Smart Purchasing Strategies

Purchase now, cash or credit? Or should it be, save up to purchase later?  Which one is right for you depends on your circumstances. What we do today will affect our future saving and spending. Economic, social, and personal factors affect our purchasing habits.  These are the foundation of our spending, saving, investing and achieving our financial goals. The only way to achieve financial security is to stop spending all of your income. It is important to note that overspending may lead to complications or difficulty in securing credit and financial trouble.

Practical Purchasing Practices

Comparison shopping is a process where consumers planning on making a purchase shop around looking for the best value for the dollars. Many times, people go to the brick-and-mortar locations and then purchase the item on line. Often the brick-and-mortar locations are a little more costly but there are other factors to consider when making a purchase. The Brick-and-mortar mom and pop shops pay taxes and help build the local infrastructures the web site stores do not. When Americans start shopping at the huge retailers and they funneled the money back to the location the American down town started dying.

Timing your purchases: Year after year certain items go on sale at the same time. Planning to purchase your desired item during the time of year when it is cheapest is smart. Impulse purchases or those unplanned purchases may result in financial problems. You can save money by purchasing you clothing late in the season. I know of people who do their Christmas shopping in late December and early January.

When you make the decision is to use only a certain retailer it may because of price, location, product serviceability, and selection. However, with the supercenters, and the ability to shop on line and get

what you want. Thus, utilizing this expanded shopping environment gives the consumers more selections and often lower pricing.

Staying with the name brands can be More expensive but the quality may be better or the ability to get replacement parts are more available. There are several things a wise consumer plans out before purchasing an item. Today’s shoppers can use apps which help them find the best deals.

Learning to read the label can prove to be helpful. Some of this information can assist you in your product selection while sometimes the labels are another form of advertising.

Warranties: often stores make their money on these warranties. Is it worth $7 to warranty an item the cost 68

$68? You have to ask yourself about the quality of the product, how often it will be used. You have to try and calculate how likely it is that the product will break during the warranty’s life. Some warranties are good and some are extra income for the retailer.

Services contract also both good and not so good. You have to take your time and read the contract. Service contracts do not always cover all the replacement or repair cost often they have a price limit on what they cover. If your okay with it then purchase one. I personally have the sellers pay for my buyer’s new home service contracts. I think it is smart to get one for a new home you know little about.

Note: Images on this blog site are from a free source. No image or group of photos are intended to represent the people I serve. I don’t care about Race (that is a politically correct term that I do not like because we are all of the same Race, the Human Race. I prefer the term ethnicity), color, religion, sex, gender, marital status, disability, genetic information, national origin, source of income, Veteran or military status, ancestry, citizenship, primary language or immigration status. I am a service provider for all people. We will all rise together when we band together and help one another. Joseph Erwin is a Real Estate Broker, DRE # O2131799, and a CA general contractor # B 696662. He’s a member of the CRMLS and The East Valley Association of Realtors located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California.