Going to the mall is now part of American culture. This is because of the convenience and variety the malls offer. You can do basically anything from shopping for groceries to working out in a gym to watching the latest movies. In short, for almost everything you need to do, the mall has a solution for you. As a one stop shop, the mall has become a place where you park a lot of your hard earned Dollars. As such, it would be wise to develop strategies to get the best bang for your buck. Here are some ways to save.
-Go to the Dollar Store-
Malls have the ever popular Dollar stores. However, not everything that glitters is gold. Some items like spices, vitamins and batteries aren’t good deals because they can be had for cheaper or better quality elsewhere. Some of the foodstuffs sold aren’t that great either, since some are expired or of questionable origin. The good deals are school supplies, greetings cards, party supplies, arts and crafts supplies and holiday decors. What costs several Dollars outside, can be had for only a single Dollar.
-Black Friday Sale-
The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday. This marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Traditionally, retailers offer rock bottom prices, promotions and freebies during this day. This is a good time to buy because goods are marked down.
-Don’t Go for the Hype-
Be careful when you get the latest gadget or hyped-up consumer good. Chances are you will be paying through the nose to be the first ones to get that item. Sure, it may be trendy and cool to be “in”, but you are paying for hype and advertising. Practice some patience and wait for the hot item to cool down a bit and settle to a more reasonable price range.
-Buy in Bulk-
Buy in bulk things that you use most often. If you drink powdered orange juice, get the large canister. If you need some detergent, get that big economy sized bag. Use a calculator and try to get the prices of items per gram or per milliliter and then see how much savings you get by buying a bigger size.
-Store Brands-
There are store brands such as Kirkland and Sam’s Choice which are generally cheaper than their branded counterparts. When you check the manufacturing details. Chances are they are made by name brand manufacturers as well. The savings that the retail outlet makes on distribution and advertising costs get passed to you in the form of lower prices.
-Look for Specials-
When companies have new products they want to introduce to the market, they have specials so people will be given incentive to try them. This hold true for products that are not moving very well or are going to be phased out. Specials can include discounts, rebates and tie-ups with existing products.
-Stick to the Shopping List-
The mall is a very tempting place to be. It’s like you are Pinocchio and the mall is Pleasure Island. You want to buy everything. Make a list and stick to it and keep that credit card tucked in your wallet.
-Go Bargain Hunting-
During holidays, end of season or pay days, the racks are teeming with discounted goodies on things you normally buy anyway. If the items on sale are something that would not expire in the near future, buy as much as you can. You can also use the opportunity to buy things in advance. Say Christmas is still half a year away and there is a special on gift wrapping, you can buy it in advance and save a few. Just remember not to get tempted to buy things you do not actually need just because they are cheap.
-Look for Trade Ins-
With the new save the planet craze going on, you can trade in old and unwanted stuff for newer versions of it. Sometimes appliance stores offer deals where you can trade in that old CRT television of yours for a brand new HD flat screen one.
-Coupons-
Look for those coupons in newspapers or online and save on things you would normally buy anyway. Coupons are one of the traditional ways of promoting items and might as well take advantage of them.
-Shop Around-
It pays to shop around before you buy. Usually a mall has several shops selling the same item. It’s the same item but not the same price.
With the financial crunch experienced by the country and by the world for that matter, it would be prudent to make sure that every hard earned Dollar gets stretched as far as it can go. Use the strategies in this article and develop those of your own. You work hard for your Dollars so your Dollars must work hard for you too.