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More of Art's Consumer Tips
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 Here are some more money-saving ideas you already thought of five years ago.
- Haggle over anything over $50. I learned this one off of 20/20 or NBC Dateline, and it works! I got a pair of shoes tagged at $65 for $50! Also got a guitar pedal tagged at $40 for $30.
- Buy rarely, and when you do buy, buy quality. This is right out of the mouth of my Mom. When you buy a TV or refrigerator, don't bother with Goldstar, Emerson, Lenox, or any of those "off" brands. Yes, they're inexpensive up front, but unlike Publix yogurt and jelly, the low-cost option doesn't work with electronics and appliances. Off-brands are going to break before a Sony or Panasonic will, therefore ultimately you'll pay more by replacing them over and over, and they're going to provide shittier functionality while they do work. Buy a reputable brand (after checking with Consumer Reports and online user reviews!) and use it until it implodes. (Sanyo is an overlooked brand that I find works really well.)
- Goodwill. Here's another one that my parents disapproved of: shopping at Goodwill. I will admit right here I bought a pair of slacks at Goodwill once, the Nautica brand, and they were quite sporty, fit perfectly, and were only $6. I plan to buy more stuff there in the future.
- Don't buy more than you need. Sometimes if you buy in volume you do get more for less, but if you're not going to use the excess, is it really a deal? Say I can get 500 Oreos for $10 or 1,000 Oreos for $14. Yes, I would be getting more for my money in the $14 jumbo deal, but if I'm really only going to eat 500 Oreos then I would really be wasting $4 for the bigger pack . Or say you go to Sam's Club and jump for joy to buy five jars of mayonnaise for some super-low volume price. Now consider that you only go through two jars of mayonnaise a year, so the other three will just go bad as they take up refrigerator space and suddenly your deal isn't a deal.
- Drive used cars. I grew up riding in Lincolns and Cadillacs. My parents must've been high rollers, eh? Certainly not! They just had a knack for finding five-year-old cars that looked like new. They told me any car loses about $2,000 as soon as you drive off the lot, so why buy new? I followed this advice when I got my Corolla. The credit union where my dad worked got rental cars that were in great shape and sold them to members at a discount. I think my car only had about 500 miles on it and I saved a few thousand.
I may upgrade to an Accord on my next purchase, but I'm a budget car fan and also like the new Civics. It's a great feeling when you park next to a Mercedes and know you got to the same destination that guy did for significantly less.
- Buy cut-out bin books. Believe it or not, a lot of people buy books brand-new for $25. FOOLS! I browse the bargain shelves at Barnes & Noble almost exclusively (although I did buy a book on The Who at full price, but it had so much info and photos for $20 I thought it was still a deal). A friend at work also tipped me to library sales where you can sometimes get stuff for even less than cutout bin prices.
There's another idea: just go to the library. Why pay $25 for a book you may never read when you can get it for free and the two-week return policy will force you to actually look at it?
Addendum regarding lunches and snacks: I just bought a microwave-safe Tupperware bowl and am going to start taking chili and ravioli to work as well as the Smart Ones lunches. It occurred to me that the Smart Ones meals are $2.50 apiece while a can of turkey chili is $1.49 at the highest. A chance to save another dollar! |
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Posted by Art | 4:00 PM EST |
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