Comparison Shopping

Originally published at Savings with Sadie:

For years, I have compared prices whether making a major or small purchase. I have saved anywhere from several thousand dollars to $30 or $40 and the money saved is always worth the five or six minutes I spend on the internet or a few phone calls I make to a store.

My biggest savings over the years has been on furniture. I was able to snag some great deals on high-end furniture. Family members turned me on to shopping in North Carolina years ago and I was very successful with all of my purchases. Unfortunately, after decades in the furniture business, the store we all used closed its doors&mdsah; now I am looking for a new and trusted discounter.

You should know that internet shopping is not for everyone. Some people need to feel the product and visit it several times in the store prior to making a purchase. I would not recommend purchasing upholstered (soft case) pieces on-line unless you have actually sat on the chair or sofa and also have seen the fabric swatch. Stick with hard case such as dining, bedroom and so on. It is important to be precise in your space dimensions — you don’t want the piece to arrive and not fit.

Several months ago we purchased three Apple MacBook Pro 13.3-Inch Laptops. Our daughter needed one for college, my husband one for work and since my husband was tired of me grabbing for his laptop all the time, I ended up with one and that was not part of the original plan as we headed out to the Apple Store that day&mdsah;but I am not complaining.

The laptops did not come with the Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition and our daughter has since discovered she will need it for college and for making power point presentations. We internet shopped one quote, called one store and she visited the university bookstore for a quote. While not so large, we did manage to save our daughter approximately $40 through comparison shopping.

University Bookstore: $149.00 plus tax

Staples: $129.00 plus tax

Amazon: $109.00 no tax and free shipping

Which one do you think she purchased? It would have been easy for her to grab the $149 right off the shelf at the store but I told her she had waited this long, she could wait a few more days and save the $40. To her, this is a huge savings.

Next time you plan to make a purchase, compare a few stores. If making price comparisons on cameras and computers, make sure you are comparing two like items and not a Mac computer with 160 gig and the other 240 gig. Same with cameras – pixel for pixel and zoom for zoom. The good deal you may have thought you got is not such a good deal any more when you realize some of your bells and whistles are missing.