Archives for shopping category
5
Jan
Posted in Guest Posts, shopping by Guest Poster |
(It’s time once again to learn about some important money management tips from someone other than me. This week, I’m proud to present a repeat guest poster, ready to share some helpful hints about buying in bulk. It can be a great way to get what you need, and save some money while doing so, but if you don’t do it right, it can end up costing you more than you save. To avoid that sort of problem, read on to learn how to best take advantage of bulk purchases!)
Buying products in bulk is a great money saving strategy, but only if it is implemented correctly. There are many ways that buying in bulk can also end up costing you far more than you expected. Before you run out and start filling your cart with a month’s supply of all your favorite items, read up on these dos and don’ts of buying in bulk.
Do stock up on paper goods. My household goes through paper goods like there is no tomorrow. Toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, and paper plates seem to disappear overnight. Items like these are great to buy in bulk because they will definitely be used and they won’t ever go bad. Just because you have a lot of these products does not mean you should be wasteful! Remember that these products come from trees, so make sure you only use and much as is needed.
Don’t stock up on perishable foods. Even if you see an amazing deal on a bulk food item, don’t buy it if it is perishable. Unless you are having a party or are feeding a huge family, only buy food items that won’t perish. If you get a great deal on food that just goes bad, you won’t be saving any money at all. Plus, all that wasted food is also wasted resources.
Do shop for parties or special events. If you are hosting a big party at your house or you are bringing snacks for your child’s sports team, you should definitely consider shopping in bulk. Buying a large quantity of specific items at grocery stores can get very pricey very fast. Instead, see if you can get what you need in bulk so that you will get a discounted price.
Don’t make shopping in bulk a habit. Buying in bulk undoubtedly provides you with some great deals. It’s easy to buy something just because it is such a great deal. But before you put that item in your cart, take a second to think if it is something that you really need. If you wouldn’t even think about buying it at full price, chances are you probably shouldn’t buy it at a discounted price either. Spending money on something unnecessary ends up not saving you any money at all.
Do bring friends with you. Shopping in bulk can be a great way to save if you bring along some friends. This way, you can all split the cost and you won’t be stuck with 50 rolls of toilet paper. If you are shopping at a store that requires a membership card, see if you can split the price of the membership with your friends as well to save as much as you can.
Don’t overbuy items. If you shop alone, it is very easy to accidently overbuy. When you see a great deal, it can be hard to pass it up. However, if you already have a good supply of paper towels, you shouldn’t buy a brand new pack. Otherwise, your house will just become crowded and cluttered, which isn’t helping anyone.
Do come prepared. Just like any ordinary trip to the grocery store, come prepared with a list and a budget. It’s very easy to get sidetracked and start filling up your cart, which adds to your total very quickly. Know how much you want to spend and exactly what you want to buy before you get to the store.
Don’t impulse buy. Being prepared with a list and a budget will help you cut down on your impulse buying. It’s one thing to purchase a pack of gum on impulse, but it’s a whole different thing to purchase a 50 pack of gum on impulse. Go shopping with frugal friends so that they can help you keep your spending under control.
About the Author: Kiley Theiring is a film student at Chapman University who also loves to write. She writes about saving money and living frugally for Coupon Mountain and also maintains her own personal blog.
9
Dec
Posted in Frugal Friday, holidays, shopping by Roger, the Amateur Financier |
Welcome to yet another Frugal Friday. Given that is mid-way through December, also known as ‘shop until you drop’ month, there’s probably plenty of help you could use in getting just the right gift for everyone on your list. Although, if I know my talented, thoughtful readers, you were probably finished with all your shopping before Black Friday, just because you’re that good.
But for those of us who still have more shopping to do, either because we just got a late start, or because our potential recipients haven’t given us much in the way of gift ideas (my mother is horrible about that, although, as I am becoming the same way, I probably shouldn’t complain). There are still opportunities to save (some of which I’ve briefly touched on already) while still being sure to give gifts your recipients will appreciate, as long as you know where to look:
1. Avoid Poor Gift Ideas: I know, I know, with barely two weeks before the big day, you’re likely getting more and more desperate to come up with an idea, any idea, as long as it results in a gift for those on your Christmas shopping list; I’m in the same boat with a few of the names on my list, as well. But the only thing worse than no gift is a really, really bad gift, the sort that make the recipient start to look for a receipt to take it back before they even finish unwrapping it. Save yourself some trouble (and them some time) by knowing the bad holiday gift ideas and avoiding them.
