Frugality In Practice: 75% Off Sale Doesn’t Mean Buy 3

March 31, 2008 · Filed Under · 4 Comments 

sale.jpgEvery time I add a coupon code to my website for 30% off at Footlocker.com or I see Eddie Bauer.com is having a 75% off sale I hear the voice. This voice in my head typically sounds like this, “Ewww, 75% off…..I better see what they have.” Even though I have a closet full of shoes and an almost new snow jacket, something pulls me to a sale anyways. I have developed a few ways to get past these moments of  “It’s On Sale!” temptations.

  • Let some time pass. Don’t immediately give in to the perceived “great deal”. Let your mind forget about it then see if you can remember what they heck it was you “needed” so badly. 
  • If some time passes and you even remember what it was you wanted, then honestly ask myself, “Do I really need this?” My answer is almost always NO. If the answer is yes, then I will look into getting the best deal/coupon available.
  • Just think of all the money we would have if we never bought something just because it was on sale. And on a personal note, it would sure remove a large amount of clutter from my life and garage!

Do you ever hear a similar voice in your head when you stumble across a big sale or great coupon? Maybe I just need to have my head examined. Come to think of it, I saw a 50% off consultation fee for a psychiatrist the other day. Now if I can only remember where I saw that…..

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Top Ten Wednesday – Edition 1

March 26, 2008 · Filed Under · 7 Comments 

shopping_aisle.jpgIn the wake of my grocery shopping experience with all 3 kids in tow, I present the top ten reasons why I prefer to grocery shop alone!

  1. Guaranteed to NOT hear over the store intercom system, “Clean-up on aisle 3 please.”
  2. I can stop at the magazine rack and check out the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue with no distractions.
  3. I can shop all day long and not get one unapproving stare.
  4. I will NOT be hoarse by the time I get back to the mini-van.
  5. I won’t have to put back that Snickers Bar that somehow ended up in the bottom of the shopping cart.
  6. Won’t have to say “Excuse me please” to one of the kids every time I need to push the cart forward 2 feet.
  7. Won’t have to say “Put that back” 13 times per aisle.
  8. I can push my cart down the cereal aisle without World War III breaking out.
  9. I can actually take the time to organize coupons and use them at the register.
  10. Won’t have to wash my own drool off my shirt when I get home.

Feel free to add reason 11 through 242!

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Grocery Shopping With Kids: A Dad’s Perspective

March 24, 2008 · Filed Under , · 11 Comments 

dad_shop.jpgI ventured into the grocery store with all 3 kids the other day and came out with my hair standing on end, a hole in my pants, a wet crotch, and other assorted injuries. Here is what I did wrong.

  • Know your territory. I ventured into a grocery store that I was not super familiar with. Thus, I had to travel down a couple aisles more than once to complete my shopping list. When you have the kids in tow, make sure you know the store like the back of your hand, and know at least 3 employees by name. Quickly make them your allies.
  • Put ‘em to work! Next time I plan on giving my 6 and 3 year old jobs so they can feel like big helpers. Have them get stuff off the shelf, tell me the price, etc. I made the mistake of being a dictator and adopted the “don’t touch” policy. This only made the whining and bickering worse. Hopefully, that guy in the canned goods department has forgiven me.
  • Bring a toy for the baby. Our 10 month old was cranky because I had nothing for her, except my watch, which I took off my wrist and attempted to entertain her with. Amazingly (not), it only worked for like 30 seconds. Next time I will bring a couple toys for her plus a snack, and a six pack for me.
  • Reinforce good behavior. My kids always respond well to positive reinforcement. Next time I plan on pointing out every little good thing they do and ignore most of the bad stuff. When I put myself in that mindset, their behavior always improves and they do very little “bad” stuff.

I am open to any other ideas? Looking forward to your suggestions.

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Win a Craftsman Cordless Drill!

