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Posts Tagged ‘money-saving’

It’s one of the indicators of a ‘proper’ recession when the general public starts to rethink strongly held views on what they once ‘couldn’t live without’. Research conduced by Pew Research Center of a large number of US residents asked what household appliances and everyday items were being considered a lower priority as a result of the credit crunch. They asked the question “which of these are pretty much a necessity and which are pretty much a luxury you could live without?” regarding a number of household appliances and gadgets. The list ranged from cars to air conditioners to microwaves to cell phones.The results, perhaps shocking to some, show how more and more of us are becoming increasingly frugal with our purchasing decisions on ‘big ticket’ household appliances and electronics.  Owning a microwave became a luxury for 21 percent of people compared with 2006. Having a home or portable air conditioner stopped becoming a luxury for 16 percent of people asked compared to a few years ago. And perhaps most surprisingly of all, owning a TV set dropped 12 percentage points in the public’s estimation of what constitutes a must-have item.  It was technological gizmos such as cellphones, high speed internet connections and flat screen TVs that were the ones not to take a hit in the rankings, suggesting that these have become the new necessities of our time.

To be honest many of the results don’t surprise me all that much.You only have to ask around to friends and family to see that frugality is becoming key as we live in fear of rising prices, reduncancies and difficulties in obtaining credit. It seems like most people’s attitude is “only buy what you absolutely need”. Having a ceiling fan instead of air conditioning during the hot summer we have coming ahead. Sticking with the bedroom furniture or fridge freezer you’ve been promising to replace for one more year. Not driving your car as much to cut back on fuel costs and mechanic bills. In my opinion these kinds of things aren’t going to make a big difference to our overall quality of life. The worry playing on my and many other people’s minds, however, is that things will get a lot worse, and it won’t be something we can budget our way out of.  Maybe at that point people will start to think about all the billions we pay in taxes that gets spent on war, bank buyouts and corporate kickbacks, and start to demand some real change in our society.

The average credit card holder in Britain is now in over £2000 of debt. We spent years buying what we wanted when we wanted it but it’s clear from the recent slump in retail sales that the time has come to tighten our purse strings and rein in our spending. Here are a few tips on how to ride out the recession by saving your money and making the most of what you already have.

Mortgage: For many people, their mortgage is their most expensive outgoing. Your home is the most important thing you own, and certainly something that it is worth taking out a loan for. But that doesn’t mean it’s an unavoidable burden we all have to put up with. Shop around and make sure your deal really is the best one for you. There are thousands of alternatives out there, you just have to be sure you’re getting the most out of what’s available. Overpayments are not a bad thing – if you find yourself with a bit of extra cash to spare one month, don’t keep it aside to fritter away on things you don’t need, make extra payments whenever you can and you could save thousands on interest in the long term.

Credit cards: Resist. Don’t spend money you don’t have, if you can’t afford to pay it off that month, just don’t buy it. Try to pay off any debt you owe as quickly as possible (don’t just pay the minimum each month if you can afford more) and if you don’t think you can resist spending more on your cards again, cut them up. Just don’t go beyond your means.

Car: Owning a car can be a very expensive business. It’s not just the cost of the car itself, but also road tax, maintenance, insurance, servicing, MOT… And the list goes on. Think carefully about whether or not you really need a car. If you can’t live without one it might be worth considering a car contract hire agreement instead of buying one outright. You pay for the car in manageable monthly instalments and often you can get other additional extras like road tax or servicing costs thrown in as well. You just have to search for the best deal. And the best thing is that often the more desirable car you choose with contract hire the better deals you can get – you could find yourself with a car you would never have been able to afford to buy outright, even in better times!

Sell sell sell!: If you have clutter and unused items around your house, don’t just turn a blind eye to them or dump them off at your local charity shop. If you’ve got drawers full of clothes you don’t wear or gadgets you thought would be useful but never used, there is someone out there who will want them. Ebay is a wonderful thing, it’s quick and easy and once you get a bit of practise at how to advertise on there you could find yourself making a nice little extra bit of cash out of your old junk. Give it a go, or you’ll never know until you try!

Whilst chatting with a friend of mine on the phone recently he told me that he’d made a cool discovery on. 

You see, he was searching through the terms and conditions on Amazon’s website and found this :

“Amazon’s prices for released items will change from time to time based on a variety of factors. If Amazon’s price for an already-released item decreases within 30 days after we ship the item to you, we’ll be glad to refund the difference in price if you contact us within that 30-day period.”

Unbelievable !

So if I purchase something today and next week Amazon drop the price by 20% then I can claim that 20% price reduction back in cash!  No wonder they’ve hidden that away in their Terms and Conditions. It could cost them loads of money!

But the question is how do you find time to keep going back and checking and rechecking to see if their buys have gone down in price?

This started me off searching the online for a way around this.

It seems that up until relatively recently the only way that these price drops could be located was either by actually recalling every purchase you’ve made or by wading through all your email receipts line by line. And after that hitting Amazon to check the price. Yawn!

Then I discovered this price protection site.

All you need to do is to enter the Amazon product code, the value you paid for it, the date you bought the item (these details can be found in your emails) and an email address. The site will then let you know if the product drops in price 30 days after you bought it.  Then all you do is follow the simple instructions provided to ask Amazon for the refund.

It’s so simple I was amazed !

So if you feel like saving some dosh why not check out Price Drop Protector, start protecting your prices and saving money!