Shopping can be taunting. I don’t know about you but I always feel like I’m shopping for something whether it be clothes, vacations, furniture or groceries. If there are two things I love and hate in this world it’s that I love saving money and I hate wasting money. Overpaying for anything, even $3 makes me physically ill and I think about it for days. So to avoid all that anxiety I try to save money whenever and wherever possible.
Of course every purchase has its own special pricing and different stores have unique ways to save money, however the truth is there are ways to save money on almost anything you buy.
Look for sales
This should sound like a no brainer, but the truth is people don’t always look for sales. Humans are creatures of habit and sometimes we choose our routine over a better price.
My grocery list looks almost the same every week and therefore my grocery budget doesn’t vary too much. However if I need an unusual or irregular item I always look for a sale – otherwise I don’t buy it.
Consider the second best
This rule is especially true when shopping for household items. When you’re shopping for groceries big name brands can charge more for their items because they know consumers trust the brand. However a name brand is not a reason to overpay for items.
Some people believe that better quality equals a higher price, but that’s not always true. If your item is not on sale then choose the next best thing to save money.
Go out of your way for a good deal
Shopping for convenience is a big money waster. Grabbing food on the go, finding a one stop shop for your weekly groceries and buying everything at the store closest to your home are all ways that we shop for convenience and waste our hard earned money.
Check local flyers and find the best prices for your needs. Sometimes you’ll need to take the less convenient route to find a good deal and that’s O.K. because it’s always O.K. to save money. Just plan ahead to time to make sure your route is efficient.
Ignore the sale price
I was at a store (not to be named) and saw a blouse on sale for $49.95 I thought it was an O.K. deal only to rip off the price tag and find that the original price was $50. I couldn’t believe it. Is that really a sale? From that moment on I changed my shopping habits to avoid looking at the sale price vs. the original price.
Now I look at the bottom line and ask myself if I want to pay $49.95 for a blouse or is that too much. Of course $19.99 would be a lot better price. If the quality is good and the item has multi-purposes then the price is worth the cost. However I will never ever again buy an item just because it’s on sale.
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
I’ve found that with clothing, the “sale” price is often the real price; the non-sale price only existed for a week or so, and no on really expected to sell many at that price–but they always hope to get lucky, and then they can “mark-down” the price to what they really expect to get in the first place.
It really is ridiculous what passes as a sale! When I’m at Kohl’s it always seems like 80% of the store is always on sale…which makes me wonder if they just inflate their prices…
@RAnn – That is so true. Sometimes sales only have a limited number of items on “mark downs” and even if the price is cheaper than the MSRP they are still making a huge profit.
@Heather – I am always weary of those types of places too. How can they be making money if everything is 80% off? I think the original prices are inflated on purpose just because people love to buy things with red tags “on sale”.
I can’t believe that blouse was discounted by 5 cents and they called that a sale! That’s the worst sale ever! The thing is that many people would just see that sale label and assume they are getting a great deal. Great tip to check the original price.
I love your note about the blouse. If you feel like it’s worth the money, it’s probably worth the money. Why make yourself angry about to much it “could” be when you know how much it is?
@Hayley, I swear that’s a true story. It was total crap and when I called them out on it over Twitter they said “We discount it to be included in our sale section”. Not O.K.
@Mel – Oh yeah I was pissed. Even on sale $50 was too much for a blouse, but I know some people would buy it because they thought it was a good deal, or at lease because the store told them it was.