The economy is still in a state of despair today. Money is tight in all corners of the country, and we college students are not spared the wrath of the dollar and its value. Those who survived the holiday season are probably clinging to what change they have left in their dwindling checking accounts. In such times, we all strive to save and manage our money the right way.
The unfortunate reality is that there is no way purely to save. In other words, there is no way to avoid spending money. Every day, each person spends some kind of money on something, even if it’s a small amount (like a quarter in a parking meter) or indirect (driving somewhere and using gas).
College students must spend on necessities like groceries and textbooks, and there are the less imperative needs like clothing and electronics. If you must have a certain item, be it necessary or extravagant, the secret key to saving money is as simple as shopping around.
This magical elixir known as research can save you hundreds in the short run and infinite amounts in the future.
Sometimes, retailers are practically begging for business and set up certain programs to entice the consumer. There are good examples and bad examples, but an example all college students can take advantage of is a loyalty program at a grocery store.
Consider Kroger’s Plus Card program. They give you a nifty little plastic card to stick on your keychain so you always have it. When the customer gets to the checkout line, the cashier will always ask if he or she has a Plus Card. If yes, the cashier swipes the card. If you watch closely, you can see your debit card reaping the savings before your eyes as the various cash is subtracted from certain items.
By the time the entire order is finished, you may have saved $5 or so. Not bad when your groceries cost $50. That amounts to a 10-percent discount for simply choosing Kroger and having a Plus Card.
But buying groceries isn’t as fun as new toys or clothes. However, these deals aren’t much harder to find if you actually look. The Internet is a great source for finding bargains and taking full advantage of them.
For example, a shopper interested in an Xbox 360 may go to Best Buy and think he or she can get a deal on the system. Though Best Buy is certainly a reasonably priced vendor of electronics, going to Google, Amazon or even Craigslist could lead to some better deals for a similar product.
In fact, buying more expensive items such as an Xbox 360 online may, in some cases, be more efficient even if the list price is the same as the one in a store. Depending on the Web site, consumers may not be charged tax. In this case, the only other charge for the product a consumer pays is shipping.
A safe estimate for the cost of a new Xbox 360 is $280. The Knox County sales tax is 9.25 percent. When the total is added up, expect to pay $305.90 in a Knox County store for an Xbox 360.
Ordering online from a site that only charges a shipping fee of $10 would save over $15 total. If the consumer can wait a few days before he or she starts the seven kill streaks in “Call of Duty,” the savings are worth it.
The net is a great source for discounted clothing as well. If one is looking for a certain designer brand, so much as typing the name into eBay may lead one to extremely deep discounts on originally overpriced items.
For American Apparel brand fans, there is an eBay store with a rather peculiar name (”Tuffy McPuggles”) that sells the brand’s clothing for nearly half the price. Apparently they buy from American Apparel wholesale and then sell the clothing at a discount from what American Apparel sells it for.
Other sites like Amazon may actually have what you’re looking for as well.
To cite a personal example, I recently bought a suit with some Christmas money. The suit was listed from the brand’s Web site at a 66-percent discount with no return policy. I know my measurements and body in clothing pretty well, so I ordered the suit anyway, and it fit well when it came.
To my great disappointment, I later came across the exact same suit listed on Amazon for nearly $200 cheaper than what I paid for it and with a return policy.
The moral of the story is this: Even when the deal appears to be great, there may be even greater deals elsewhere. The big picture: Shop around and do the research. A penny saved is a penny earned.
— Oliver Casey is a junior in enterprise management. He can be reached at [email protected].
