Tag Archives: Shopping

Counting the Discounts

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I celebrated my birthday last week.  It was a big one for me.  It seems that my current age is the age at which many places start offering senior discounts.  I certainly don’t feel like a senior citizen, but I am all about taking advantage of discounts!  For the last few years, whenever I shopped at one of my favorite resale shops (the local Goodwill), they have asked me at checkout if I qualify for any of their discounts (student/veteran/senior) and I’ve said no.  Next time I can say yes and claim my extra percentage off.  And next time I frequent a fast food restaurant, I will be asking about their senior discounts.  Often when I’ve lunched with my parents at their favorite burger place I have watched them order their free senior drinks while I had to pay.  Next time…bring on the senior drink!

So why am I waxing poetic about senior discounts to a bunch of students?  Because student discounts are abundant as well!  By nature of being a student you can qualify for discounts on computers and software, cell phone service, movie theaters, clothing retailers, Amazon Prime, and an assortment of other things.  Additionally, you can access major newspapers for free through Penn State’s Student News Readership Program.  If you are unaware of student discounts, it never hurts to ask!  Ask at the register.  Ask Google in advance.  But ASK!

Discounts are often there for the taking as long as you know about them.  In addition to my newly acquired senior discount, I’ve long enjoyed discounts that come with my AAA membership and (for a shorter time) my AARP membership, as well as the ongoing discounts tied to rewards cards at Panera and Sheetz.

Are you taking advantage of the discounts that are available to you?  If not, you should probably start!

Combating Black Friday Ads

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It seems like as soon as Halloween is done, the Black Friday sale ads start in full force.  December holiday music starts following me around any store I enter, and it makes me want to buy things.  It’s on the TV.  It’s on my social media feed.  It’s in my mailbox and my email.  I see the ads and think, “Oh….I’d love to have that!  And my husband would like one of those.”  It’s a dangerous time of year.

This year in particular I’m trying to keep my holiday spending to a minimum.  I know from the news reports that my winter heating bills are going to be higher than last year, and prices at the grocery store and the gas pump are spiraling upward.  That doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for things I don’t need.

Need is the key word here.  When I think I want to take advantage of those Black Friday deals, I first ask myself, “Do I need it?”  In most cases the answer to that question is no.  That makes it a “want” rather than a “need.”  Then I ask myself, “Do I already have something else that fills that purpose?”  Often the answer to that is yes.  And that’s usually enough to end my internal battle.  If it is something I don’t need, and I already have something that does the job ok, there is no reason to buy something new.  At this point in my life I don’t need a lot of frivolity.  I’m not a “fragrance and jewelry” kind of girl.  I wear the same silver hoop earrings and stainless steel wedding band every day, and my favorite fragrance is Dove soap (followed closely by the scent of campfire smoke).  Wanting something just to have it is really not my style.

Would it be cool to have a new smartwatch?  Sure!  But my old Fitbit still does the trick.  Would a new smartphone be awesome?  Of course….but my old one is still going strong.  The wish that almost sucked me in was wireless earbuds.  I felt weak…and I even added the ones that match my smartphone brand to my online cart.  And I actually needed something to replace my Bluetooth earpiece that disappeared several weeks ago (because my aging cars don’t have Bluetooth connections for talking on the phone in the car).  But then I found a cheap knockoff set of earbuds for $25 and bought them instead…and they’re working great.

Advertisements are strong this time of year.  We are pummeled with “BUY NOW!!!!” from every turn.  Unless you are immune to this kind of pressure, it’s important to have a plan to combat it.  For me it’s the pause to ask myself the questions of whether it’s needed.  Sometimes it’s placing it into my online cart and letting it sit there while I ponder the necessity.  If it survives both of these tests, sometimes I will actually buy something…but I’ll be certain that it was a purchase that makes sense.

How do you combat the Black Friday ads?  Are you able to tune it out?  What is your plan to make sure you don’t make unnecessary purchases this time of year?

 

Returning to “Normal”

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With vaccine now pretty readily available in the U.S., many people (including myself) are starting to think about what it will be like to return to “normal,” with the pandemic in the rear-view mirror.  I’ve already noticed that it is going to have an impact on my budget.

