Money Saving Tips That Actually End Up Costing You

When it comes to managing your day-to-day purchases, you probably have a variety of tips and tricks you’ve picked up to help you save money. However, sometimes it’s the things that we’re doing to save money that can actually end up costing us money in the long run. Check out these five different tactics, which are all done in the name of saving money, but actually can end up costing you:

1. Cutting coupons. Are you that person that sits down every Sunday with the Sunday paper and leafs through it looking for the coupon booklets? Do you download coupons and subscribe to coupon websites? I’ll be the first to admit that I am definitely that person. However, coupon cutting can be a deceptive money-saving practice, as coupons are typically only for name brand items. A lot of times you can buy the same item that is labeled as the store brand for less than you can the name brand item plus the coupon. And more often than not, the store brand is manufactured by the same company that manufactures the name brand.

2. Sacrificing quality for a cheaper price tag. Store sales and clearance items are a great way to stock up on items you want if the item is a good quality item. However, buying something that’s cheaper but is constructed poorly just means you’re going to have to replace it sooner. If you’re sacrificing quality for a cheaper price tag you might want to think again before you purchase – if the higher quality item is going to cost you more but last you much longer then it’s better to invest in that than going the cheaper route.

3. Falling victim to good deals. Buy one, get one sales have a tendency to sucker everyone in – after all, you’re getting two items for a discounted price and it’s such a good deal! But you’re also spending more money than you would if you just stuck to the one item that you need, and do you really need two of the same thing? Be careful with good deals like this, because you could end up wasting money for the sake of getting a good deal.

4. Going out of your way for a good deal. Shopping advertisements before making a purchase is a great way to gauge if you can get the same items for cheaper at different locations, and it can end up saving you money. However, if buying items across several different stores has you driving all over town to take advantage of the deals, you might want to factor in if saving $0.50 on chicken thighs is worth burning through gas during the 20 minute drive you have to make to buy said chicken thighs.

Don’t let yourself fall victim to these money-saving tactics that can actually end up costing you. Really evaluate your purchases before you use coupons and price-check against the store brands, take a good look at the quality of products versus the price of them, be wary of spending more to get a good deal, and consider if the driving investment is worth the financial savings. The last thing you want to do is spend more money in the name of saving.

Author Bio:

 Ken Myers is the founder of http://www.longhornleads.com/ & has learned over the years the importance of focusing on what the customer is looking for and literally serving it to them. He doesn’t try to create a need; instead he tries to satisfy the existing demand for information on products and services.

 

Related articles

• When Coupons Are Worth It… And When They’re Not (savealittlemoney.com)
• 6 Super Secrets to Save on Back to School Supplies (savealittlemoney.com)
• 6 Ways to Save Money Right Now (savealittlemoney.com)
• 4 Different Money Saving Styles (savealittlemoney.com)

Tags: Brand, Coupon, Home, Homemaking, Money, Personal Finance, Saving, Store brand

Category: Uncategorized