March 17, 2008 · Filed Under , · 18 Comments 

Things are gettin’ kinda boring around here so I figured let’s do a contest and mix things up a bit!  I have a brand new 18-Volt Craftsman Cordless Drill sitting here on my desk and I want to give it away! I thought of selling it on eBay, but I think this would be a lot more fun. All you have to do is blog about your smartest, dumbest, hardest, or frugalist home improvement project or repair job that you have undertaken. You pick! Why a drill? Well, since a cordless drill has been used in almost every home improvement project I have tackled, it was the obvious choice! The drill has a carrying case, 2 battery packs, a bubble level, a LED worklight, and a bunch of other cool bells and whistles.

Me with the Prize!!

Rules are simple:

  1. Create a post on your blog talking about your smartest, dumbest, hardest, or frugalist (is that even a word?) Home Improvement Project or Repair Job that you have undertaken. Include a link to my homepage, www.rather-be-shopping.com and to this contest page www.rather-be-shopping.com/blog/2008/03/17/drill-contest. Once you have done that, just drop me an email at ratherbeshopping@sbcglobal.net so I can get you entered. This will give you 20 entries.
  2. Since not everyone has a blog, feel free to leave your story on this page in the ‘Comments’ section. This will give you 1 entry.
  3. Deadline is tax day, April 15th at 11:59pm EST. Wow, that sounds so professional doesn’t it! I will then draw a winner at random and announce it on my blog. I will also highlight some of the more original, educational, and darn right strange entries. So be creative and have some fun with this. Looking forward to reading your stories and please encourage your readers to join in!

My Home Improvement Project:

To get things started, the hardest home improvement project I ever undertook was also my most frugal. When my wife and I moved into our newly built home over 6 years ago, all the builder did in terms of landscaping, was put in a front yard lawn and a few plants. The backyard was knee high with weeds and poison oak.

I told my wife, “Honey, I can put in the lawn in the backyard.” I will never forget her response, “Really, you can do that?” She was not exactly brimming with confidence in my landscaping abilities.

About a year went by and the poison oak crept closer and closer to our backdoor. Finally, I took the bull by the horns before it invaded the sanctity of our bedroom. Turns out our house was built on a quarry of rocks and clay! The soil is absolutely horrible. I borrowed my father-in-laws rototiller and got to work. But I soon realized I would need new dirt if I ever wanted a root to take hold. So I had a truck and trailer delivery of “loam” brought in. I felt like such a pro using words like loam instead of dirt and aggregate in place of rock! I even started wearing Dickies and t-shirts with several holes in them to feel like a real landscaper. I also got really tan to look the part.

I took that loam, err…dirt, into my fenced backyard by the wheelbarrow load. 827 loads later I had my dirt. Then I had to dig my trenches for the sprinklers. I did this all by hand and 5 years later I still have the callouses to prove it. I then mastered the art of gluing together PVC pipe. Then I planted seed, watered lightly, watered lightly, and watered lightly some more. I saved thousands of dollars by doing it ALL myself! My grass slowly started to grow and it was the coolest feeling to know that I created all of this by myself:

My Backyard!

Looking forward to your entries and stories!

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Hope For The ‘Ma and Pa’ Store?

March 17, 2008 · Filed Under , · 11 Comments 

Some economist say we are in a recession right now. Some say we are not. Whatever, make up your minds already! Bottom line is that times are tough, especially for small business owners trying to compete against the likes of Walmart, Best Buy, and Costco. I have noticed recently that a handful of small businesses in my town have closed their doors. A couple restaurants and a beauty supply store most recently.

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But not all might be lost! I read an article this morning that gave me hope! It was in the online edition of our local newspaper. The article was about a young man, 30 years old, who moved his ‘Outdoorsman’ store up from Sacramento to Redding (my town) last fall because he thought it would be a better fit since there is a lot of hunting and fishing in our area. It was a nice article about how he strives to provide customized customer service and go beyond the call of duty for anybody that walks through his doors.

Then at the bottom of the story you can leave a comment if you like. This comment caught my eye:

They are very friendly. They even loaned me a CD on duck calls. They have nice gear for a reasonable price. If you want cheap, stay at Walmart. I for one will be back.

There are another 10 comments very similar to this one. Beautiful, just made my day! Maybe the ‘Ma and Pa’ stores still have a chance against the Goliaths. My concern is with the struggling economy; at what point are people going to put up with terrible service in order to get the lowest price at Walmart? Many would say that already happened a long time ago. Perhaps it depends on what you are buying? I know that makes a difference for me.