Within the last few weeks, I finally returned to doing some grocery shopping in person, after a year of curbside pick-up.   While it is refreshing to walk through the aisles and browse (browsing is definitely one of the things I’ve been missing!), the chances of making an impulse purchase are greatly increased.  Just yesterday I looked at some really nice pork chops and put them in my cart without regard to price.  That’s something that just doesn’t happen when you order online.  And it’s something I’m going to have to retrain myself to avoid.  The best way to keep the grocery budget in check is to make a list and stick to it.  The order online and pick up curbside process kind of builds that in.  And I’m going to have to be pretty aware of my tendency to stray from the plan now that I’m shopping the aisles of the stores again.

I also returned to eating in a restaurant over the weekend, after a year of takeout and delivery.  Again, it’s really nice to sit in a restaurant and have someone wait on me.  And the cost of the food never really left my budget.  But the thing I didn’t pay for over the last year was restaurant drinks.  Takeout food from my local brewpub (with a hefty tip built in because those working in food service have taken a real financial hit during the pandemic) is always going to be cheaper than food and drinks inside my local brewpub.  That’s another thing that I’m going to have to keep in mind to make sure that I don’t completely blow my budget on drinks.

This fall (maybe even this summer!) I’m hoping to be back in my campus office on a regular basis.  But the return to in-person work also comes with added expenses.  Mostly because of the commute.  My cars have been sitting in the driveway largely unused for more than a year.  Less driving equals less gas and maintenance.  And as things return to a more normal state, I’ll be driving more.  Back and forth to work.  Random trips to the grocery store.  Trips to visit family and friends (because we can do that again!!!!).  More miles equals more gas and more frequent oil changes and tire rotation and brakes and all of the other things that wear and tear on cars.

Things are starting to feel more normal.  And I’m thrilled about that!  But it’s definitely going to affect my budget, so I want to keep these things at the front of my mind to make sure I don’t break the bank.

How will the return to “normal” affect your budget?

Cost and Value

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This week I had one of those experiences when spending more money makes more sense.

My longtime readers know that I love my Instant Pot.  Lately I’ve taken to making my own yogurt in it.  I’ve found that for relatively little effort, I get nearly twice as much yogurt for the same money, and it tastes better than what I buy in the stores.  The downside is that it ties up the inner pot of my Instant Pot for the better part of a day (6 to 8 hours of cook time, plus at least another 6 hours sitting in the fridge to set).  I started thinking that it might be a worthwhile investment to buy a second inner pot to give myself more freedom to cook on the weekends.  My research found that the going rate on an inner pot for my 6 quart cooker is between $20 and $25.  Not a bad investment, considering that the money I’m saving on yogurt will pay for it in less than 2 months.

It seemed like a plan.  Until the little voice in the back of my head reminded me that there are times that I wish I had TWO Instant Pots.  Every time I roast a chicken in my magic pot, I wish that I could be making mashed potatoes in the same pot at the same time.  Or rice at the same time as chicken and broccoli.  If I had two, I would be able to make a main dish in one and a side dish in the other.  A second Instant Pot would solve both the yogurt issue and the side dish issue.  So back to the internet I went.  How cheap could I find a second-hand second Instant Pot?

A quick trip through eBay yielded exactly what I wanted—a nearly new 3 quart Instant Pot (a fancier model than my other one) that sells new for $100.  It has all of the pieces I need and has just one very tiny ding on the side of it.  And it was $40.  Only $15 to $20 more than just the inner pot for my existing cooker.  I took the plunge.  It arrived this past Friday and I’m tickled.  The ding is barely noticeable.  It works perfectly.  I can hardly wait to make chicken and mashed potatoes next weekend!

Did I spend more money than was necessary?  Yes.  Do I get additional value from that extra investment? Absolutely!  To quote a friend, “Cost and value are often confused, but seldom related.”  I got a value this week that to me was absolutely worth the cost.

