Frugal Friday

Recession Busters!!

If you see a sale advertised you automatically assume you're going to save money, right? Think again! Alot of retailers use promotions to sneakily get you to spend more than you have to! Here's how to steer clear of them...

1.) Avoid BOGO: Yes that's buy one get one! The trouble with a lot of these is that stores often inflate their base prices on these items. Plus, the items that go on sale are often more expensive than other options to begin with. For instance, a familiar brand of an item may be on sale but another brand or an off brand might be the better deal. So before you BOGO an item do a quick price comparison to make sure you're getting the best deal.

2.) Decline a door buster! Door-buster sales, like what you see on Black Friday, are becoming more regular. This is because retailers reel in customers that are on a "buy now" mission to a big purchase such as a new tv and usually supplies are very limited. Make sure you do some online price comparing using the door buster's model # before you rush to the store.

3.) Avoid liquidations! A retailer that is shutting its doors will often run a liquidation sale to clear its store completely. But many liquidations are handled by outside companies who reprice many of the items and may possibly increase the prices till the close date approaches. To outsmart them, go right before the start of a liquidation sale. That way the retailer is still in control and has likely drastically dropped prices to recoup as much money as possible!