Don’t get taken for a ride in the grocery store

This post is a hybrid – half parenting, half frugal dad.

It’s a simple concept, really. But be careful of displays in stores that surprise you.

And what I mean by that, is be careful of items that seem out of place. You’ve probably seen them – in the middle of walking aisle around the perimeter of the story there’s a pallet of summer sausauge, or Oreo cookies, or even diapers.

I was looking for diapers for my youngest at Walmart the other day and right in the middle of a main thoroughfare is a sign that reads “$24.96.”

On that pallet were Pampers and Huggies.

A Walmart employee asked me if I needed help and I said, “Where are the rest of your diapers?”

He pointed me to the aisle where they were kept and I found a variety of brands between $14 and $24 a box.

If your little Johnny has to have the absolute best on his bottom, stop off at the “surprise” diapers and away you go.

If you’re like me, and every penny counts, don’t be afraid to look around.

The diapers they put “out there” may well be the ones that drain your wallet the fastest.

• An editor by day, Scott Mayes is also dad to Matthew, Micah and Nathan. He’s a high school parent, a youth basketball dad and changes diapers. He also buys lots of diapers … but that will end someday.