My, How Things Have Changed

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This morning I saw a child walking to school.  And it struck me how something so completely normal now seems weird to see.  A lot of things that used to be perfectly normal in February are unusual in Covid times.  It’s odd to see people standing close together (it even triggers me when I see it on TV!).  I cringe when I see people without masks.  Name brand Clorox Wipes are impossible to find, and I rush to text my friends when I find the off-brands in stores.  And I generally don’t go to stores.  My groceries come from curbside pick-up.  Beer from my local brewpub is delivered to my front porch.  Eating restaurant food now means takeout or delivery.  Concert tickets are now sold by the car for a drive-in experience.  My commute to work is now a walk from my living room to my guest room.  And meeting with students one-on-one now involves a webcam.

A lot of things have changed in life to accommodate the Covid-19 pandemic.  How we spend money is no small part of that shift.  My impulse purchases in stores are WAY down.  Because I don’t go to stores.  By ordering my groceries online for pick-up it forces me to think about what I need in advance.  In the before times I would retrieve a cartload of grocery staples from the store every weekend, and my husband (who does most of the cooking) would make a supplemental trip to the store nearly every day to get things he wanted for that day’s dinner.  Now I place an order once or twice a week for pickup and my head chef works with what we have on hand (in what he calls the daily mystery box challenge).  Our grocery budget has definitely decreased due to this change.

It almost sounds like the pandemic would be saving me a fortune.  But that’s not true at all.  Everything gained on groceries and gas seems to be spent on my own sanity (retail therapy—the struggle is real!).  Clothes and gadgets that I used to buy at Goodwill are now coming from online retail sites….at a higher cost.  Restaurant food (which is typically a Friday night treat for us) now comes with a delivery charge.  Additionally, I seem to have developed a fabric purchasing habit in an effort to make masks so cute that I can’t wait to wear them.  And writing this makes me realize that I really should focus some effort on reducing my food delivery and Amazon expenses…

Times are weird.  And things have changed, including how I spend my money.  How have your spending habits evolved with the pandemic?

I Spend HOW Much on Food?!?!?

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It’s been a while since I told you all about my New Year’s resolution to slowly create and live within a budget.  I’m thinking it’s time for an update on my process.

After trying to track my expenses without third-party help, I quickly came to the realization that I am never going to succeed without some help.  Writing down and tracking my own expenses is not so bad, but staying on top of what my husband spends as well just adds a layer of complexity that I’m not up to.   There are seemingly endless budgeting tools available online, and I feel like I’ve tried most of them at one point or another.  But when it comes right down to it, what I really wanted is a good old-fashioned spreadsheet.  I’m pretty good with spreadsheets (because they are very handy for my job), so if I could just get my account data transported into a spreadsheet I know I’m capable of manipulating it in ways that are useful to me.  Thankfully I found Tiller.  This tool connects my accounts to a customizable Google Sheet, so I can sort my transactions by date and category.  I’m on a one-month free trial right now, but I’m already thinking this will be worth the $59 a year it will cost me to continue.  I was able to get it all set up in about an hour, and quickly saw that the biggest consumption of my money (beyond housing and medical bills) is food.

I looked at my food expenses and saw that there is definitely room to cut back on dining out as well as on groceries.  Dining out is the easy piece.  We just won’t do that as often.  This will end up being better not only for the wallet, but also for the waistline.  Groceries are more complicated.  As I’ve done my tour through a few different stores lately, I’ve been paying better attention to how much things I consume regularly cost.  There are some things (predominantly pet supplies) that I sometimes buy online.  This week I compared that cost to in-store prices, and discovered that online is indeed cheaper for these things.  But it would have been easy to just never check because I enjoy the convenience of having kitty litter delivered to my front porch.  Now that I know the online price is less, I’ll make sure I have enough coming that I never have to buy it in store.

