Are you really Saving Money?

We all want to save money, but some of us get a little caught up in theory without looking at the true savings of our shopping behavior. Using coupons, buying online where you can get free shipping and choosing stores with simple return policies are all good ideas, but there’s more to it than that.

Remember that sales and other promotions are not charitable events to put more money in your pocket. They are intended to drum up sales for the stores. This is why you need to be careful when you go after discounts. Here are some tips to help realize true savings from special promotions and store policies.

Groceries

Coupons can be great, but most of the time, you’ll save more by getting the generic. Coupons are best used when an item is also on sale and the coupon can be used in addition to the discount. Read the fine print and make sure you are paying less than generic before making your purchase. Also, don’t use coupons to buy something you normally would not buy. The idea is to spend less, not more!

Buying in bulk is another strategy than can easily backfire. If you do choose to buy in bulk, buy several small packages and store the extra away where you can’t see it. Studies show that when we buy in bulk, we simply consume more, rather than saving money. If you buy a bigger box, you’ll eat a bigger box. Buy several small boxes and you control this behavior.

Discount Stores

Discount stores like Wal-Mart supercenters can be great places to shop, but they don’t always have the best deal. Be sure you are checking your local grocery store prices against the discount store. You will often find that your local grocer can sell you eggs, cereal, bread and some other staples more cheaply. Items like juice, canned goods, baby items and fruit are often cheaper at super centers. Just watch out for quality on the fruit. If it goes bad the day after you buy it, you’re just throwing away your money.

Wal-Mart is also known for its flexible return policy, making many customers more likely to buy there than anywhere else on items they are not sure about. This means you are more likely to spend outside of your budget. Be caution when buying items because you know they can easily be returned. Decide what you would do if you could not return the item, and then make your purchase decision.

Department Stores

Saving money is exciting and department stores like Kohl’s bank on that. They often display items that are on sale, but you can’t find out the price until you bring the item to the register. Special store hour sales and other discount promotions can get you so caught up in the excitement of saving that you forget to think about how much you are spending and end up with a cart full of things instead of the one sweater you came in to buy.

Make no mistake: you can save a huge amount of money at stores like this. You can also spend a huge amount of money if you do not carefully consider each purchase. Look at the final purchase price for each item, not the amount of the discount.

Free Shipping

The bane of online shopping is the cost of shipping. You find an incredible deal on a purchase, only to see excessive shipping charges take that savings away. This leads to the tendency to look for free shipping. The problem is that free shipping forces the individual cost of goods up at most retailers. Other stores offer free shipping with a minimum purchase. If you came to spend $20, don’t be duped into spending $50 to get the free shipping. Do not buy anything you did not plan to buy for anymore than you budgeted to spend, including the cost of shipping.

Free Financing

Getting free financing sometimes makes you feel like you won the lottery. You can afford to buy that big-ticket item, pay over time, and it costs you nothing addition. But if you cannot pay off the full balance during the promotion period, you’ll be charged as much as 30% interest! Some creditors will apply different rates to individual purchases, but most will go whole hog as soon as the promotion ends. If you have any doubt about paying off the full balance before the free financing period runs out, do not buy on credit. Otherwise, you could end up spending hundreds more rather than buying at a discount.

Warranties

A warrenty is a tough call for most of us. The “what if” factor makes us prefer to pay for the extended warrantee on a product. The truth is that most breakdowns occur within the first few months of ownership. The standard warrantee on most products will cover this time period. When you buy an extended warrantee, you often end up paying more for the warrantee than any repairs would have cost you over the life of the product. If you simply cannot take a chance on your big-ticket purchase, make sure you take advantage of free yearly maintenance services to get the most for your money.

Jessica Bosari is an Internet copywriter and blogger for various publications and her own blog. You can read more of Jessica's work here.