{"id":759,"date":"2020-11-13T12:37:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T20:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/?p=759"},"modified":"2020-11-13T12:37:06","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T20:37:06","slug":"money-101-13-shop-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/13\/money-101-13-shop-around\/","title":{"rendered":"Money 101 (#13): Shop around"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DISCLAIMER: I am not a financial advisor and this should not be taken to be financial advice. You should consult a financial professional for advice. I am a financial amateur. These are my thoughts and opinions on money that I have recorded here for my children, with the hope that my thoughts might help them. They are responsible for the results of the advice they choose to follow. Always worth keeping in mind: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Your mileage may vary. The map is not the territory. Keep your eyes open. Smell it before you take a bite. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To my children: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s amazing how much money you can save just by shopping around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Same item, different price<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The very same item (same brand, same size) can be a lot less at one store and a lot more at another. The same bag of chips, the same pair of jeans, the same bottle of wine, etc. My dad bought some wine at the dollar store for $1 and the very same wine was $9 at my local supermarket. Same wine. Same brand, same size, different prices at different stores. Nine times more expensive if you don\u2019t shop around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generic might be good enough<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes the brand may not matter to you. Walgreens sells Wal-Phed, their generic brand equivalent of Sudafed. The active ingredients are the same and it will relieve nasal congestion just as well. Looking at the generic option is another way of shopping around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Used items might be good enough<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider buying used items when you\u2019re shopping for cars, bikes, or even clothes. They are often a good deal compared to buying those items brand new. For example, I read that cars lose 20% of their value in the first year. If you bought a 1-year-old car instead of a brand new car, it would cost you less money (you get 20% off), and while it won\u2019t be brand new, it will be a good deal because that car still has more than 80% of its life in front of it. It will probably last more than 4 more years. I read that most cars last about 8 years. So for 80% (or 4\/5) of the price, you get 87.5% (or 7\/8) of the car value. It\u2019s kind of like when you order a half a sandwich and it costs a little more than half the price of a whole sandwich\u2014it\u2019s like the opposite of that, where you are being offered a half a sandwich for less than half the price of a whole sandwich. It\u2019s a good deal.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bottom Line: Shop around. Check different stores. You can save money by paying less for the very same item.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DISCLAIMER: I am not a financial advisor and this should not be taken to be financial advice. You should consult a financial professional for advice. I am a financial amateur. These are my thoughts and opinions on money that I have recorded here for my children, with the hope that my thoughts might help them. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Money 101 (#13): Shop around”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":760,"href":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759\/revisions\/760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mitchelljoe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}