Another grocery cost-saver is whole foods versus prepared foods.  A bag of steam-in-bag brown rice is significantly more expensive than a bag of raw brown rice.  A little planning and some quality time with my Instant Pot can make that transition very easy.  A jumbo tub of old-fashioned oats is much cheaper than pre-packaged instant oatmeal or any boxed cereal.  For produce it’s important to consider the time of year.  Fresh produce is not cheap in Pennsylvania in February.  But frozen berries and vegetables can get the job done for a lot less money.  I’ll wait to enjoy fresh when things are in season.  And then there is meat.  There is definitely savings to be found from buying in bulk.  That jumbo pack of chicken breasts can easily be broken down into individual packages and frozen.  That 9-pound pork shoulder roast can be slow cooked and then frozen as several individual pounds of cooked pulled pork for future burritos and casseroles and sandwiches.  Today’s rotisserie chicken is tomorrow’s chicken casserole.  And don’t forget about the poor-man’s staples:  eggs, pasta, beans, rice, and meat that comes in a can (I prefer tuna, but I know there are still Spam lovers in the world!).

There are a lot of ways to shave the food bill.  I’ll keep exploring them and sharing what I learn.

 

A Money-Saving Change of Pace

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Sometimes a change of pace is really good for perspective.  For months I have been visiting the same two grocery stores every week.  I load up on most things at a discount store on Saturday, then Sunday I visit a more “upscale” store for things that are either cheaper or better there.  And I’ve been completely ignoring the fact that there are two more middle of the road grocery stores a little further down the street.

Yesterday I couldn’t stand the thought of the crowded aisles of the more upscale store on Sunday afternoon.  So I headed down the road to one of the other stores.  And it was amazingly refreshing!  I hadn’t been there in months, so it was kind of novel and exciting to be someplace different.  And I was pleasantly surprised to find lower prices than the discount store on some things I buy every week.  And there were sales on some things I was already planning to purchase there.  When I got home with my two bags of food, I had to spend a little time pondering why I never go there.  It’s only an extra five minutes in the car.  And I found some really great deals (as well as buying my weekly supplies of some things the discount store had been completely sold out of—was there some sort of a run on fat-free cottage cheese and frozen berries?!?!?).

The change of perspective was good for me.  I’ll likely build this store into my more regular plans.  Maybe I’ll go there every other week instead of the more upscale grocery store.  I’ll likely start studying their sale flyers for bargains on things I use.  And I’ll likely save money as a result.  And why?  Because I changed my perspective and tried something out of my norm.

You’ll never know how something will work out until you try it.  A random change of pace may turn into a new favorite plan!

Repair or Replace?

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This past summer I had to make a very difficult decision:  repair or replace.  It’s a decision we face all the time.  Sometimes it’s an easy decision to repair, such as when you lose a button off a shirt, or a screw falls out from your glasses.  These repairs are very easy and inexpensive.  Most people can do these repairs themselves.  Sometimes it’s an easy decision to replace, such as when your cell phone charging cord stops working or your toaster won’t toast any more.  These things would be difficult to repair but replacing them is very inexpensive.

Things get more challenging when a repair is very expensive and a replacement would be even more expensive.  Like when your refrigerator stops working, or your laptop gives you the black screen of death.  In my case it was my trusty Subaru.  It was a 2004 Forester with nearly 170,000 miles on it.  Repairs to get it through inspection would have cost about $1,000.  That’s just shy of the value of the car. And within the next two years, two more scheduled maintenance issues would be at least another $1,500.  If I just drove it around town, I may have made the decision to repair.  But that was my camping car—the one I use to tow my teardrop camper to music festivals near and far.  At the time I had a trip to Wisconsin only a few weeks away.  The thought of being stranded in some random part of the flatlands of the Midwest with no way to tow my camper because something else went wrong on my ailing Subaru was just too much for me.  I started shopping.

I was not financially prepared to buy a car.  All I had for a down payment was my ailing trade-in and a few hundred from my savings.  And I had very specific needs as the replacement needed to be towing my camper within a short time.  I knew immediately that I wanted a Subaru Outback, and my price range limited me to a used car between 4 and 8 years old.  I scoured both the local dealerships and the Internet.  I test drove a few Outbacks that would stretch my budget too far.  I made a list ranking the cars that were in play as possibilities.  I made a spreadsheet listing the pros and cons of each car in the running.  And I found perfection at a Honda dealership near Pittsburgh.  A 2012 Subaru Outback, with a trailer hitch already installed, in the color my husband preferred, with a moonroof as a bonus.  And it had less than 60,000 miles on it.  Smack dab in the middle of my price range.

