Knowing Prices

Here's a money saving tip activity:

SHOP to compare prices, and do this over time.

When you know what something usually costs you can readily recognize a deal when it comes along. If you don't know the regular prices of items, then when they appear in the sale papers, you really don't know if you saved actual money or if it's a gimmick to get you to spend your hard earned Linconln$.

Here's how:

Get a small pocket or purse sized notebook.

Make columns for store, item, features, and price.
Be sure to include any additional features of the product so when comparing you have ALL the
information~use the model numbers and other identifying codes. BE SURE you are comparing
apples to apples and not an apple to a grape. ;-))

Note the date of the prices too.
Some items that are seasonal will be less off season such as window fans/air conditioners in
winter or heavy coats in summer or sandals at Christmas or watermelons in December~
Now food items won't last for off season buying USUALLY, but goods will. Also think about
when certain items generally go on "sale" such as the WHITE SALES or THANKSGIVING
SALE or the SCHOOL DAYS SALE~what are the before prices? Are there really deals, and
hey, often it's great to know what sales people call "loss leader" items that are marked really,
really low to get you into the door and just purchase those! You know, those items for $.10
folders and $.25 crayons that you will have to HUNT in the back of the store, but if you need
them ARE WELL WORTH the effort!

Know which store offers which thing for the best price~
Shop around for the best deal on items. AND if you don't have to have it TODAY, keep looking
until you find your item for a price that is the best. My friend shops way in advance ANTICI-
PATING major purchases so that she is SURE she gets the best deal. Example: Her air was
going out in her home. She did a repair to get by three years ago because the price quotes
were all or seemed all high, but this year when it was obvious that the annal service wouldn't
get them by this summer, she shopped again. She came up with more quotes and found some
that BEAT the quotes of 3 yrs ago for the same system with some upgrades~HOW COOL IS
THIS?? Without the comparative shopping, she wouldn't have either gotten such a good deal
OR she might not have realized that it WAS such a good deal~talk about satisfaction when
you can save HUGE bucks!

Save receipts and go over them after you get home. Make sure all your purchases made it into
bag and that you paid what you thought you were going to pay. SOMETIMES items can get
left behind. Not good or fun, but better than losing the money on an item STILL in the store!
Saving receipts will also create a record of money spent. No leaks in the budget happening and
every penny accounted for!

KNOW your PRICES~a little notebook for shopping will help and send us on our way to living and loving on less!
SisterTipster<3