Archive for June, 2009
I am always amazed at how complacent people are when it comes to spending money on things like pet food or pet supplies. If you are a pet owner you will know how expensive it can be to feed your pet a decent food and to buy pet supplies for them. You should look at buying dog or cat supplies like you do buying your own groceries. Try to find deals and shop around to get your best prices. In todays day and age there are many options available so that you don't have to break the wallet looking after your pets.
We shop at a store that offers a free bag of dog food for every ten we buy. We end up getting a free bag a year and that's a big saving plus we get to feed our dog a decent brand of dog food. Stop in at a few stores and see if any of your local pet shop stores offer any loyalty deals like ours do. I imagine that most would love to have you as a regular customer.
Look online. The pet industry online is crazy. There are tons of reputible big sites selling pet supplies at a good price. Many even offer free shipping for big orders. You can always split orders with co-workers or friends to save on the shipping charges or to get your shipping for free.
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I blogged before that our Utility company is moving towards billing based on the time of day that we use our electricity. One of the biggest electricity eaters they cited in the reading material was the good old pool pump. Up until two days ago we ran our filter 24/7 and even on equal billing this is still quite expensive. We run our pool for maybe four months of the year depending on the weather.
I did some research on how many hours a pool pump needs to run to be effective. Basically it needs to turn over the water once to keep it clean. There was no definite answer on how many hours because it depends on the size of the pool, use and how much sun it gets. The majority of the sites I looked at agreed somewhere between 10 hours and 12 hours a day. That is alot of extra hydro and money being wasted.
The blurry picture on the right is what I picked up from the hardware store for $15. Your pool pump plugs into it and you set the hours you want it to run on the dial. Simple as that. It took less than five minutes to install and I am already saving money on the hydro bill.
If you install one just keep an eye on your pool for the first few days and see if it is keeping it clean. If not adjust the hours it is running until you find a time that you are happy with. Right now I am running it for about 11 hours and the clarity of the water is fine.
Why run your pump for 24 hours a day if you don't have to.
Yesterday I went to an electronics store to buy a cheap replacement mouse for my latop. They had plenty of versions and different types. Why anybody would pay over $100 for a mouse is beyond me, I was looking at something much less expensive. I wanted a cord because of bad luck with previous wireless USB models.
Anyways I grabbed the first one I saw, a Microsoft scroll wheel mouse for under $25. Perfect, just what I needed. As I was walking back down the aisle I decided to have a look around. Right there away from the rest of the "mice" was a Dynex for $4 cheaper. Exact same mouse. Why it wasn't with the rest of them is beyond me. I saved $4 by taking my time and having a look around the shelves. Grabbing the first thing you see is always a bad idea. Take your time and have a look around. Four bucks isn't much but it is a saving.
Brand name shopping can be a dead end for your pocket book. Take it from me I have had enough problems with having to have brand name goods. What is the best golf club? What is the best diet pills? What is the best pair of sunglasses? You can knock yourself out trying to find out what the best and biggest brand names are.
Here's a tip. Many large brand name companies own lots of other companies and except for the name they manufacture the same items under lesser known names for cheaper prices. Example, one of the biggest golf club names in the business is owned by the same company that owns several other sports companies. A golf store employee showed me the clubs from the lesser known company and they were practically the same but at least 1/2 the price.
You don't always have to have the brand name to get quality. Do some digging online, read some reviews and ask some store clerks. You can find really decent stuff at a fraction of the cost probably made by the same people making your brand names.
I was out picking up some garden supplies and was wondering one thing when I was looking at some items. What kind of shopper am I? Do you buy an expensive pair of gloves because they will last a long time or do you buy something like disposable gloves because they are cheaper? Do you buy a plastic potting planters that will last a season or do you sink your money into something more expensive hoping to get a couple of season out of them?
It's really kind of double ended question. If you don't have the money to spend then there is no sense in going into debt trying to save money too far into the future when you get away with keeping your dollars and making due in the short term. You really aren't saving because the cheaper items you buy aren't going to last as long but in the short term you can use the difference and pay off part of your debt or a credit card. It's a tough decision to make. Personally, if you don't have it then don't spend it.
Is it just me or is the price of electronics and electronic gadgets becoming increasingly affordable? Every weekend when we are out shopping (more window shopping than spending) I can't believe how low things have become. We were out last week and glanced at some digital camcorders and I thought they would have been prices for a lot more than what they were in the store we were in. You can pick up an HDD camcorder for well under $500. I remember way back when a friend payed nearly three times that for something not near as compact and obviously not near as advanced video wise.
What's the point? The point is that enjoying a little gadget treat for those that have put away or find themselves with a little left over isn't a major purchase as it once was. Sure $500 is a big squeeze for most of us but not as crazy as having to shell out well over $1,000 like we did in the past. The economic crunch has it benefits.
It's summer and you know what that means. The old wallet is going to take a beating with all of the birthdays, weddings, anniversary parties and other seasonal outings taking place. I have a few to go to myself and am in need of some fancy duds. You have two choices, you can rent or you can buy. If don't have too many dates on the go then renting might be the viable option but if you have a few you have to add up rental fees against the price of buying a new suit or tuxedo shirt. I started doing some comparitive shopping and was suprised how little it could cost to buy formal clothing versus renting a few times over the course of a summer.
