Category: Shopping

Save money on shopping for clothing, electronics, household goods, gifts, and more

Shopping

The Best Time to Buy Things This Year

Please note this post contains affiliate links which help to fund this blog at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Every year I am amazed at how many people ask me when is the best time to buy certain items that they need. Unfortunately, my reaching out to a few friends and acquaintances helps only a little bit. Most people buy things on impulse or just when they absolutely may need something and never have a well-made plan when they do it. No matter how many times I see it, I have to shake my head and ask, “Why didn’t you wait or didn’t you know that it was just on sale last week?”

To get the best deals, it helps to know the best time to buy your purchase. Here's a month-by-month guide to finding the hottest bargains.

The prices of most things that are “on sale” are sometimes questionable. By that I mean: sale prices are determined by the retailer and that’s why items at one store’s prices are sometimes very different from another. Competition has an effect and helps keep prices in line and similar, but not always. There are other factors such as seasonality, store location (like a resort gift shop compared to your local Kohl’s store when you need a bathing suit, LOL), and the amount of inventory a store has on hand at any given key time of the year.

Continue reading“The Best Time to Buy Things This Year”
Shopping

Black Friday Sales and Smart Money Prep

Please note this post contains affiliate links which help to fund this blog at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

The biggest shopping event of the year is fast approaching: Thanksgiving weekend. Whether it’s Black Friday sales, the Saturday and Sunday afterwards, or the “Cyber Monday” sales that are the big internet shopping days, they are the markers for most retailers that take them from being in the “red” each year to being into the “black” and profitable!

To get ready for Black Friday sales, you need to do a little preparation to get the best deals. Here's my advice on how to score the best bargains.

Actually, they should call the entire weekend “green weekend” for that very reason!

Black Friday weekend kicks off the first of the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas that will determine a retailer’s fate for a successful holiday season. One thing for sure is that saving money and getting a really great deal is totally possible. But also possible is that you can get caught up in the whole crazy shopping experience and make some purchases you regret or even worse, purchases that you just can’t really afford! That’s the reason the phrase “buyer beware” is so appropriate even during this, the time when you are most involved with shopping and saving’s glee!

Continue reading“Black Friday Sales and Smart Money Prep”
Shopping

Your Holiday Shopping Season Starts Now

It’s here already! With Columbus Day (or Indigenous Peoples Day if you prefer) done, the holiday shopping season is here. Shoppers are preparing for the holiday season earlier and earlier every year and your challenge is not to get lost in the shuffle. It seems it was just a few days ago we were all sitting around the pool and enjoying summer and now, guess what? Halloween is just two weeks away and it’s almost November and the official shopping countdown has begun!

Believe it or not, the 2019 holiday shopping season has started! Here's the information you need to get the best deals on your gift shopping list.

If you haven’t given it any thought already, it’s good to think about it right now so you can officially kick your holiday plans into high gear. That’s because more consumers are expected to start their holiday shopping earlier this season, even moreso than in years’ past.

Continue reading“Your Holiday Shopping Season Starts Now”
More, Shopping

Not So “Pretty in Pink”: The Pink Tax

Here’s a very disturbing fact to still be talking about in the 21st century: Women are charged more when shopping for some items even when they are the same items as men’s. An actual 2015 study by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs Office found that women paid more for 42% of the nearly 800 products they surveyed! Let me repeat that one: 42%! And in 2019, it isn’t any different.

The pink tax, where women are charged more for products simply because they are women, is completely unfair. Here's what you need to know to fight back.

Even though the survey was four years ago, things have actually gotten worse. Manufacturers and retailers know that they can take advantage of this phenomenon and although it may seem like a silly little thing, the pink tax is very real.

Continue reading“Not So “Pretty in Pink”: The Pink Tax”
More, Shopping

Gen Z and the Retail Revolution

No, that’s not the name of a new rock band from across the pond. Rather it’s a description of what is happening in the world of retail these days, or should I say this decade. Yes, there is a retail revolution taking place and it’s something that we are all involved with no matter what letter is used to describe your GEN-eration—Z, X, Y or BB (that’s me, ha ha).

