Be wary of false economies

Sunday, 18 July 2010

It is always prudent to look for savings and bargains wherever possible. However, it is not sensible to spend money just to bag a bargain. “The more you spend, the more you save” is not a truism. "The more you spend, the less money you have" is truer! Don’t get trapped by false economies!

The best way to save money is to not spend it at all! But that would be a miserably frugal existence.

Instead of both of those approaches, why not adopt a third way? This entails noting down what you need and waiting to see if you can find a bargain price for those items. What you write can be purposefully vague, like “birthday present for grandson” for example. Then you can look out for bargains that might suit your grandson – which could offer a wide and varied choice.

To look out for bargains, use sites like Seniors Discounts, and others that will tell you about bargains across the board. Let’s face it, searching for bargains for the senior age group might not reveal suitable gifts for your grandson!

Another example of looking for bargains is with holidays. You might like to go on holiday, but as long as it fits your requirements (e.g. warm, less than three hours away, three-star hotel), does it matter exactly where? If not, then look for the bargain holidays.

Always keep in mind what vouchers can offer you, but don’t necessarily dash off to Thorpe Park with your silver spouse if you’re only going to watch other people zoom up Stealth, or crash down Tidal Wave! A day out watching your grandchildren might, however, be worth it.

Savings sites such as moneysavingexpert.com can be very useful, but don’t follow every lead, or else you’ll end up with hundreds of CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, multiple digital cameras, and a holiday every other week! But you won’t be saving much, will you?

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