2. Consider Homemade Gifts (Carefully): Homemade gifts are a bit of a two-edged sword. On one hand, they can be thoughtful and creative, to say nothing of less expensive than buying something from the store. On the other hand, they require time, talent, and supplies, all of which might be in short supply during holiday time. My advice: unless the recipient has expressed genuine (not merely polite) interest in past home-made items of yours (or better yet, asked you to make them something), just try to buy them something.
3. Set a Limit (and Stick to It): It’s tempting to go all-out when buying gifts for your friends, family, and everyone else you care about, but it’s a sure way to end up spending too much. Instead, discuss with your friends and your family and set a limit as to what each gift should cost; it doesn’t have to be the same limit for each group (you might be willing to spend much more on your family than on your coworkers, for example), but have a maximum for gift costs for each gift you need to buy. Make sure to resist the urge to go over the limit, because you find ‘just the perfect gift’ or for any other reason. You’ll just ensure that other people in your gift-giving circle don’t bother to stick to the limit next year, not a good thing if you are trying to use this method to limit your spending. On a related note:
4. Work Up a ‘Secret Santa’ Arrangement Among Your Circle(s): Even with a limit, it can cost a pretty penny to buy gifts for a dozen coworkers, fifteen cousins, and twenty closest friends. Rather than trying to find that many good gifts, consider talking with your acquaintances, and making an arrangement where each of you only buys gifts for one person, chosen at random. You can do this ‘Secret Santa’ with your friends, family, and coworkers, respectively, allowing you to buy three presents rather than 47. There’ll also be the added suspense of wondering who will be giving you a present when Christmas comes around.
5. Wait Until After Christmas: I recommend this one with a sense of trepidation; there are more than a few people, from small children to eager lovers, who would be profoundly disappointed, at best, to wake up with no presents (or too few presents) under the Christmas tree. But, for many, you can probably come to an agreement to shop in the days after Christmas and exchange gifts later (perhaps you can wait to exchange gifts on Twelfth Night, January 5th, by which time the mall rush should definitely have passed). Between after-Christmas sales, cheap purchases of returns, and using gift cards you’ve received, there’s a fair chance you’ll be able to buy most of your gifts for a fraction of the cost. (Again, assuming you can get some or all of your recipients to agree to the altered schedule.)
There you have it, some last minute suggestions to help you save some money and time while still being charitable and festive during this Christmas season. Merry Christmas (and Happy Holidays, in general), Everyone!
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4
May
Posted in shopping by Roger, the Amateur Financier |
If you’re a fan of Facebook (which seems these days to be just about all of us), chances are you’ve probably noticed the numerous games you can access via your profile. Even if you don’t play Farmville, Mafia Wars, or any of the available games, you’ve probably gotten messages from friends who do, encouraging you to join and spread the news yourself. (Most likely because most games offer rewards for bringing in new players.) Like many games and activities online, it can be surprisingly addictive; heck, there was even a South Park episode about Facebook just last month, a major theme of which is just how Facebook can suck you in (literally, in the South Park episode).
As you might guess, I’ve been drawn into these Facebook games, by my fiancee Sondra. She is a particular fan of a game called Restaurant City, where, as you might guess, your goal is to build and grow your own restaurant. She’s been eager to decorate her restaurant with some of the ‘rare’ items that are available, and I’m tempted to help her out. There’s a bit of a catch, though: the items she wants can only be purchased with ‘Playfish Cash’, which can only be obtained by spending real, actual dollars.
The Virtual Economy and Its Down Sides
There’s a name for buying virtual goods with real money (well, it might get you called multiple names, but that’s a different story): a virtual economy. Virtual goods are bought (and in some case, sold) in order to improve the experience in game. Depending on the particular game, these goods could be everything from super powerful weapons to Easter bunnies (no really; that’s one possible item in the Country Story game, also on Facebook).
This is either hilarious or horrifying; I honestly can't tell which anymore
The advantages of this arrangement for the companies is pretty obvious; once you’ve done the coding to create the virtual good, you can sell an infinite number, at least in theory. (You’ll likely run out of willing customers at some point, and in certain types of games, you risk messing up the difficulty curve.) Even if you are only charging a small amount for each item, you could generate quite a bit of income through volume; it costs you no more money to sell one thousand items than it does to sell one.
(It should be noted that not all methods of getting virtual goods for real currency are approved by the makers of the virtual goods. Many game producers don’t approve of in-game items being sold for real money, feeling that it distorts the intended method of progress in the game. Gold farming is one way of generating artificial goods or currency to sell, one that is both strictly forbidden by many game administrators, and apparently carried out by nearly 400,000 people world-wide, generating $1 billion in revenue. So, not only can you buy imaginary goods with real money, but you can buy imaginary, illegal goods. God help us all.)
