25 Things to Never Pay Full Price For

Wise Bread lists 25 things to never pay full price for as follows:

1. Magazines
2. Books
3. Video Games
4. Clothing
5. Groceries
6. Dining Out
7. Condoms
8. Tickets
9. Gift Cards
10. Lodging
11. Outdoor Activities
12. Vacation Packages
13. Car Rentals
14. Appliances
15. Flowers
16. Around-the-House Services
17. In-Theater Movies
18. DVD Rentals
19. Music
20. Airfare
21. Cars
22. Water
23. A Tan
24. Cell Phones
25. Baby Food

Here's what we do with each of these:

1. Magazines -- I only have two magazine subscriptions these days (both home repair related) and got SUBSTANTIAL discounts on each of them.

2. Books -- The library. Check it out. It's your money-saving friend. :)

3. Video Games -- I buy a video game every once in a great while (even for my kids) and we pay full price only on the must-have-it-now-as-soon-as-it-comes-out videos which, for us, is probably once every other year.

4. Clothing -- I get discounts on most clothing. Even stuff from Nike can be gotten cheaper at an outlet mall or with a retailer coupon (that come out infrequently, but are decent if you wait for them.)

5. Groceries -- We ALWAYS get at least 6% off and usually combine these with other ways to save on groceries.

6. Dining Out -- We use a coupon every now and then but for the most part we eat out at less expensive places to begin with.

7. Condoms -- Ha! Really?

8. Tickets -- We often see concerts for free because I "have connections." :)

9. Gift Cards -- I pay full price. I'm leery of ones purchased online.

10. Lodging -- We ALWAYS use the AAA discount if another one is not available.

11. Outdoor Activities -- Our outdoor activities are free already.

12. Vacation Packages -- We did shop around for our cruise to get the best price and do so with any big expenditure (like a vacation) we take.

13. Car Rentals -- I don't rent cars that much these days. But when we do (like for vacation) we usually work through Costco, websites, or AAA to get the best rate.

14. Appliances -- I haven't purchased a new appliance in years. Maybe time to start putting this tip into action. :)

15. Flowers -- We get our flowers free from my rose garden or from a local discount florist.

16. Around-the-House Services -- We don't have regular services, but for ones we do use (plumber, electrician) we usually get quotes and/or have a coupon (yep, our plumber has coupons.)

17. In-Theater Movies -- We sometimes get discount coupons and sometimes get good levels of cash back with our credit cards (one gives us 5% off this quarter.) We also go to the $4 theater versus the "full price" one.

18. DVD Rentals -- We rent from Red Box when we do rent -- which isn't often. We have cable and a DVR so there's always something saved to watch.

19. Music -- Again, the library. And somehow we seem to get iTunes gift cards left and right.

20. Airfare -- We saved on our cruise airfare with a HUGE credit card promotion ($625 bonus) but most of our travel is covered by my work (since it's for business reasons).

21. Cars -- I do buy new cars, but always get good deals.

22. Water -- We don't buy bottled water. We do have a water filter though and simply fill up bottles to go.

23. A Tan -- Last time I paid for a tan was...never.

24. Cell Phones -- Mine is covered by my work. My wife has a Tracfone. We are looking at a family plan, but that's a few months away at this point.

25. Baby Food -- Thankfully, we don't have a baby. :)

I'm guessing that most FMF readers save money on these things. Are there any that you DON'T save money on? Why is that?

Comments

[Modest Money]

Good list of stuff to never pay full price on. For the condoms tip I think they were probably referring to how you can get them free at various clinics. I'm personally guilty of paying full price for a lot of these items. I do make a point of using my cash back credit card though. So I at least get the small discount there. Sometimes it's just not convenient to try to save money on some of these things and sometimes I just don't properly plan ahead.

[jim]

The wisebread article says about flowers :
"If you have the means to grow flowers but you still buy them, there’s probably no hope for you."

I guess I'm doomed then. Oh well. The $4 bouquet at the grocery store will bankrupt me because I didn't spend my free time planting a garden...

[Matt]

Maybe they are talking full retail price listed by the manufacturer which rarely happens unless it is a special order.

[EM]

#7. I'm pretty sure you don't want to go bargain brand on this one. Just sayin'.

[BD]

@EM - Exactly. That's penny wise, pound foolish. So someone gets free condoms at an event somewhere, or some clinic....they're cheaply made, but free.
And then, they break (or don't work, cause there's a pinhole in them or whatever), and you have a very expensive problem on your hands.

I'd rather spend a couple extra dollars now, instead of having to pay thousands later.

[Kelly@All-FinancialNews]

Being a AAA member can get you discounts on SO many things, it really is one of the best cards to hold. What scares me with my financial-paranoia is that when I become a wife and mother, I will turn into one of those crazy coupon ladies who keeps a detailed book of hundreds of coupons and a fully stocked, industrial size home-grocery store in my basement. Oh well, at least I'll be prepared at any moment!

[kitty]

Tickets -- This is certainly true for airline tickets, and some performances (but not all) may offer discount tickets, but sometimes a performance/concert you want doesn't have discount tickets.

But one thing I want to warn about is never to trust "discount tickets" ads for shows, certainly not in NYC but check the real price first. Just by accident I got to one of those websites offering "discount tickets" and their prices were considerably higher than actual face value. This may have been understandable if a particular performance was sold out, but in the particular case a theater did have regular price tickets. In some cases the price offered by so called "discount ticket" place was several times higher than face value.

So yes, it's fine to go after discounts, but find out a) what face value is b) the discounts offered by the theater itself.

Now, I assume not many people here care about opera, but if you do and if you are in NYC, be aware that the Met has Varis Rush Ticket program where 200 orchestra seats (face value over $140) are sold for $20 at the box office for Monday-Thursday performances; also a right to buy weekend tickets for $25 are raffled via free internet raffle every week. (Assuming this program will continue given that Agnes Varis whose donation subsidizes these tickets passed away this year). Yet, these so-called "discount" websites would attempt to sell these same tickets to you for over $200.

[Sean @ One Smart Dollar]

I agree with this entire list. I personally feel you should never pay full price for anything. Anymore we live in a world where all prices can be negotiated. There is so much competition in each industry that stores have to fight for out besiness.

[LotharBot]

You can get name-brand birth control on Amazon for considerably less than retail.