I sometime wonder why I was not given the The Gentleman award! I used to refrain myself from all kinds of things which would defile my gentleman image (I had my own standards!). One of such things was not to care about money at all even when it came to pay for something from my own pocket. I’d rarely look at the amount that I had to pay at the check-out counter (I used to pay by a credit card almost always), and I’d never even think about checking my bill for discrepancy. Then I’d either lose the bill or it would be so much crumpled living in my pocket that it’d be barely readable. Once I found an old grocery-store bill, and out of curiosity I looked into it just to find that I was charged for the same item twice (I was sure that I did not buy two of the same item)! I moved on, considering a trip to the grocery store did not worth my time! I used to think that the people who bargain are either poor or miser. I’d start hating someone at once if he mentioned that he had haggled to get something for a lower price, because I somehow felt that it was not ethical (I had my own standard of ethics too!) and was not gentleman-like. Moreover, I never liked the idea of staying in a shopping mall for a very long time, and as result of that, whenever I saw something that looked good, I’d grab that without much thought and without looking for possible better items with a lower price tag. I was, above all, an impulsive shopper. You should not have any doubt, by now, about me being the Worst Shopper of All Times!
If you are still reading this, you probably know that I’m writing this because I have already gotten over that nature of mine. Of course, it had to happen after incurring a lot of debts. Now I don’t feel the impulse to buy something if I don’t need it; I can even reason with myself if buying something is a good investment at all. Here are the frugal tips from which I learned from my mistakes (after all, to err is human, and one learns from his or her own mistakes) and which I use nowadays (not to mention, successfully):
- Decide what you need to buy (not what you want to buy). Think thoroughly if anything else that you already have can serve the purpose. If there are a bunch of things you are planning to buy, first list them all and figure our if you can eliminate some. Once you have a final shopping list, stick to it and don’t change your mind (unless you don’t want to buy something). After you are done with the list, make a rough estimate of how much you want to or can afford to spend.
- In a departmental store, there are a lot of options, and I am pretty sure you can find something cheaper and better than than what you’d have picked up when you just entered the store. If you are buying food items in a grocery store, look for cheaper items and pay attention to the expiry dates. The rule of thumb for shopping is: buy that lasts longer, NOT that looks better!
- Before you head toward the check-out counter mentally calculate how much you’ll have to pay (you may carry a small calculator too). Consider getting rid of the items(s) which may cause you to go over your budget.
- Inspect your bill very carefully and pay by cash. Before you wheel your cart to you car, make sure you have everything in the cart that you bought.
- You should take a different strategy while buying big-ticket items (e.g. HDTV). Do a lot of online research about it, and find out the wholesale price (the price that the store paid when it bought the item). Bargain (I still don’t like the term ‘haggle’) with the salesperson (your price should be closer to the wholesale price). If the salesperson is not willing to lower the price, talk to the store manager (or whoever his/ her supervisor is). Once you get a deal, pay for holding the item (‘layover price’ — usually 5-10% of the total price). Then go to a competing store (e.g., if you first went to Circuit City, go to Best Buy), show them the layover price slip and ask them if they can beat it. If they can, buy from them and cancel the layover price in the first shop. If they can’t or don’t, buy it from the first store. You may also consider price matching.
Now you can see that I’ve become a smart shopper after all!