I typically will do a little research and if a local business can match the price or get close, I will always give them my business. I did this most recently with our washer and dryer. I think we should all do that. We need to support these guys. They boost our local tax base and create good jobs. But most importantly they give us a sense of community that you will never get from the big box stores. How often have you seen 5 guys standing around the sporting goods department at Walmart talking about the huge Bass they caught last week?

Do you support the local businesses in your community?

Photo Credit: bgroodog

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The Dumbest Purchase I Ever Made

March 13, 2008 · Filed Under · 2 Comments 

DebtKid is running a contest where if you talk about your dumbest purchase, you will be entered to win his dumbest purchase, a Nintendo DS Lite that he bought from Wal-Mart at 1 a.m. in the morning. Very creative, I just had to get in on this one.

(Begin Harp Music) I remember it to be 1995, I was a junior in college and CD’s and CD players were all the rage. With the ease of services like itunes, I can’t even remember the last time I bought a CD. But that is neither here nor there.

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There I was at Circuit City staring at a wall of portable CD players. They ranged in price from like $50 all the way up to $280. How do I remember that you may ask? Well, it is because I walked out with the $280 model. What the H-E-double hockey sticks was I thinking? Here is the anatomy of this a bad decision:

  • I was under the impression that the higher the price the longer it would last. Wow, how stupid was I. I actually remember thinking, “Gosh, I am going to want to have this forever, so it would be totally worth it to spend the extra money.”
  • I did NO research. I walked into the Circuit City with no clue as to what brand and model had the best consumer reviews. I bought solely based on the name ‘Sony’. My mindset was forged by years of advertising.
  • I fell for the cool factor. The Sony model I bought was the smallest and had a bunch of bells and whistles that I though would make my life so much easier. As if it could take my Statistics final exam or something! Du…da….dum…dumb.

It took me a few months to pay it off.  And the funny part was that it ended up breaking my senior year when it fell off the top bunk and hit my roommate, Brendan, in the noggin while he was sleeping. Needless to say he was not very happy! Almost as mad as me for making that stupid purchase. What was your dumbest purchase ever?

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A Few Ways To Shop Smart

March 11, 2008 · Filed Under , · Comment 

I did not always shop smart. I use to be the guy who would wander into the grocery store when I was hungry and end up with 3 bags of Cheetos, a gallon of chocolate milk, and a bag of frozen Chimichangas. No joke. I was also the person who shopped for clothes by meandering through the shopping mall wearing my last clean pair of underwear. I would rather just buy more than actually do the laundry. I currently own 527 pairs of tighty whities and assorted boxers!

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But now I shop smart baby! My wife and I do some of the obvious things like clip coupons, buy in bulk when reasonable, and shop with a list and a plan. But we also have found a few other ways to shop smart that you may not have thought of. By doing some of the following, it not only saves my wife and I a good chunk of money, but also saves us precious time.

  • Big Box Stores. Whenever you are making a major purchase from stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, Home Depot, Lowes, and the like, you have power to negotiate. For example, awhile back, my wife and I were buying a TV and DVD player from Best Buy and I asked the salesperson, “I will buy both right now, but only if you can give me the DVD player at half off.” He ran off to ask his manager, came back and said, “You have a deal.” When I was working at The Home Depot we were encouraged to do things like this. Especially if a product had a slight defect. I would often get approval to give the customer a great deal. This is definitely something I would recommend you trying!
  • Use Your Attic! Shop in your attic for cobwebs and dead bugs and then use it to store great bargains you find throughout the year. Shop right after holidays for the following year! There are always some GREAT deals to be found. Use your attic as storage for Christmas gifts, Easter baskets, birthday presents for your kids that you find throughout the year. My wife and I do this, and not only do we save a ton of money, but it is so much easier to have stuff at the ready.
  • Buy Staples at a Discount. Not staples that hold your papers together, but the kind that keep your stomach from growling. Canned goods, paper products, and non-perishables. We have a Winco grocery store here in Redding where my wife buys all of our staples. They are SUPER cheap!! Their meat and produce is not the best. So we keep our eye out on sales offered at other grocery stores (Raley’s and Safeway) who have higher quality meats and produce.

