Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

When Your Frugal Life Can Cost You More Money

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One of the tenets of a frugal life is learning impulse control.

Are you running errands and want to drink a soda?  Just wait until you get home.  Instead of paying $1.00 for a can, you can have one that you bought in bulk for .10 a can.

Are you excited to see the latest movie by your favorite actor?  Don’t pay $10 or more per ticket; just wait until it comes to DVD and check it out from the library.  Or watch it on Netflix or Amazon.

Often, when it comes to frugal living, simply waiting can save you money—a lot of money.

Your frugal life can cost you money
Your Frugal Life can Cost You Money

However, the same impulse that prompts frugal people to wait can also end up costing them a lot of money, if they’re not careful.  The key is knowing when it’s good to wait vs. when you need to take action.

Car Repairs

When it comes to mechanical car repairs, waiting will almost always cost you money.  For instance, a few years ago, I heard a squeak when I pushed on the brakes.  However, we didn’t have the money for a costly repair, so we put off the repair while we tried to generate more money.  While we waited, the brakes continued to deteriorate, so a repair that would have only cost a few hundred dollars had we taken care of it quickly, turned into a repair that cost several hundred more.  Ouch.  Lesson learned.

However, for non-mechanical repairs, waiting or just not fixing them can save you money.  Our electronic sliding door on our minivan has been broken for a few years now.  (The cable is frayed.)  Repairing it would have cost $1,000+.  Since the van has nearly 200,000 miles on it and is 13 years old, we opted not to make that repair.

Home Repairs

Some home repairs can be put off, but most of them, like car repairs, need to be attended to in a prompt manner.  If they are, they will cost much less money.  Case in point?  We hated our kitchen faucet.  It was very low, and it was hard to use when washing pots and pans.  We wanted to replace it, but didn’t have the money.  Well, this summer, we learned that the faucet had been leaking.  There were actually three leaks dripping under the sink because the previous owner had duct taped (!) one of the pipes under the sink.  The plumber replaced the faucet and changed the pipes under the sink.  We would have had that expense regardless of when we replaced the faucet, but had we taken care of the faucet earlier, we would have saved ourselves the water damage repair underneath the sink.

Living a frugal life and waiting for most things in life can save you thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of dollars over your lifetime, in some cases, waiting will just cost you more.

Do you tend to put off home and car repairs because of your frugal life, or do you attend to them promptly, knowing they will likely cost more money if you don’t?

3 Strategies to Keep Track of Your Purchases To Save Money

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I’m a big fan of buying in advance for items that I know that I’ll need.  For years when my kids were little, I’d go out shopping a day or two after Halloween to buy my kids discounted Halloween costumes for the next year.  I never paid full price for a Halloween costume, and after Halloween was over and the kids were done with the costume, I sold the costumes on eBay for close to the price I paid.

That’s the way I like to shop, and I know it’s how many others shop, too.  After all, shopping this way is a smart strategy to stretch your dollars.

The problem is that as life gets busier as the kids grow older, I’ve found that sometimes I forget what I bought in advance.  Then, I desperately go out shopping for the item I need, not realizing I had already bought it in advance.

track purchases
Track Your Purchases

Case in point: Last year, right after Christmas, I bought my daughter a green ruffled dress on clearance at a steal for this year’s Christmas.  But, I forgot I bought that dress, and come November, I spent a lot of my time searching children’s resale stores for a dress that wasn’t unreasonably priced.  I had no luck.  A few weeks ago, I was digging through some storage tubs in my closet, and I found the dress.

So this year, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to implement a strategy to keep track of all of my deals.  Here are some techniques I plan to use:

Keep all of the deals in one location.  I have a corner of my walk in closet where I keep a large storage tub filled with discounted items I buy whenever I see a good sale on things I’ll need later.  I use these items for my kids’ birthday and Christmas presents.  I have added another tub to this one.  I’ll store other items like seasonal dresses in these tubs so I know everything I’ve bought in advance is in one location.

Keep a spreadsheet of gifts.  Even if you keep all of your items in one location, you don’t want to constantly have to rut through everything to find what you’re looking for.  Keeping a spreadsheet of the items you’ve bought in advance as well as who they are for will make it easy to see at a glance what items you have.  This can also prevent you from overspending and buying more than you need.

Use the libib app to track books.  I frequently give books as gifts.  We also homeschool, so when I see a good sale, I’ll buy books in advance for the next year or two of school.  The free app libib is a great way to keep track of your books.  Simply scan the barcode with your smartphone, and you can create an inventory, even categorizing by person you’ll be giving the book to or genre.  You choose.

Buying things you’ll need in advance is a great way to save money. . .as long as you don’t forget about what you’ve already bought!

Do you buy items in advance?  If so, how do you keep track of them?

 

How to Turn Unwanted Christmas Gifts into Cash

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The stress has come and gone and Christmas is over. As you go through your gifts you might see some that aren’t your style, don’t fit, are duplicates of something you already have or something you just don’t need. You don’t need to have them sitting around your house collecting dust in the back of your closet. Christmas is also a financially difficult time of year, and you might need to get some cash in your hand along with another type of assistance such as a car title loan to use toward your debt. Consider turning your unwanted Christmas gifts into cash and use it for something that you really want or need through one of these five ways.

Return them to the Store

One of the most common things to do is to return the item you received back to the store where it was purchased. It helps to have a receipt when returning something to avoid receiving a lower price than what was paid or being limited to store credit for the amount of the return. Stores tend to have more lax return policies around the Christmas holiday and take items back for longer time periods than usual. Don’t take too long to return the item or you might get stuck with it if you end up trying to return the item after the specified time frame. If you do end up with a gift card and don’t anticipate using it, read on to see how you can turn them into quick cash.

Trade Them

Trade your gift online through one of the many trading websites and services available. Sites such as Cardpool, allow you to trade or sell gift cards to others. Trade your gift card for one to a business that you’ll patronize, or sell it for cash. Depending on where your original gift card is for, you can typically get back up to 90 percent of its value. You get rid of the gift card and the recipient gets a small discount on their purchase. It’s a win-win for everyone. PaperBackSwap is a book lover’s dream. You list your unwanted books and earn credits to get books others are looking to get rid of. Gamers benefit from Game Trading Zone to swap games and accessories with others interested in gaming.

Sell Them

It makes sense that selling your items can give you cash quickly, but it helps to understand where your item will sell quickest and give you the most money. Don’t expect to get the full value of the item, because buyers want to find a good deal, but you can still get some cash from the item. Craigslist is a quick way to sell items without needing to pay listing fees or worry about shipping costs. Always meet people you meet from Craigslist in a public location for safety reasons. Other sites, such as Poshmark, allow you to list accessories and clothing that you don’t want. You’ll appeal to a large pool of buyers looking for your items, but keep in mind that you’ll be required to pay small fees in exchange for listing your product on their website.

eBay is another site with millions of users. You can sell pretty much anything and everything on eBay, but keep in mind you have to pay a listing fee along with a seller’s fee, which is a percentage of the sale price of your item. OfferUp is an app only service that allows people to buy and sell items to individuals in their local area. It requires parties to meet in person to exchange items, which saves on shipping costs but stay safe by always meeting up in a public location.

Give them as a Gift

Indirectly get cash by saving the item and giving it to a friend, family member or coworker who you feel would benefit from it. Clothing you got might be too small or large for you but would probably fit someone you know perfectly. Keep in mind who gave you the gift so you don’t embarrass yourself by trying to give it back to them or someone you mutually know.

There’s no reason to leave unwanted Christmas gifts lying around when you can turn them into cash while helping someone else get something they want at the same time.