Shopping & Outdoor Blog

1. Thrift Shops and Surplus Stores

You may not think much of thrift shops and surplus stores, but may be you are not aware that these places sell branded stuff for very cheap. In fact, these establishments are full of top quality goods. If you are used to the convenience of big stores, then you may find the going a bit tough in these establishments because of the effort involved in finding the right stuff you need. You may have to spend some extra time, but you do get the stuff you require at very cheap prices. The saving you make is worth all the trouble. If you are looking for some outstanding bargains, you are in for a surprise.

Look around for such a store and chances are that you will find one near your locality. If you do not know where to begin, take the help of an online search engine. Go through the list of thrift shops and surplus stores provided by the search engine. Most likely, you will find a store near your home. Can you imagine that you will find big labels going for as cheap as under $6.00 or under $20.00? Designer clothes, which you may only dream of owning, can be yours for next to nothing.

2. Clearance Sales

If you have the patience and time, then wait for clearance sales that are normally announced with much fanfare. Clearance sales are places where you can find great bargains. It is true that some times you do have to make that extra effort to find the goodies that you are looking for, but it is worth all your time and effort.

The savings that you make on such deals are fantastic. You come home satisfied on two accounts. One, that you got the stuff you wanted; two, you did not have to dig deep into your pocket. The money you save on such deals can go to your bank or help you buy goods you have been waiting to buy for long.

3. Reusable Goods

When you go shopping, be conscious of buying goods that can be reused over and over again. If you are looking for batteries for your radio or alarm clock, go for the rechargeable kind. They may cost you a bit extra initially, but the savings you make subsequently are substantial. Rechargeable batteries have a very long life and serve you for years together in comparison to ordinary batteries that have a life span of a few months only.

Christmas trees are another area where you can save heavily. Artificial Christmas trees do look real and have a long life. Apart from saving money, you will do a great service by helping a tree from being chopped down. Can you imagine the number of trees that can be saved every year?

4. Bulk Buying

You tend to save a lot if you go for buying in bulk. Shopping at warehouses or at wholesalers make you save money because they sell cheap on bulk. You can tie up with your family or friends and avail of reduced prices on bulk buying.

5. Use Coupons

Coupons are great money savers. If you have coupons with you, do not hesitate in exchanging them for goods purchased at stores, grocery stores, or retail chain stores, where these are accepted. Keep in touch with the bulletin boards of the stores for double coupon days. Plan your shopping on days when a store offers double coupons.

Using coupons, you can save from 5% up to 15%. This leads to a substantial saving of a few hundred dollars every year.

6. Don’t Get Lured

We generally tend to spend money over things because we get lured into buying them, whether or not we require them. You may be tempted into buying something, which has great appeal for you. It is best to avoid going to that particular store where it is available, or be strong enough not to get tempted. That is how you can save money.

7. Being Patient

Being patient is the keyword to avoiding impulsive buying. If you are an impulsive buyer, you need to exercise patience. Impulsive buyers tend to buy things even when they do not really need them. When you feel the urge to buy something, be patient and tell yourself to follow the budget you planned. Do not resort to any unplanned buying. If you have planned to buy a particular shirt when it will be available on sales prices, patiently wait until then.

8. Identifying Triggers

If you are the kind who suddenly feels the urge to buy something not required, then you may need to identify what triggers you into getting in buying mode.

You might be feeling sad, lonely, anxious, depressed or happy. These could be one of the reasons that trigger the urge of buying in you.

Once you identify the trigger, exercise restraint. Look for other ways to get relief from your moodiness. All you need is to discipline yourself.

9. Barter Your Services

Float the idea of bartering services among your friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family. If some one needs help at lawn mowing, offer your services in exchange for spring-cleaning your house. If a family needs babysitting services, do it in exchange for some other chore where you need help. Such bartering of services will save a substantial amount of money for all concerned.

10. Avoid Competition

Live life on your own terms. Do not let others dictate what you should buy and what you should not. If you care to be introspective, you may find that many times you had to buy things just because your neighbors had it and you did not. This sense of competition leads to wasteful buying. At times people tend to buy things just to be one up on their friends or neighbors. The consideration at such moments is neither need nor affordability. They just buy to have a competitive edge over others. Such wasteful expenditure can cause a severe dent on their saving.

You need to be conscious of the fact that you are not in any competition with anyone. Your life is yours and hence, your needs need not be dictated by others. Before buying anything, see whether it fits the criteria of need and affordability.

11. When to Shop

It is important not to indulge in anytime shopping. A person may go for shopping when he/she is anxious, depressed, sad, or hungry. It has been found that under such state of mind a person tends to overspend on shopping. If you happen to be in a melancholic state, avoid shopping. Wait until you get over the feeling and feel normal. It is better if you eat at home before shopping. A little bit of discipline will ensure considerable saving.