I didn’t get the best deal on financing because I was pressed for time.  I had to rely on the dealership to help me get a loan on the spot.  I’m currently in the process of refinancing that loan with my credit union, which will lower my interest rate by more than 2%.  Yes…you can refinance car loans.  Keep that in mind if you ever feel like your car loan isn’t your best deal.

Am I happy about the fact that I now have a car payment?  No way.  Am I happy that I now have a reliable car in great condition that will likely carry me through the next 8 years?  Absolutely!  It’s sometimes a very difficult decision, whether to repair or replace.  But I’m feeling confident that I made the right choice.

A Trio of Thanksgiving Tips

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The week of Thanksgiving is an abundance of riches when it comes to topics for financial bloggers.  Travel…food…shopping.  These three things are all at the front of my mind and I’m having a hard time deciding.  So this week, you get a three-for-one.

Holiday travel is the worst…especially if you are flying.  Every time I fly, it seems like it’s less fun than the time before (and I assure you—it hasn’t actually been fun in many, many years).  But one thing remains constant when I travel.  I always throw an empty water bottle and travel coffee mug into my carry-on bag.  Most airports (including the tiny University Park airport) have bottle filling stations by the water fountains, so I can fill my water bottle once I’m through security and be set for the trip without buying expensive throwaway bottles.  And most places (including airport Starbucks stores) offer reduced pricing on coffee if you bring your own travel mug.  Carrying my own drinking vessels saves me a bundle when I fly!

Thanksgiving is a holiday that revolves around the family table.  But when the meal is complete and the dishes are done, my favorite part of the holiday is still to come:  the leftovers.  It’s so rare in today’s busy world that we prepare a large meal with lots of sides and a huge entrée.  But Thanksgiving usually means a full turkey.  Which almost always means leftovers.  So now is the time to make those turkey salad sandwiches and Google recipes for casseroles made with leftover turkey.  Freeze some for later.  And enjoy the fruits of the Thanksgiving meal for weeks to come.

And if you’ve been anywhere near a TV in recent days, you are more than aware that the busiest shopping day of the year is coming up on Friday.  I’m a sucker for a good sale and love early morning shopping on Black Friday.  But I never go at it blind.  I like to make a plan.  There are certain items I’m looking for as Christmas gifts, and there are some things I want for my home that I’ve been waiting for sale pricing on.  I’ll sit down Thursday night with the sale flyers from the newspaper and plan my attack.  Once I know what I’m buying where, I’ll compare store opening times and locations and make my list.  Usually I’m done shopping and back home by 8 am (and I usually don’t start until at least 6 am).  Shopping with a list is pretty efficient.  The key to not spending too much is to not stray from the list.  No impulse shopping means no overspending.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

An Easy App to Save You Money

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I like cheap stuff.  This means I shop at big box stores.  This includes the controversial grand-daddy of them all, Walmart.  I know a lot of people choose not to shop there for a variety of reasons.  But I do shop there.  And one of the reasons I shop there is a part of their smart phone app.  Inside the Wal-Mart app is a little feature called “savings catcher.”

Every time I shop at the store often referred to as Walley World, I open the savings catcher and take a picture of my receipt.  Then Walmart compares the prices on the items I purchased against other stores in the area.  A couple of days later, I’ll get an email from Walmart telling me that either I paid the lowest price, or that they found a lower price elsewhere on a few items.  If they found a lower price, they refund the difference in price to me by way of “Walmart Pay.”  This basically amounts to a virtual gift card that I can use from my smart phone.

The effort on my end is minimal.  I shop as I normally would.  I take a picture of my receipt.  I wait a couple of days. Then I usually get a small refund via Walmart Pay.  It’s price comparison without the work!

I appreciate that not everyone shops at the big box stores.  But if you do shop at Walmart, it only makes sense to use the app’s savings catcher!