Window Shopper

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Today is the best day to think about this. If you have not finished (or started) your shopping, you might want to consider going to places with wholesale prices. Now I realize that there are some areas that have lots of stores like that. Others have few and far between. Of course, you can always look online too. The main thing is to find what you are looking for at the cheapest price available. I do realize that there are people out there that do not have to consider this but we do. And most of us took a pretty good hit during the Wall Street down slide. The companies that went under or are being bailed out didn’t help either.

So, we have had to learn to change the way we buy items and products. One of the major ways to do that is to find all the discounted and wholesale items that you can find. If there are several in the same place, wonderful. All this helps.

Please do not forget the cautions though. Baby products are still coming from China. I received a sample product today that has China stamped on it. Also please be very aware of gift cards. Companies that are headed out of business might still sell it to you even though you may not be able to get the value from it should they go out before it’s used. In the same way, make absolutely sure that the gift card does not have a fee or penalty for not using it within a certain number of days after purchase. It is amazing the number of gift cards that have such limitations. As I understand it, even the big, international companies sometimes have this if allowed in that particular state.

Even with all the problems these days, please enjoy your Christmas shopping!

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Computers seemed to be a hot item today. That has little surprise in it although I think if I had gone out today, it would have been for other items as gifts for Christmas. I do realize that people save enormous amounts of money on a day like this assuming they actually get their items. I suspect that many people went home with only some of what they were after and others went home disappointed altogether. We would have not faired well today at the store. We, that is my husband and I, are quite slow these days. I think we would have to have hired someone to do the running for us.

Now there’s a thought. People who are young, speedy and able to grab hold of the preferred items would be handy, very handy. Of course, you would likely spend the money that you had otherwise saved in hiring said people. However, it is a thought. That could be someone’s new line of business. I can think of so many products and items that we could own if only we were much more speedy of foot ourselves. Computers do come to mind. Lots of computers are much cheaper on the shelves only today. And now I have to admit something. I have never in my life owned a Mac computer. I have no clue about Mac memory, Mac notebooks, Mac hard drives, Mac anything. It is a total mystery to me. All I ever heard was that they were different as night and day from the standard PC and laptops. I have no clue.

Should I now try to find out? I have no idea.

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The last post I put up here said that shopping is so different and yes, it is. For one thing, people who usually buy things at a more upscale store are now inhabiting places like Wal*mart and other discount stores. We can tell that here simply by the larger numbers of people at the store these days. We live in a tourist area. Usually when the season begins, you can tell. In the fall and winter, we can go to the store and find a nice parking place right there in front. During the tourist season, there are few parking places unless you get there just right. So, we have a plan. My husband goes in and does the shopping while I find a space to park. Then I watch for him and pick him up since he would not know where to look for me. That has worked for a while now. It is now into the latter part of October. The tourists all stayed or that’s what it seems like anyway.

Today’s shopping was an experience. My sister and I went to the store to resupply Mom’s house with food. She and I had to navigate around a lot of people there. She likes to buy beef so we headed that way. Now we, my husband and I, sort of gave up on eating beef unless it’s something special like a roast that we get once in a great while. Most of the time, we eat ground turkey, chicken and other things. We tend to leave the beef alone. My goodness, it’s like trying to buy diamond rings when you check out the prices of the meat these days. I think I am going to stick with the turkey and chicken. At least with a diamond ring, you would have something to show for your purchase. The only way I could ever see my beef purchases was to look at my backside in the mirror. Ugh.

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In the process of looking for a camcorder, we noticed that it is very important to find out if the item is good for just television or it will also hook up to a computer. That’s really important to us. Some folks will want theirs to simply be available to see the latest family vacation but in our case, the camcorder is needed for uploading videos online. We like to put ours on a couple of places that have video capabilities. My husband found out about this distinction at a camera counter when he asked a few questions.

You will want to know, then, if it works on both or just the television. How much charge does the battery hold? How long will it record before it runs down? How much memory does the camera have? How long will it record before it is full? Unlike regular cameras that have a certain video function, camcorders record for a lot longer. Ours works for 90 minutes before it needs to have the content downloaded. In addition, we purchased a 4 gig. memory card. This was recommended.

