every price up to the next dollar when I'm adding stuff in my head at the store. I laughed it off for months until I checked my receipt at the Safeway in Denver and I was off by $14. Started doing his trick last week and now my total is always within $2 of what I expect. Has anyone else got a dumb mental math hack that actually works?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wesley7d ago

Oh man, @nathankim, I gotta stop you there. The whole point of Jake's rule is that it's dumb and simple, so you don't have to think about types of food or sales. The second you start deciding "this is produce so round up more" you're basically doing math again, which is the thing we're all trying to avoid. Also, manager specials aren't throwing off the rounding, they're making it work better, because if the sticker price is already lower, rounding up to the next dollar gives you even more wiggle room. You're overcomplicating a system that's supposed to be brainless, and that's why you're overshooting. Just do the flat rule, all items, no exceptions, and let the extra dollar or two be your savings buffer. Trust the dumb rule, that's the whole trick.

nathankim7d ago

Tried this with my weekly shop and it messed me up the other way, kept overshooting my number. But then I flipped it, I round down on stuff I know is gonna go on sale and round up on everything else. The real trick is doing it per item not per category, so like produce gets a bigger bump than canned stuff. Also, watch the manager specials, they throw off the rounding because the sticker price is already knocked down. Saved me like $8 last trip just by being stricter with the rule on meat and dairy.