12. Avoid Sales Talk

When you are trying out new dresses at a dress store, you are bound to get rave compliments from the sales persons about how beautiful you look in a particular dress, how well it fits you, or how a particular dress enhances your persona. You may in fact look all that and more, but do not get taken in into buying a dress by sales talk. Sales persons are paid to make sales, and they may even be getting a commission on each sale they make. They, for these reasons, are making a kill.

So, be prudent in your approach, keep your budget in mind, and go for a dress that you think suits you the best. Taking a friend along on such occasions is of great help.

13. Compare Prices

When you go out shopping, it is a good idea to compare prices at various establishments. You may find a significant difference in prices at different places for the same product or substitute product. Some goods might be offered at sales price, which can make you save good money.

14. Saving Money for Shopping

A number of financial institutions and banks offer a Christmas fund, an extra ordinary opportunity for you to save money for your holiday shopping. You put some money aside in the fund and enjoy a peaceful holiday, not spending beyond your means.

15. Keep an Eye on Shopping-rebates

Prior to going for shopping, keep an eye on shopping-rebates. There may be some specific days and dates when rebates are offered. Plan your shopping accordingly, and ensure a good amount of saving.

Try out the prices for assembled goods and unassembled goods. Unassembled items certainly come cheaper than fully finished and ready-to-use products. If you find the difference to be substantial, which it usually is, assembling at home is a good option and fun if you involve your kids in the exercise.

16. Save While Making Seasonal Purchases

Many stores offer holiday items on heavy discounts for a few days after a holiday. This is the time to store some stuff for the next season. You can store clothes, accessories, decorations for Christmas and more. This is a great way to save good money.

17. Buying at Dollar/Pound Stores

There was a time when dollar stores were known for storing poor quality goods, and offering off brand items. Now, things are not the same anymore. Dollar stores continue to sell cheap, but they are selling the same brand goods that you find at other stores. Daily use products can be had for a fraction of what they are sold elsewhere. You stand to make considerable saving from purchases made at your dollar store. So, look around for a dollar store near your home and start building up your saving.

18. Look to Save on Your Purchases

There are other sources for your daily needs items other than your neighborhood store. Packed edible stuff work out to be expensive, and they may come straight out of the cold storage. If you like eating fresh fruit and vegetables, head to the nearest farmer’s market. These items are cheaper and devoid of preservatives, besides being fresh. Your local bakery thrift store can offer you a variety of freshly baked stuff and breads. You can be sure of quality and freshness both at real cool prices.

Neighborhood garage sales and auctions offer you great stuff at highly discounted prices. Online auctions too are great bargains. You can get great quality stuff at highly reduced prices.

19. Utilize the Sale

Many times, we see that some or other products are on sale at a discount price. For Instance, the discount price of a deodorant may be $ 3.50 and its original price $ 7.50. If you are a regular deodorant user then do not give a second thought and purchase a couple of deodorants. You must take care before stocking things up, that you are a regular user of this product. Thus, it is a nice way of saving money.

20. Mix and Match

While shopping for clothes, take care not to purchase a matched suit. The cost of matched suits is higher than separate pieces. Thus, you may go for separate mixed pieces. Your work is to match those pieces and enjoy the savings. Moreover, you can enjoy the variety that mix and matched pieces offer. You can make four dresses out of just two pieces. This is interesting! One can enjoy the variety along with savings.

21. Sensible Shopping

Shopping in a mall is nothing but wastage of money. Always try to avoid purchasing from malls, as the product prices are too high. It would be nice to buy from a small shop rather than the malls. You can get the same quality product through online shopping or any other small shop and that too at a much lower price.

22. Shopping on the Web

Popularity of Internet is really growing very fast, as it offers every kind of information. Apart from information, you can also save your money through internet. Online shopping has brought a considerable change in the field of shopping. You can order the product online, that too at a discount price. They also offer instant delivery with added warranty. Moreover, you can go through the online catalogue and check out the wide varieties offered. For instance, there are several websites that offer a great variety of books, clothes or other appliances online and that at too at huge discount. So, take care not to waste your time and money, as both of them are precious.

23. Smart Shopping

You are saving money to buy your favorite car for a long time. Now, the time to purchase has arrived. You are eager to have the keys of your dream car. Wait! Do not act in haste. It may be possible that in a hurry, you will end up in wasting your long time saving. Check out the rates of the car in other cities. You will be astonished to find considerable difference among the rates. Thus, your little patience and intelligence can save you good money. Now, you can do anything with this saved amount.

We hope the above tips are helpful in saving you money, in the current climate around the world we all can do with saving some money!

