The following is a guest post by Courtney Phillips of EarnAccountingDegree.com
Times are tough and everyone is looking to save any way they can. While there are many great deals to be had, it’s important to use some common sense when shopping for discounts. Thinner wallets are often accompanied by panic that prompts people to make purchases that seem great at the time, but do not pay off as cost-savings measures.
A few things to consider when shopping in a tight economy:
1. Quantity. Discount warehouses can be great resources for things in quantities you will actually use. Huge pallets of toilet paper will always be of use. 40 lbs of steak in your freezer will, in large part, die there unless you have a huge family.
2. Dollar Stores. Some are great and others are not all they are cracked up to be. If you are looking for great deals on brand-name items, you won’t always find them at the dollar store. Some merchandise is actually more expensive than in retail outlets.
3. Rebates. Unless you are fabulously organized and will remember to mail in that rebate, don’t bother with the purchase. Manufacturers bank on your laziness and most mail-in rebates will not be redeemed. A $3 savings is great. Unless you never receive it.
4. Deal Hunting. Skip a lengthy drive to save a few cents. You may have seen cheap gas eight miles from your house but it is not logical to waste the gas you have in your tank to get there. While it sounds obvious, many people do this.
5. Brands. While brand loyalty needs to be loosened a bit, you want to avoid buying things you do not like. If there is a specific brand of deodorant or shampoo you really like, buy it on sale. Do not buy something entirely different that you hate using.
By doing a bit of research, you can save serious cash when you shop. However, you do not want to ever assume anything is cheaper just because of where it is being sold. And, you can allow yourself a few small luxuries along the way. Even if it is just continuing to use the same toothpaste you did before things went south with the economy.
This post was contributed by Courtney Phillips, who writes about how to obtain a degree in accounting. She welcomes your feedback at CourtneyPhillips80 at gmail.com
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Save money and the Earth and be clean at the same time! Get serious and add Bathroom Bidet Sprayers to all your bathrooms. I think Dr. Oz on Oprah said it best: “if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn’t wipe it off with paper, would you? You’d wash it off” Available at http://www.bathroomsprayers.com with these you won’t even need toilet paper any more, just a towel to dry off! Don’t worry, you can still leave some out for guests and can even make it the soft stuff without felling guilty. It’s cheap and can be installed without a plumber; and runs off the same water line to your toilet. You’ll probably pay for it in a few months of toilet paper savings. And after using one of these you won’t know how you lasted all those years with wadded up handfuls of toilet paper. As for water use a drought is always a concern and must be dealt with prudently but please remember that in the big picture the industrial water users always far exceed the water use of household users and in the case of toilet paper manufacture it is huge. The pollution and significant power use from that manufacturing process also contributes to global warming so switching to a hand bidet sprayer and lowering your toilet paper use is very green in multiple ways.
I agree with some of what was said, especially buying crappy products that you just plain don’t like. Still try to buy things that you like, but like you said- make sure they’re on sale. If they are completely unnecessary, then that’s a different story. Thanks for the guest post.
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