Money Saving Tip: Tell Friends when You're Thinking of Buying Something

A few days ago when I posted about my great experience with Sears, I listed a money saving tip that may have gotten lost in the midst of the long story. So I wanted to highlight and explain it a bit to make sure it was recognized. The tip:

Tell friends, family, and people you know/see when you're thinking of buying something.

We've had several instance where we've been shopping for something, told someone about it and been given/sold at a cheap price just what we were looking for. Examples:

• Last summer my wife was looking for a new cooking set. She was telling our next door neighbor about it and the neighbor offered to give us her two-year-old, expensive set as she was "trading up." We thought that was mighty neighborly of her, and we accepted. ;-)
• As highlighted in the Sears story, we told a friend that we were going to buy an elliptical machine and she gave us hers since she never used it.
• We received a car carrier from my employer when we were thinking of buying one.

Conversely, we've given away things when we've found out that there's a need. We've given a very nice crib to a young mother, a car to a relative, and a leather coat to a buddy of mine.

Of course these items aren't new, but they are FREE. And as long as they fit the purpose, they will do and will save you lots of cash at the same time.

Comments

[LAMoneyGuy]

On a similar note, involve as many people as possible if you are having a garage sale. I recently did one with my girlfriend, and my sister and her husband. I found that the best value was exchanging a few items of clothing with them, and a couple of highly usable kitchen and other household items.

Many of the things we were getting rid of were highly usable, but for whatever reason, we often decided that certain items (especially clothing) are no longer among the usable inventory.

We made about $140, not bad, but probably exchanged over $100 worth of goods between us.

[mapgirl]

I would say another reason is that your friends can share their experiences on comparison shopping and where to find the best deal.

I am looking for a new dishwasher and I mentioned it to my sister and her husband. They told me to go to Sears and look at the Kenmore line. When they shopped for a new dishwasher for themselves, they liked this line the most. I looked Kenmore up on Consumer Reports and liked what I saw. And for Xmas they gave me a gift card towards a new one!

Since a lot of my friends are also redoing their homes and kitchens, we share tools, labor and research. It's very worthwhile.

[Kevin]

I agree 100%! The other day a friend was talking about a new barbeque he was going to buy and I had mentioned that I needed to buy a washer and dryer. My friend said he had a set that came with the house that he wanted to get rid of.
Long story short, I helped him pick up his barbeque and he gave me a great deal on the washer and dryer. $50.00 for both of them. They were better than the ones I had in my house. I mean really good shape!

Definitely tell your friends what you are looking to buy!