How do YOU shop smart? Would love to hear your comments and ideas!

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Weakness For Bright and Shiny Gadgets

March 7, 2008 · Filed Under , · 5 Comments 

phone.jpgI am so weak.

I mentioned in an earlier post that our phone was on the fritz. Like the great do-it-yourselfer that I am, I tested the phone line with an old rotary phone and came to the expert conclusion that our phone was “broken”. Bob Villa would have been proud.

So I went online and researched some cordless phones. My wife and I wanted something pretty basic. Just one handset with a simple answering machine. I read a bunch of reviews and came to the conclusion that the Panasonic DECT 6.0 was our best bet. So I ordered it online from the Best Buy website and had it setup for store pick-up to avoid shipping charges. Smart move.

My wife goes in to pick it up the following day and hands the Best Buy dude her receipt. He disappears to the back room, has a smoke, calls his girlfriend, and re-appears a few minutes later with no phone. Says something about how it was not pulled from the shelf like it should have been, calls another employee who shows up with the phone fairly quickly. My wife happens to notice a small sign talking about the store pick-up policy, and how if they don’t have your item in your sweaty little hands within 1 minute you get $10 off. It was obviously over 1 minute so she pipes up. The Best Buy dude says OK, and we get $10 off the purchase price! Second smart move.

In the meantime, back on the ranch, I try our old phone again and VOILA it has resurrected from the dead. Not sure how, but it just started working again. I call my wife, but it is too late, she already bought the phone. I tell her to hold on to it, in case our phone dies again in the next week or two. First dumb move.

So the box with the new phone, with the cool color LCD screen, and sleek design has been just sitting on the kitchen counter calling my name all week. “Kyle, open me up, you will love me, I am so cool!” and the other night I heard it say “Put down your bowl of Rocky Road ice cream and try me, your life will never be the same if you give me a try. Just try me, pleeeeaaaassssseee.”

I am ashamed to say the new phone won the battle, I am so weak. New gadgets, electronics of any kind and I lose self control. This is why I stay out of Best Buy type stores if at all possible. I will almost always end up with a new do-hickie for my thinga-mabob.

I justified the decision to keep the new phone by saying I could use the old phone in my office. Nothing wrong with my office phone except it is old. I also justified it by saying, “I have been so good recently, not spending money on things I don’t need, I deserve this phone.” That is an easy mindset to fall into. It is important to reward yourself, but perhaps a stop at Starbucks would have been more prudent. At least it wasn’t a Plasma TV or something ridiculously expensive. I can justify anything can’t I?

Moral of the story: If electronics start talking to you, it may be time to get your thinga-mabob checked!

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Financial Peace Of Mind: Priceless

March 4, 2008 · Filed Under , · 5 Comments 

When I was in substantial credit card debt it affected many areas of my life and well-being. I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then when unexpected stuff came up; the car needed new brakes; our cordless phone stopped working; I had a screw in my truck tire, I would always think to myself, why does this stuff keep happening to me? I thought I had terrible luck and my world was falling apart around me. Truth of the matter: this “stuff” happens to everyone, it is just normal life. But since I was in so much debt, I was suffocating under the stress of it and could not see the big picture. I wasn’t sleeping well, it affected my moods, I gained 40 pounds, it crept into almost every facet of my life.

As it turned out, the fact that my debt was affecting me physically was actually a good thing because it finally opened my eyes to the changes I needed to make in my life. Once I committed to making the changes necessary to get out of debt, I noticed a change in me. No longer was I afraid of what might be around the corner, I was not afraid of the car breaking down or the television set going kaput. There is something very powerful about facing your problems instead of burying your head in the sand. It empowers you. I started sleeping better, I started getting in shape (frugally), and most importantly, I had some peace of mind.

By the way, this is what this week looks like for me:

  • I need to get new brakes for my wife’s minivan.
  • I need to find a good deal on a new phone for the house.
  • I have to get my truck in and get that screw taken out of the tire.

I would not want it any other way. Life is good!

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