Shopping has become an art form and seasoned practitioners know how to parlay those skills into juicy finds to make their lives easier, better, or more fulfilled. Let’s go shopping and ease the recession’s impact on our pocketbooks.
I know it sounds crazy for a personal finance writer to advocate shopping in the midst of a recession, but it really CAN ease your financial stress if you buy the right items with the right information. Which items and what information? Here you go:
Go shopping for a better savings rate
Great rates on savings accounts are getting more and more difficult to find, BUT they are out there. Since I just want to “park” money for my emergency fund in these accounts, I prefer to use ING or HSBC. ING’s rate has dipped plummeted as has HSBC’s but they are still better than putting money in my mattress (and a whole lot more comfortable).
Currently, the HSBC rate is better than ING’s but I still have some ING referrals so if you’d like a $25 bonus on any savings account you open with them, send me a note via my contact form.
Go shopping for a better cell provider
We live in a wireless world, interconnected to each other by electromagnetic wavelengths we cannot see but CAN hear. The cellular world has become much more commoditized and as a result, the different provider’s offerings are getting more and more similar. By using a service like LetsTalk, you and I can easily compare rates between the different providers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc) and see if we’re really getting the best deal for our usage levels. LetsTalk even has deals to get free cell phones, even a new Blackberry Pearl with ANY of the major carriers.
Go shopping for energy savings
Whether you’re shopping for full spectrum daylight earth bulbs or for a smart power strip or a 7 day programmable thermostat, shopping for energy saving items is a no brainer. Be sure and figure your break-even point, though. If you can save just $1 per month, in electricity, a CFL bulb is worth it after 2-3 months, the power strip after 36 and the thermostat after 43, but I’d be willing to bet you’ll save a lot more than just one dollar.
Go shopping for a better credit card rate
I’m not a big fan of credit cards but I do understand their necessity and the incredible convenience they provide. I personally advocate paying 100 percent of your balance each and every month. If you’ve made the commitment to get your credit card balance to zero, you can pay it down MUCH faster with a better rate. Just be extra vigilant that you don’t run up more debt just because you now have an old card with nothing on it.
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If you pay off your credit card balance in full each month and don’t need to transfer a balance, you may find that a rewards card is much better. In those cases, a “charge” card that pays rewards may be the best bet.
We’ve spent the past two decades learning how to shop so we might as well use those skills to help us ease our recession worries and save some cash in the process! Shopping can be fun when you’re shopping to save money. What you do with your savings is up to you, but I’d recommend putting it into an emergency fund, saving for your retirement, or for your children’s college education if it were me.
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Thank you…this encourages me to do something I’ve been thinking about.
Well played Ron! I didn’t know where you were headed…. but THIS type of shopping is right on track and requires the intelligence and intentionality we’re all trying to share and encourage.
Good stuff!
Dave
This is a really good post and these are GREAT ideas. When I saw the title, I was like “Oooh, shopping!” And I’m glad you took be in a healthier direction than spending more money. Shopping for savings is always a good idea! Thanks!
I noticed you enjoy the art of saving money, so I wanted to quickly tell you about my website BOGOfetcher.com:
You can get local BOGO (Buy One, Get One) deals emailed to you weekly from BOGOfetcher.com! Over 90 nearby grocery stores, more than 15 neighborhood pharmacies, plus the shoe stores, fast food and other places you already shop have amazing bargains you can receive weekly, at no cost. No personal info is required other than your email address, city and state so we can send you the BOGOs in your area. You can even do a local search without signing up using the “Find BOGOs” tab! After that the BOGO’s will begin to roll in. And simply unsubscribe if you’re not satisfied.
It is nice to have all these resources in one place. If you have damaged credit and are unhappy with your insurance rates you can try a local broker that may not take your credit score into account.
Nice tips Ron! Your tips would really help the buyers to save on their budget; while shopping.
It would be better for the buyers to shop from cash back / coupon websites, always; since they generally pay back a good amount of money to the buyers; while bought anything through them. These websites are partnered with leading online stores, so you can find almost everything from a single place and that lets you save your time, also. You can try http://aafter.com/ that offers huge cash back on lowest online prices.
Regards,
SharonHill