Areas Where I Have Failed To Save Money

For nearly two years, I have been offering my thoughts on saving money. Sometimes, readers have liked my ideas. Other times, the response has been less enthusiastic. In either case, rest assured that a lot of thought went into the creation of each article. Despite all that thought, there are still a lot of purchases that I have not been able to make more economical. Whether it is just because I don’t have enough experience with a product or service, or it is just because some things cannot be purchased inexpensively, I don’t know. I hope that my readers may have had better luck than I have in getting deals in the following areas, and hope that you will share your experiences and ideas with me.

Sporting Equipment

I’ve looked around for deals on sporting goods but I have not found any deals that are truly too good to pass up other than the occasional steal at a yard sale. For example, at a community yard sale that a local church sponsored a few years ago, my elder son was able to get a full set of almost new golf clubs, and a nice golf bag, for two dollars. Other than that, we have been paying full price for sporting goods, subject to coupons and other generally available retail discounts. Where do you buy sporting goods?

Cosmetics

My household does not use a lot of cosmetics but, in considering a possible column, I thought I might research costmetics bargains. I could not identify any reliable source for purchasing good quality costmetics at a discount. I like to think that my ignorance of the products is the reason but I am not entirely sure of that. How does one get deals on cosmetics?

Concert Tickets

I love music, especially live music. I do not love the huge cost of buying concert tickets. I have looked for ways to acquire discounted tickets but that does not seem possible. Indeed, the price of tickets only seems to rise. How do you find inexpensive ways to attend live music events?

Automobiles

Obviously, the price one pays for a car often becomes a matter of how well one haggles. I just never know what price I should be negotiating. Is there a way to truly know the value of a new vehicle – not the sticker price but the price that a dealer will take?

Lawn Care Services

I have used just about all of the local services and they are all just about the same price. Moreover, each service declines in quality after I have retained them for a few months. Short of taking care of my lawn on my own (something I want to avoid because I do not want the chemicals stored in my garage), how can one find a good value in lawn care?

What do you wish you could purchase less expensively? What do you think is overpriced? What advice would you offer relative to the questions I have posed?