As the generations change, a massive retail revolution is occurring. Here's why the old retailers are closing and the new retailers are technology-driven.

Generation Z shoppers are a force to be reckoned with and are now a major influence on the retail market.

Generation Z (or Gen Z) is the demographic age that arrived after the Millennials (Gen Y). Demographers and researchers typically use the mid-1990s to late-2000s as birth years. That makes them somewhere between age 10 and 25 years old about now. Most of Generation Z have used the internet since birth and are comfortable with technology and social media. They really know no other way. That’s the reason for today’s post about Gen Z and the retail revolution and how it is affecting everyone!

Continue reading“Gen Z and the Retail Revolution”
Shopping

The Very Best Price…Finding the Retail Clearance You Love!

It’s my educated guess that almost everyone loves a real bargain. I base that on a couple of obvious things from my life experiences. For one, I love a bargain and I’m pretty much like everyone else: I’d rather get something for less than everyone else paid for it. And if it’s really going to ring my bell then “free” would be the nirvana transaction that makes my day. Free is my favorite word, but you already know that.

If you want to find the very best prices, you need to check out retail clearance racks. Here's how to find the baragains there.

Now that I’m retired, whenever I’m out shopping I usually mumble something about that guy “Clarence” because his name is on so many things in the store. Where is “he” anyway? Yeah, don’t tell me; it annoys my wife whenever I say that.

Continue reading“The Very Best Price…Finding the Retail Clearance You Love!”
Shopping

Saving Money at the Very Best Outlet Stores

Please note this post contains affiliate links which help to fund this blog at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Just this past week I checked out a new Sketchers outlet store here in my neighborhood and I have to tell you I was pretty impressed. Located in an existing strip mall on a major highway, it was way more than I expected and actually presented itself as a very classy and well-appointed shoe store for the family. It even had their own brand of sportswear and accessories to go with its well-known shoe brand. The store was clean and beautiful, and it didn’t make me feel like I was shopping at a discount store.

Outlet stores have changed over the years, but they are still a great place to find bargains. Here's what to look for when you're shopping the outlets.

The prices appeared to be pretty awesome with discounts of 30-70% off the “regular” retail. Skechers are not cheap shoes (if price is any indicator) and these shoes were mostly priced under $50 with some under $30. A note of caution with any retailer or outlet store: don’t just believe in the fantasyland savings of things like “Reg. $250.00, now just $ 9.99”! That’s pretty much just showbiz in an outlet store. But, even with that in mind, it seemed to me I was shopping at one of the very best outlet stores I had ever seen.

Continue reading“Saving Money at the Very Best Outlet Stores”
Shopping

Save Your Money and Never Buy These 13 Things!

I am constantly reviewing my monthly expenses and always looking at ways to save my money and still have some of the things in life that my wife and I need or want. It’s actually a fun activity for me. Yes, it’s a challenge, and since I stopped working full-time a few years ago, I really need a challenge sometimes just to keep alert! I know it’s not exactly like finding the long sought after cure for cancer or providing aid and comfort for those who are in a desperate place in life, but for me it has to do with finding ways for us to do better with our money and then ultimately passing that information on to you so you can save your money! Hey, lucky you!!!

When you're looking to save your money, here are 13 things not to buy and what to do instead. Not your same old suggestions!

If you’re out there struggling along, trying to deal with your money problems, but don’t really know what to do, then you’re like millions of others that are in that same boat. That’s why I came up with a list of things that for some reason we spend money on all the time, but really don’t need. We just don’t really think about how easy it is to waste our money on these things, partly because of the masterful way we are conditioned to shop. The advertising mavens have us convinced that we “need” every new, improved, special, and yes, expensive item that someone locked in a lab somewhere was able to come up with!

Continue reading“Save Your Money and Never Buy These 13 Things!”