What benefits the purchasers obtain are more of a mystery. You can’t touch the items you’re buying, are usually highly limited in how you can sell or trade them, and if you no longer are playing the online game, they effectively disappear. It’s hardly the sort of thing you’d think would be worth real money.
Why I’m Still Going to Do It
In spite of that, I’m still planning to purchase some virtual goods for my Sondra (or rather, to convert some of my real money into virtual money for her to purchase what she wants; as is the case in the real world, I don’t trust myself to buy what she will want and need). There are a few reasons for this, even with the aforementioned problems.
First, the problem with many gifts is that no matter how much you may enjoy the particular gift, you’ll eventually get tired of it. You then have a few choices, including selling it for much less than was initially paid or keeping it forever and needing to find a place to keep it. A virtual gift, on the other hand, is nothing but ones and zeroes, which are notoriously easy to store.
Second, it’s not really that much different than other ways of paying for online content. You could spend money to buy an e-book, for one example, or pay a regular monthly fee to access content online. Either method also means trading real money for goods that are little more than collections of ones and zeros. Selling fictional goods is just one more method of providing money for the content’s creators.
Third, and more importantly, it’s what she want. If it makes her happy, why not? Besides, it’s both less expensive, and much less likely to get lost compared to, say, jewelry. So…there’s that.
What do you think about virtual goods? Is spending real money for fake goods a reasonable option, or a scam? Any alternative ideas for how to celebrate the end of the semester without buying some virtual goods?
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25
Nov
Posted in shopping by Roger, the Amateur Financier |
Well, it’s nearly here, the biggest shopping day of the year. Once all the fun of eating turkey, spending time with the extended family, watching football/parades/Christmas movies on TV, and falling into a food coma is over, the shopping frenzy will begin. It’s almost time for Black Friday to begin, with all the shopping, crazy-early store openings, incredible sales, and general consumer-related madness that occur.
You’ve probably heard the story that the term ‘Black Friday’ was derived from the fact that stores were finally able to turn a profit as a result of the increased spending during the holidays, which means they would switch from using red ink (deficits) in their ledgers over to black ink (profits). (Although, Wikipedia’s entry on Black Friday seems to put that story down as false, claiming that the real reason is due to police being upset with the horrible traffic on that day; not to put too fine a point on it, but I can definitely believe that.)
A Mall. Not Shown: Horrible Black Friday Crowds
If you want to keep your own finances in the black during the holiday season, be sure to follow this advice:
1) Plan your shopping carefully – Create a list of what you want to buy for everyone during your holiday shopping, and stick to it. If you have a list and don’t deviate from what’s included, you’ll limit how much you end up spending, and you’ll keep your spending in check. Assuming, of course, that you have a reasonable and well-defined list that doesn’t splurge beyond what you can afford.
2) Compare the prices – It’s tempting to assume that because some of the things in a store are on sale, that everything is on sale. But no store will knock down the cost of all its merchandise (definitely not to the point that everything is a good buy), so you’ll still have to be careful and do the proper comparison shopping in order to determine that you are getting the best possible price. If it’s not on your holiday gift list or you aren’t sure it’s the best price for the item, just leave it; there will plenty of time to pick it up later (there are plenty of sales leading up to Christmas, and even more once the holiday is over).
3) Consider shopping online – In recent years, ‘Cyber Monday’, a huge internet shopping day on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Shopping online can save you time, money, and having to fight your way through huge crowds in order to get the last Zhu Zhu Pet. As with shopping in the real world, make sure to do adequate research in order to ensure that you are getting the best deal.
4) Take your own food – If you’re planning to spend your day in the mall, you’re going to need to eat at some point. While I’m as big a fan of mall food courts as anyone, it’s going to be cheaper and probably much more nutritious to pack your own food and drinks. A simple sandwich or other meal you can leave in the car will enable you to take a break and then return to your shopping without having to pay for mall food. That way, you can stay fueled up and return to shopping as soon as possible.
5) Be safe, and be courteous – Every year, there’s some story about someone being trampled to death or otherwise horribly injured when a crowd pushes into a store for some break of dawn ‘doorbuster’ sale. Please, please, please, if you follow no other advice on this list, avoid the crazy crowds and horrible rushes during the early morning sales unless you are young, fit, and can handle plenty of jostling to get into the store. (Even then, consider whether it’s really worth it to put yourself through that sort of thing.) In the same vein, please help anyone you see who is having trouble when you go out shopping, on Black Friday or really, anytime. Keeping little old ladies from trying to carry 80′ flat-screens by themselves is surely worth a few points with Santa or anyone else who might be keeping a cosmic score.
Above all else, just be careful out there, alright?
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