If you have experience in videos, it’s likely that you know these things already. We have no experience. This is all new to us. We did notice one glaring thing about recording videos. You will need to have something that steadies your hand since the slightest movement of your hand will show up on the video looking like the earth is shaking. For that, we spent a bit more money and bought a tripod that is going to save our recordings for certain. Buying a tripod is well worth the few dollars if you are serious about doing good videos.

These are just a few things to look for. Do your research!!! Don’t just run out and buy the first thing you see. For us, that would have cost us almost $50 more than we paid. Also, sometimes it’s a blessing when one company or store does not have the item you’re looking for. A well known, worldwide discount store did not have what we wanted. I searched online. My husband searched as well. We found what we wanted only to see that it was not available just yet. Out of stock. Seemed discouraging at first. Then, we found the identical item for about $20 cheaper at another well known online store and a bonus too, free shipping!!! All in all, we saved almost $70 just by doing the research, knowing what we wanted and then watching the prices to get the best all around price and free shipping.ey

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For the last several months, gas prices have been soaring and going higher. They have been a serious problem for the economy of the county and for our pocketbooks personally as well. And now, for the first time this year, they appear to be falling. Our trip to Missouri the other day brought us to the gas station, Murphy Oil, in West Plains, Mo. The price there was $3.51 which is lower than I have seen it in ages.

What does this say to us about the price of gas this winter? Not sure but I am betting this drop in price will not last. However, while it is here we should take full advantage of it. Fill up as much as you are able. We did. The unfortunate part of that is that we used just enough gas to get there and when we filled up, it was just enough gas to get back. Growl. Had I known the price before we left, we would not have filled up at our regular station in Arkansas.

Still, the prices are down now and perhaps that will start to reflect in some goods and food prices at the stores. Let us hope that it will bring some of those soaring prices down. I do know that it took a while for the goods prices to go up. Hopefully, this will bring them down sooner. We can always hope, right?

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With all the prices rising faster than you can catch a paycheck, shopping is becoming a nightmare. I am willing to bet that you have the same problem. You walk into the same store you visited a few days ago. The prices on several of those “have to have” items are now higher, blowing any shot of you keeping to your budget this month. I had that same problem just a few days ago. The worst part is that those were the items that had not changed prices in many months.

The truth is that most of the rules about shopping are going out the window. Price hikes are frequent and sometimes debilitating to the budget. Regardless of what you previously knew about shopping, it is now time to click into survival mode. Most of the time your budget will be trashed until you can get a handle on all this. It worked that way with us and we were practically doing all that anyway. Those little extras have to wait or have to go bye bye.

The reality is that you have to save where you can, pinch the pennies just as hard as they can be pinched, get the best deals in the closest places to save gas. For years, we have gone 50 miles north to a store that had much better prices for the things we bought. In fact, they have a number of items we cannot get anywhere else. If we can still afford it, we will still go there. It will be a stretch. I do not intend to give that up easily. If you have such a store, calculate the cost of the gas into your budget and decide if it costs too much to do that. If so, then you will have to find a good store closer to your home. We do not have that option at this time. We are hopeful that the company will build one of their stores near us.

We have found that it is very important to limit trips anywhere. We now do all of our shopping along with doctor trips, visits to family and so on. I know that some people didn’t see the need for that before. Since we live in a rural area, everything is a long way away, several miles in fact. We stay at home a whole lot now, only venturing out when necessary. Yes, shopping is turning into a nightmare but you and I can survive if we simply do those things that will compact everything into a few trips instead of a trip at a time. That saves gas too.

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Did you ever just take a minute and look at those people getting to the checkout at a busy store? I have. Some look okay. They have nowhere to go and all day to get there. Not bad. There are those who look like the sky is falling if they do not get out of there RIGHT NOW! Then some people look like they forgot everything on their lists. Of course, there are people who look like they swallowed an entire lemon. Those are the ones that are worth watching. The first thing I think is that they need a colon cleanser. Stopped up, are ya bud?

The worst case scenario has the harried mom and a few kids in a long line. The kids are finding new treasures everywhere. While the one kid asks if he can have something off that shelf, the other two are grabbing several things from the next shelf. Beware the kid with octopus arms! The poor mom ends up buying six things she didn’t want because she was unloading the cart while the juniors were loading it up again.

