ChrisMoncus.com

After almost four years of abuse my 15″ PowerBook G4 - nicknamed the Powerbook of Doom - is finally confined to an almost exclusive desk job. The logic board is failing (one memory slot doesn’t work, a fan is out, and the processor is unseated slightly). It’s a single core 1.5GHz IBM. PhotoShop CS3 eats it for breakfast. It can only be used at an angle. It’s enough to finally send me to Apple.com to replace it.

So as of 2:00pm today my new 24″ Intel Core2Duo 2.8 GHz, 500GB iMac is on its way. It’s gonna help me in being more efficient editing photos, websites, and video. The “crunch time” is going to be decreased greatly. Plus, moving from an 80GB drive to a 500GB drive gives me lots more room to keep my music and the like all on one hard drive.

I bought it refurbished (the only way to go). It cost $700 less than a new one with the same specs and carries the same exact warranty. Most likely it was a store model or even just sat on the shelf too long. Either way, I got a current Mac for 31% off retail.

It should be here next week!

This past month or so has net Amanda and I some great deals. We’re bargain shoppers and we’re not afraid to admit that. Here are some examples of ways we’ve saved recently. Afterwards I listed some tips on saving money. If you don’t want to read about all my deals I got, at least read the tips. They have helped us tons.

Here we go…

November 23
We stand in line at 4:30am the day after thanksgiving to purchase roughly $400 worth of electronics for about $220.

That’s $180 saved thus far on $400 of stuff.

November 30
I have lunch with my mom for my birthday. She mentions that she needs to go to H&H Furniture for something. I tag along at her request. She takes me to the scratch and dent appliance section and tells me to pick out a clothes dryer. SWEET! Ours was broken and we needed a new one. I looked a bit and noticed a washer and dryer set. Retail was $900. Scratch and dent price, $500. You may scoff at the idea of buying damaged merchandise but get this… the dents were on the sides that faced each other. Once installed in the house you can’t see the dents. My mom then upped her offer and decided to buy both of them for us. Being the bargain shopper she is, she asked for a better price. She got it. Final price, $450.

That’s $630 saved thus far on $1300 of stuff.

December ?
I asked a few ladies for some help on buying Amanda a jewelry armoire. I had a $50 budget and was led to a great product for $40 on the Bed Bath & Beyond website. It seemed to be a good deal. On my way to BB&B I stopped by Target to pick up some household stuff and saw it. An armoire with over twice the capacity and better features overall. It was on sale from $80 to $50. Needless to say, I bought it and Amanda loved it!

That’s $660 saved thus far on $1380 of stuff.

December 18
Amanda and I go to Sears to look at freezers just to see what’s available. Lo and behold we find a scratch and dent 9 cubic foot chest freezer. Retail $300. Discount price $210. After some bargaining and a few tactics I got the sales guy to $180. Nice $120 dent that is purely cosmetic. If you want the whole story read here.

That’s $780 saved thus far on $1680 of stuff.

December 26
Grocery shopping can kill your budget - or lack thereof - so Amanda and I shop strategically. We look at the different sale papers from the different grocery stores in the area. All online. This way we know where to shop, which is usually a couple different places for different items. Our most recent shopping trip got us a big pack of chicken for $5 instead of $15, buy one get one free seafood (shrimp, grouper) and cereal, cheap frozen pizzas, and a lot of the usual. Total bill was $134 but we saved $67 according to the bill. We got what we needed and stocked up on things we didn’t need yet but would need soon and would be better to buy now while on sale. We had a brand new chest freezer to put it all in. It definitely pays to plan shopping trips.

That’s $847 saved thus far on $1881 of stuff.

December 28 (Today)
My mom just moved into a smaller place. She didn’t need a house for her and two boys with both of us now out of the house so she got a house sized for her. (Smart lady) That being the situation she decided to sell her dining room table and six chairs. Up until this point Amanda and I had a 30 year old table we got free from an aunt that had a couple broken chairs and didn’t have the prettiest finish in the world. We jumped on the chance to buy this $1500 table for $500. It is nice. Seriously. It has a great finish with great carvings along the edges of the surface and the pedestal. We love it.

That’s $1847 saved thus far on $3381 of stuff.

Summary and Some Tips

Obviously, Amanda and I know how to spend less and get more. It’s not a boast, just true. We studied it. We sought out these methods. Through some great books, courses, podcasts, and conversations we learned these methods and principles and more. That said, let me quickly list a few ideas to help you save money.

1. Plan. Nothing will help you get rid of your money quicker than lack of a plan. This plan can be reading the grocery store circular to see what’s on sale, making a list and sticking to it, or deciding not to buy something until it’s discounted. Example… we waited on a freezer until we found a scratch and dent. We wanted new but not new prices.
2. Shop around. By this I don’t mean to shop more but to do comparative pricing. Look around town, call around town, look online. If you’re going to buy new, pay as little as possible. It’s easy to find deals online at places like Amazon or PriceGrabber. Doing a search at those sites will help you save big on many things like electronics and housewares. I rarely buy books in town any longer. Even with shipping they usually cost less at Amazon. I get all my camera gear through deals I find on PriceGrabber. It pays to look around a little.
3. Look for discounts. Wait for discounts. Most of Amanda’s Christmas gifts were bought at 60% off retail. I got her 9 pairs of earrings instead of only a couple because of the discounts I waited on. Used or damaged isn’t always bad. Scratch and dent items are great ways to save. Used items (like tables and chairs) are easy ways to spend less. This includes cars! You could even try yard sales and auctions. We’ve done those too.

In summary, there are deals to be had, we just have to look for them.

Tonight Amanda and I went to the local mall to do a little shopping for Christmas. We decided to look in Sears just to check if there were any deals to be had. Good news! There was!

We went to the appliances section to look for scratch-and-dent items. We’re not cheap, but we avoid retail prices like they were the plague. Truth be told, an appliance with a dent works just as well as an appliance without a dent in most cases. So why not save a few (hundred) bucks?!

We asked if there were any chest freezers with cosmetic defects and guess, what? A 9 cubic foot freezer with a dent on the lid was right there begging us to take it home. Not to show too much emotion I asked a couple questions and moved on down the aisle. I wouldn’t want to look like I had taken the bait and fell in love with it, would I?

The first pass put the originally $299 freezer at $209. In other words, a $90 dent. I thought that dent was worth more. I also found out that Amanda’s dad said he would pay for part of it as a Christmas present. Good news for us.

Second pass with the sales associate I asked if he could sell it to me for $150. I knew it was a low-ball, but it got the negotiations going. He said $209 was the lowest he could go. I said “Oh well”. Then he decided that he might could go lower. The might ended up being another $20 off. Good. We’re at $189 now. Still not good enough. So I decided to take another lap around the store just to think about things and to break off the flow of the associate. It’s a game I know, but it’s fun to play.

Third pass about thirty minutes later he told me that $189 was his cost. Yeah right. My hesitation sent him to the back offering another $10 off. $179 it is… sold! So I got a brand new 9 cubic foot chest freezer for 40% off. Not bad. I might could have gotten more off but that would have taken other tactics I didn’t feel like going into. I’ll settle for $179 for a $300 freezer.

Thank you, Dave Ramsey, my mom, and my small group, for helping me learn these things. I seriously suggest that anyone who can go through Financial Peace University or read The Total Money Makeover (both by Dave Ramsey) do so. The things I learned through it let me save tonight over twice the cost of the course and materials.

So next time you are faced with a retail *gasp* price, ask for a better price. Trust me, there is one.

Any good money saving stories out there?