Why Money Matters

Rubbing Pennies started as a personal challenge to save $10,000 in one calendar year. As a young couple, we (Ian and Jen) know how important it is to live within your means, avoid acquiring a lot of debt and have a healthy financial cushion to fall on in case of emergency. On April 10, 2010, we set out on the journey of marriage with two steady incomes, a newly purchased home, one vehicle payment, and a very modest savings account. In an effort to beef up our piggy bank, we launched Rubbing Pennies in January 2012. This is our story of how we love the life we live, and how we can afford it.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Research Saved Me $170

   When considering any major purchase, I highly recommend doing your research. We need a dual screen baby monitor. I started by looking into the reviews on the equipment itself, regardless of price. I was torn between the Summer Infant and Motorola dual screen monitors. But many reviews for the Motorola model said they had issues with the audio and some had to be returned 2-3 times within the first 6 months of use! Many others said they had returned it multiple times, just within the warranty window. Let me just say, "Ain't nobody got time for that!"
   The Summer Infant model had pretty good reviews across the board so I decided on that one. Now to price shop. Target had the system we wanted for $279.99 and we were tempted to just get it when we were in there Sunday shopping for last minute needs. We decided to check around first. Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby also listed it for $179. Amazon listed it for $243. Jet.com listed it for $236. So, naturally I looked into the Jet site even though I haven't used them before. They offered free shipping AND 20% your first purchase. This brought the cost down to $189.19 total. Sold.
   Moral of the story - If we had just thrown it in the cart with the other baby items in Target, we would have $90 less in our budget. It pays to do your homework.
 
   Another quick example: A few weeks ago we were in Bass Pro. We had been looking for a behavior/training collar for our lab puppy. We really like this particular D.T. Systems electronic collar for outdoor dogs. On the shelf at Bass Pro it was listed for $179. Again, we were tempted to just throw it in the cart for convenience. I suggested we just look online before leaving the store. We found it on Amazon for $139. So at the register we decided to put it back. Then while we were standing there, my husband found it listed on the Bass Pro website for $99, the exact same model. After speaking with a manager - who tried his best to find SOME discrepancy in the model and bar code, but could not - we got it for $99. Saved $80 from the shelf price in the store.
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