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My husband and I have prepared ourselves for the possibility that at some point we would not have as much money as we did for income. That time has come, well actually did come last year. But we have been shopping frugally for some time now. That’s got to be a plus for any family. We find the best buys in the best places. And yes, sometimes it costs a bit of gas. But if you weigh out what the gas cost is compared to the savings, well, it is good sometimes.

Our habit is to, once a month, go over 50 miles to a store that has a whole lot of savings. The problem now is…is it costing us more to go there. See, we buy for my Mom too and then deliver the groceries to her house which is 18 miles farther than our house. Do we get the savings we need? I don’t know anymore. It was when we started all this a few years ago but I am not certain of that now. Still, that store has things we cannot get around here. That’s a plus too but is it worth it?

That would be the question you have to ask yourself now that the gas prices are sky high and not likely to drop…ever. Oh, it will drop a bit sometime this fall, I’m sure. Possibly it will drop some for this winter. However, if history repeats itself, and it usually does, then we can expect higher and higher gas prices. So, how do we protect ourselves? We still buy smart. We still buy with the savings in mind. The list of supplies may change. It might have to. Ours did some years ago because we felt that we could not afford to buy the name brand items anymore. It was a good thing we did that. It was so worth it to learn how to shop cheaply then because it serves us well now. So, get ready to shop but shop efficiently and intelligently. Grab the energy pills and get out there because you’re going to need them by the time you get finished.

1) Stick to the store or generic brands as much as possible. Most of them are made by the same companies or “look alike” companies that want the brand to appear to come from a national brand. It sells better that way.

2) Despite the gas prices, go to more than one store and get the loss leaders if that’s part of your list. If not, leave it alone. Don’t buy just because it’s cheap. Are you ever going to use it? Don’t convince yourself that you will use it if you never have before. Buying on the spot just because you see something interesting is how the grocery bill goes up, up, up. Ask me how I know.

3) Now more than ever, do NOT go to the store hungry. It’s death to the bill at the register.

4) Make that list. Stick to it as much as you possibly can. Use the newspaper ads. Part of the list should include the sale items you need for the week or month. Don’t go to the store and “shop” without it.

5) When you go out, make your trip count. Go to all the places you want to shop in the one day. We go to two to three stores and usually the pharmacy. If we have a doctor’s appointment, it’s a shopping day too. Plan ahead. Don’t just go driving if you want your gas tank to stay nice and filled.

6) Do the best you can to find discount stores. They do not always have the best prices but they sometimes have some fantastic deals. Of course, that depends on today’s prices what anyone could now call a “fantastic deal”. But they are still out there.

The most important thing to remember is to plan and save. When you take several trips to buy small items, you use the precious gas that costs so much money right now. Combining it all into one trip saves a lot of gas dollars. Isn’t it about time to save that money and gas for other things?

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Where we live, a trip to Walmart could actually be the high point of the week although, frankly, I hope not. And as the old joke goes, if we find ourselves at Wally it must be Monday. Actually, as you know, it’s Wednesday, meaning we took an extra trip this week.

You know, I would love to take the time to go to a nice jewelry shop and at least look at some real luxury watches because I really believe that they would look terrific on my wrist. However, at Wally, we picked up a band so that it will fit my wrist better and got a battery for the one I own now. Of course, it was a gift from my Mom so there is no way I would give that up. But I can look, can’t I?

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I was thinking about all those times when we bought batteries and more batteries. You know, I think we spent a lot of money on batteries for the longest time until we finally decided that although the rechargeable batteries are a lot more expensive to start with than those that are always on sale at or near the cash register they were going to save us money in the end.

How? Well, for one thing, they are rechargeable. Guess you didn’t see that coming? Of course, they do expire some day but while you have them, they sure do a lot more than the usual batteries that I have had experiences with. For instance, I used to work at a place where the best way to entertain yourself while you work (it was sort of mindless stuff), you could bring your own music with you. I had a tape player with earphones. It took four batteries that ran out about half way into the day. I could not use those batteries for very long. That got tiring quickly, I can tell you. When I discovered rechargeable batteries, I was really happy. My husband took his tape player to work as well. Those batteries simply needed to be changed out with the others that he had run out that day. Yes!!!

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