Developing a Wise Purchaser Mindset

† A family can achieve significant savings monthly by purchasing the same things more thoughtfully,
† purchasing different things to accomplish the same purpose or
† not purchasing some things at all.

If the family sets a goal of saving twenty percent of its spending allocation through wise purchasing each month and saves the difference, many of the dreams for wonderful vacations and college education funds have potential to become a reality.

The best part is the yield. A twenty percent discount is far more valuable than a twenty percent growth in an investment:

It is tax free. So far your government doesn't tax wisdom.
It is immediate.
It is repeatable every month.
It is achievable by members of the entire family.

Principle 1. Utilize buying access to cut costs. There is almost no excuse for families living near a metropolitan area not to take advantage of the Warehouse style shopping that saves anywhere from ten to twenty five percent on same label goods.

Principle 2. Utilize the ads run by the manufacturers available in newsprint and special mailers. These are utilized to control marketing costs and to define where the company should spend money. You benefit by taking the company up on their offers.

Principle 3. Don't buy it unless you use it monthly. If you do not utilize an asset monthly, you should lease it when you need it and turn it back in. Perhaps the guideline is not monthly use, but frequency of use. I will not utilize a lawn mower every month, but I will use it, unfortunately, enough to warrant purchase. A sailboat I may only utilize three or four times a year. Better to lease.

Principle 4. Always buy big ticket items like appliances, travel, china, furniture, and even cars through a buying club. You save money guaranteed.

Principle 5. Everything that you can possibly think of has several prices. You can often experience savings of twenty to eighty percent depending on the price you are paying.

* The Wholesale Price.
* The Retail Price.
* The off season, too many in inventory price.
* The Slightly Experienced Price.
* The "I own it and I must raise money fast" price, often called the pawn shop price.
* The " I own it but no longer have a use for it and can not remember why it was so important price" which is often the garage sale price.
* The " I use to own it but I am in trouble with the spouse, the law or the IRS , and if I don't sell it I will lose it, and any money is better than no money price."
* The " The owner will not need it where he is going, and the heirs want money not the asset" , price.
* The " He used to own it, but now we own it and it is being auctioned off at any price" price.
* If you will suffer some experience of use in the assets you acquire, you will find that the pride of first ownership is usually acquired at a rate of at least twenty five percent(sometimes more) of the original purchase price, even if the asset has experienced very little if any use.

The Battle for Catholic Education - Prevent the Collapse Now!

Principle 6. There are resources for almost any type of purchase that allow you to seek direct or near direct pricing. The Wholesale By Mail Catalog by The Print Project has been publishing for eighteen years direct access for all kinds of consumer products and services. It is one of many such resources available at your local book store. The Internet has so many discount direct selling outlets, you cannot possibly visit them all! Warning: pay attention when buying over the net.

Principle 7. Sometimes the best purchase is the one you consider over and over and never actually make. This is particularly true in areas of recreational equipment that is seldom ever utilized enough to have made purchase a wise course of action. Every spring, new boat fever attacks me. Every summer, I think I must own an airplane. Every winter I am looking at snowmobiles. Sometimes I have to force myself to just "say no!"

Principle 8. REMEMBER: The other party has to sell; You don't have to buy. Therefore take your time and make the hunt part of the fun of the journey.

Next Article: Saving Big Money On Travel

Donald Clark, Chrysalis Consulting, Inc.

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