There is fruit on sale at a local grocer. I went to stock up on apples, mangoes and other fresh goodies. The first thing I saw when I went into the store was that there was a very attractive display of apples and oranges in peck bags. That was much more than I needed so I opted to buy what I wanted. I did look at the pick apples in the bags which were the only display and noticed that many of the apples beneath the first couple were unattractive – soft, bruised and bordering on overripe.

I found some nice apples and mangoes, but this made me think that people who were in a hurry might just pick up a bag where the fruit looked decent on the top and keep going. Then later they would find that their fruit wasn’t in the best condition when they got home which is a money waster.

Fruit doesn’t have to be perfect or even underripe in order for you to eat it. Eating an apple with a blemish on it won’t kill you but buying the best fruit in the quantities that you need does help you keep tabs on the grocery dollars.

Fruit isn’t the only item that can get you with attractive packaging. There are multipacks of items that are sold in stores to make you think that you really need an extra item or two in a particular fragrance you don’t like. Case in point – gift baskets. Generally unless you put a gift basket together with items that you know a person will like or that you like yourself, make a quick calculation of how much the items cost and then make the purchase. If the items that are prepacked really do not offer a “deal” then pass it up.

Beware the attractive packaging!