Category: Shopping

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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?”

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.

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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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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!!!

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!