Clark Howard - Clarks Big Book of Bargains

CLARKS
BIG
BOOK OF
BARGAINS

CLARK HOWARD + MARK MELTZER

For Rebecca, Stephanie, Nicholas, and Courtney.
As they grow, may they learn to spend
less than they earn.

And to Lane and Nancy for their continued
love and support.

This book is about spending money, something we do every day, but sometimes without a lot of thought. We spend our money in so many ways, large and small, that sometimes we wonder where our paycheck went. Id like every dollar you earn to buy more and last longer.

One of the reasons I wrote Clarks Big Book of Bargains is to show you how to treasure hunt, how to have funas I dofinding great deals. For example, Ill show you how to buy a box of disposable contact lenses for $13.95, a bouquet of roses on Valentines Day for $19, and a great bottle of wine for less than $8.

I also want to share my philosophy of spending and give you a new way to think about the choices you make each time you open your wallet. Instead of burning your paycheck, nurse it, so you can get more of the things you want in life.

Making better spending decisions lets you take control of your life and gain more financial security. Every day on my radio show, I talk to listeners around the country whose spending, and the resulting debt, is causing tremendous stress in their lives. Is it worth having the possessions you have, if underneath it all, youre trying to figure out how to pay the bills? I want to help you turn down the pressure, so you dont have to worry when you open the mailbox about the bills waiting for you.

The average American now owes more money than they earn in a year, according to data compiled by the Wall Street Journal. Never in history has that happened, and its deeply disturbing. Just ten years ago, we carried far less debt than we do today. And this isnt just a problem for lower-income or middle-class people. High-income families, those in the top fifth of U.S. households, are carrying debt averaging 20 percent more than their disposable income, according to the Wall Street Journal. If you get anything out of this book, I hope it will be the idea that this is a choice people have made, not a necessity.

The answer is simple. Its not what you earn that mattersits what you spend. If you spend less than you earn, you can take the dollars you dont consume, and put them aside to build long-term financial security for you, your children, their education, and your retirement.

This book is about choices you can make that will allow you to live a debt-free lifestyle, or at the very least, a lifestyle that puts you in control of your finances.

Some of the things youll read in here might sound a little strange, like feeding your baby generic formula, or buying used furniture. Im certainly not suggesting you do everything you read here. This isnt like a recipe, where you have to follow the steps carefully, and only then will the dish taste good. Look for ideas that work for you, and add your own. You may have ideas that are better than what I suggest. The goal is to create a new way of thinking about spending, before you spend. Perhaps youve always gone to a major oil company station to buy gasoline, you have that companys credit card, and you go there without thinking. Instead, think about going to a discount gas station. Just making that one change will put a few extra dollars in your pocket every week. Or lets say you normally buy Tide detergent at the supermarket. What if instead you bought Tide at a discount store, or if you bought the store-brand detergent and tried it? Maybe youll like it and use it again and again.

I hope Clarks Big Book of Bargains helps you get more for your money and feel better about your financial future.

Clark Howard

We all have different approaches to food. My goal is to enjoy it. Yours may be to eat all the right things. But however you look at food, I want you to buy it at the right price.

I have lots of money-saving tips for you to reduce your food budget, whether you eat at home, eat out, or bring home ready-to-eat meals. As to what you drink, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, there are tremendous savings available in that area as well.

In this chapter, Ill show you how to save at the grocery store and at the restaurant, whether its white tablecloth, middle-market, or fast food. And Ill show you how to save on a bottle of wine or a bottle of water to go with your meal.

I expect people to have the strongest reaction to this chapter of any in this book. I hope youll share with me your favorite ways to save on food and beverages. Maybe we can include them in a future edition.

One of the few places virtually everyone spends money is the supermarket, and its a prime place to save.

There are a few common-sense rules that can help you save on your grocery bill. You may be using one or more occasionally already, but you probably dont follow them consistently.

The first is to shop with a list. If you go into a supermarket without a list, youre going to fall prey to the stores marketing tactics. Youll buy things that are displayed at end caps, at the end of each aisle. Youll be tempted by merchandise that is positioned at eye level, often foods with a lot of fat and calories that will earn a higher profit for the store and also be bad for your health. The stores goal is to get you to buy things you hadnt intended to buy. Using a list helps you fight that.

My wife, Lane, is obsessive about lists. She figures out exactly what she needs, goes down the aisles, and picks out only those items.

The second rule is never go to the supermarket when youre hungry. That is a fatal error for your finances, because youre much more likely to make impulse buys when youre hungry. If you do just those two things, you can make an enormous difference in your grocery bill.

There are a number of techniques that will help you save money on the things you buy. One is using discount coupons. I judged a newspaper contest on handling money, and it was tough to pick a winner, because each of the contestants had brilliant strategies. One woman took $500 and turned it into $1,900 worth of food, simply by couponing. It was phenomenal. She did her shopping at four different stores, and was very organized about it. She went through the fliers each week to see what they were offering. If a store doubled or tripled coupons on certain days, she would shop there on those days. That may make your eyes roll, because thats a lot of work and a lot of time. But if you can take $500 and turn it into $1,900 by spending a little time organizing yourself and going to four stores, that seems well worth the effort. Normally, youre not going to spend $500 on groceries at one time, but I love the idea of being able to get double or triple the value for your money simply by buying items that are on sale or couponable.

There are a couple of dangers to coupons. One is that youll buy products you dont need, just because you have a coupon. Or youll fall victim to the manufacturers strategy, which is to get you hooked on a product with a coupon, so youll buy it again and again at full price. The woman who nearly quadrupled her money using coupons doesnt get tricked into making impulse purchases and she isnt brand loyal, so shell freely switch brands depending on what coupons she has. Shes loyal to saving money, not to the brand.

There are a number of Web sites you can go to to get grocery coupons. Among them are www.cutouthunger.org, salesmountain.com, and coupon mountain.com.