Economic downturns aren’t ever much fun, but as Adam Smith observed over two centuries ago, these cycles of paucity and plenty are a fact of life. Although none of us can say for sure when this most recent slump will reverse, there are at least sure ways of stretching your cash in the meantime. Here are some penny-preserving ideas tailored to our 21st-century lives:
1. Plenty of people are in the habit of cutting out paper coupons, but even though many of us do part of our shopping on the Internet now, not as many of us seem to have gotten into the habit of coupon-hunting on the Web. Sites such as CouponCabin.com, CouponMountain.com, and DealofDay.com list thousands of current offers at retailers all over the Net.
2. Use price-comparison sites like Shopping.com, Pricegrabber.com, mySimon.com, and Google Product Search to find the best online deals.
3. When you’re out at a brick-and-mortar store, send a text message to 46645 (Google’s number) and enter the letter “f” and then the name of the item you’re considering. Google will reply with a text quoting its online prices. To compare prices at local stores, use ShopLocal.com.
4. If you don’t already belong to one, consider joining a warehouse club such as Costco or Sam’s and buying things in bulk. This can be especially helpful if you have a sizable family.
5. Buy generic instead of brand-name products. A lot of the difference is usually in the marketing ballyhoo and not the products themselves, anyway.
6. Withdraw your green from surcharge-free ATMs, which can be found on AllpointNetwork.com and MoneyPass.com.
7. Buy locally-sourced food at farmer’s markets or stores that sell local produce and meats. Prices are often lower there because the food doesn’t have to be transported very far.
8. Shop at dollar stores. You should have an easy time finding them nearby since they’ve been popping up all over the place in the recent past.
9. Buy discount prescription drugs at online pharmacies. You’ll often end up paying under half as much for the generic medicines stocked by these discount prescription drug stores than you would for the same brand-name medications at brick-and-mortar pharmacies.
10. If your car is seven years old or older and/or worth less than $2,500, consider dropping comprehensive and collision from your insurance. Your deductible may be approaching the worth of your car anyway, in which case a major collision would send your car to the junk dealer and you to the dealership.
11. Keep cell-phone expenses under control. Today’s kids love to text message, so save yourself from unexpectedly high bills by paying the flat monthly fee for unlimited texting.
All rights reserved. Article may be reprinted as long as content remains unchanged and links remain active.
Category: Wealth Building