Shopping is a procedure in which goods and services offered by the retailers are examined with the intent to buy or shop. An activity of purchasing some goods after proper selection is termed as shopping. Basically, it is considered as a leisure activity. In this recreational activity, one visits a range of stores while shopping in search of a desired or a suitable produce to buy. Whereas the activity in which shoppers engage themselves in browsing different products through glass and windows of various shops just for entertainment and enjoyment is window shopping. In this activity, the shoppers only imagine to buy these items without purchasing them in reality, probably to pass their time.

For others, shopping is truly a vexation and an inconvenient task. Shoppers going through extensive hours while waiting in long queues to buy one popular product as specifically observed with initial holiday shoppers and early adopters. Sometimes, shoppers feel ripped-off due to the inability to get one what they have paid for and end up in asking for money back. Sometimes buyers also get trapped in scam. Recently, shopping activity has been identified as an addiction, commonly consigned as shopping addiction, compulsive shopping, formally Oniomania or Shopaholic, these shoppers possess a spontaneous uncontrollable requirement to go for shopping so as to attain high or rush.

Normally, various people called merchants, salesman or vendors who sell wide variety of products in commercial zone, a zone commonly found in every town or city, sell out the products. These days the shopping phenomena is characterized by various shopping malls, flea markets, bazaars or town squares which has large collection of diverse shops at every shopping center or shopping hub.

For the ease of shoppers, every shop sells the particular or selected set of commodities or services to the consumers. The products can be leveled from cheap to extremely expensive. Various retail stores specialize in selling of products related to only one theme including candy shops, bookstores, apparel stores, footwear stores, hardware stores, gift shops, liquor stores, pet stores, hobby stores or supermarkets. The shops either owned by a company or may be a franchising company, which has franchising contracts with the owners of the shops, for instance chain restaurants.

Other kinds of stores are big-box stores, convenience stores, dollar stores, hypermarkets, or department stores that sold off a broad range of products regardless of having any similarity to each other. With the advent of modern technology like telephone, television and Internet, the shopping has become much easier and is often referred as home shopping. Electronic commerce in combination with the business-to-consumer commerce schemes has made the system of home shopping possible for everyone in which a buyer can make purchases via online shopping, mail order and shopping channels, etc. Sometimes ice-cream trucks and peddlers pass through your neighborhood also offer goods and services to you. There are some shopping seasons especially on the eve of Christmas, during which each and every person likes to go shopping for various needs and purposes.

It is called “secret” shopping for a reason. It is critical to maintain secrecy not only during a mystery shop, but before and after the shop as well. Confidentiality requirements demand that shoppers also refrain from sharing confidential and proprietary information of the mystery shopping company and the client. This seems obvious, but lots of shoppers seem to have trouble understanding the need for confidentiality.

I am always surprised when shoppers openly disclose the names of clients, fees they received, shop requirements and other information. I hear mystery shoppers say these things at shopper meet-ups, and I read inappropriate comments in public forums and blogs. What part of “confidential” don’t these shoppers understand?

Almost every mystery shopping company includes a confidentiality clause in the Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA) completed during the application process. Prohibited activities typically include:

• Sharing information about the operations of the secret shopping company and its clients.
• Discussing compensation and other details of shop assignments with a third party.
• Directly contacting a client, without the specific permission of the mystery shopping company.
• Sharing blank or completed report forms, guidelines and other shop materials with anyone else.

That means you can not talk about:

• How much a shop assignment pays.
• Which mystery shopping company shops a particular client.
• Specific shop requirements (e.g., service standards, purchase requirements, etc.)
• Which companies (e.g. stores, restaurants, banks and others) are mystery shopping clients.

A good rule is to never say anything about a secret shopping client to anyone, other than the secret shopping company. One exception to this is when you are required or allowed to have someone accompany you on a shop, such as a restaurant shop. In that case, you should tell your companion what they need to know to help you with the shop (or at least not to mess it up), but you also need to stress to them the importance of confidentiality. Tell them that they should not discuss any aspect of the mystery shop with anyone else. In fact, they should never talk about mystery shopping at all.

Do not make posts to public forums about clients or shops. Although you may comment about shopping companies (i.e., “Mystery Shopping Provider is a great company to work for, although I wish they would pay faster.”) do not gossip about secret shopping companies or disclose information about their operations that you obtained while working for them.

When asked on a application for which companies you have worked, it is acceptable to name them. Do not name any clients you shopped for them.

Giving confidential information to your best friend over coffee, or in a private email, is still a violation of confidentiality. If you are not sure whether you should disclose something, do not talk about it.

You may not see the harm in sharing this information, but it can cause damage to the businesses of the secret shopping providers and their clients. You can be deactivated as a shopper if a company discovers that you have violated confidentiality. In an extreme case, it is even possible that you could be sued.

Keep the secrecy in secret shopping by not sharing confidential information.