The newest buzz word is “On Sale”. It’s the latest thing to be “In to”. I read an article about how America is on sale. Click here to read it. It talks about how due to the recession, this is a great time for consumers. If you have the money to spend, now is a great time to find bargains. Have you noticed the lower prices on things? And I’m not just talking about groceries. Everything seems to be on sale anymore. Signs stating lower prices are everywhere and the bid to get you to shop with online companies is at an all time high. Stores, both online and the traditional brick and mortar are trying to lure you in with lower prices, free shipping or more time to pay off. They are in fierce battles with each other for your hard earned dollar. It really is a good time to be a consumer.
Who wins from these battles? We, the consumers do! These companies’ sales are down so low they have to start offering lower prices and other bargains in the hope to make the difference up in volume. This is good news for us. Like to haggle on price? You now have more leverage to do that with the higher priced items as the store knows you are price checking other places. They know you are not afraid to shop and ultimately “spend” somewhere else.
It wasn’t all that long ago that someone strolling through the mall with an arm load of designer name shopping bags was a common sight. Now if you see someone doing that you tend to think that they are either a shopaholic being careless with their money, or they are very rich and the bad economy hasn’t affected them as bad as it did you. Either way, you may unconsciously not look too favorably on that person, judgmental as that may be. We have gone back to the ideas of our parents and grandparents, the ones that lived through the Great Depression. Being frugal is not only smart, but expected. Being smart with your money, spending wisely and saving as much as you can is the new norm. No longer is keeping up with the Jones’s an accepted way of living by today’s society. Want to be in with the “In Crowd”? Then you better learn to budget and cut way back.
When I went to Biggs last week to take advantage of their triple coupon days I saw more people walking around with fists full of coupons than I normally do on a regular shopping trip. Though I am seeing a few more people in general with coupons there are still many who don’t. Even with money as tight as it is, there are still many people who find shopping with coupons and only combining them with sales too tedious. That’s too bad because they are really missing out on some major savings. Those who do not do their homework before buying anything are now considered to be the foolish ones and are looked at with bewilderment by the rest of us. It wasn’t all that long ago that an abnormally frugal person was looked at with the same bewilderment. Funny how the tables have turned.
I highly recommend spending some time learning how to be more frugal. There isn’t a lack of information on how to do that. All you have to do is look. Talk to those who have lived the through the Great Depression. They have great stories to tell how communities, neighbors, family and friends all helped each other and how they were able to get through by spending wisely. I also highly recommend finding someone who is frugal and asking them what methods they use. Most will be happy to share their secrets. They really aren’t secrets at all.
So if you want to be popular you can win the lottery and “share” or you can learn how to save, spend wisely and share those methods with others so they can learn to do the same. See a great bargain? Share it with others and watch how “popular” you become. Saving money is “In”, spending foolishly is definitely “Out”.
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