I was at the supermarket today and they had these large watermelons for sale. At the same time I was walking past the pre-cut fruit section and saw how those small package of watermelon were like the same price but you get so much less. Literally, if you simply bought a whole one and cut it yourself you could probably make like five boxes of them. The person I was with was then saying those were targeting people who simply don’t have the time to cut the stuff themselves.

While that is understandable to a certain extent, I was thinking to myself……how much labor is it really to cut something like a watermelon? The person then told me that for how much you save in this case he would find time to do it if he were one of those people who normally wouldn’t as people make too much money this way. That’s interesting I thought where if you think about the motivation to save money in this case isn’t so much about saving money but rather one feeling like they are being taken advantage of.

The more I think about it this can even be true with things like a real estate agent as many people tell me that they sell their own home not so much because of the potential financial savings but rather they can’t stand someone making so much for what seems to be so little effort. If that is the simple psychology to get people to try and do as much as they can themselves to save money I was thinking how watching documentaries or even instructional type of shows about various industries regularly can probably make people more savvy financially.

It almost sounds too simple but makes sense in many ways. Come to think of it, I have watched a lot informational kind of shows which were more about how certain industries work which indirectly made me more aware of what I buy and what is a reasonable price to pay. Maybe that will work for others as well.

This was something that I thought many people would know already but apparently people feel funny in doing it. Basically, we all know that you can save money by using a coupon on an item. At the same time, a lot of companies say if you find a lower price anywhere they will match it along with a percentage of the difference. What was funny to me was that a lot of people apparently feel that you can’t use both of these techniques at the same time even if it is applicable. Example, price matching and getting the cheapest price possible where they also knock off more due to the competitor being cheaper and then after using a coupon as well.

That’s how a lot of people get things like grocery items for free for example. I was even saying that many times people feel this is wrong because if you get something for too little in this fashion that it feels like you are stealing. If that is the case, just remember that many times things like these coupons are essentially paid advertisements for companies or say a loss leader where they are trying to use it as a way to get more customers. One way or another they need to advertise to get you to use the product.

Why the coupon would work in cases like this is because the business itself that is selling you the item will get reimbursed from the manufacturer of the product. So technically they don’t really lose anything. So don’t feel bad if you get a really good deal this way.

Today I was reading various reports on how the average grocery bill here has gotten really high where on a average people pay about $415. This then brought up on how many people use price comparison sites to try and find the best deals. However, it was expressed that most people simply don’t have the time or patients to use these tools when it comes to their everyday needs.

I was kind of surprised by this as I personally find that I save so much time using price comparison tools. Even when it comes to groceries I would usually look at the price and ponder if I could find the item cheaper. Instead, I usually find that if you plan everything ahead of time and do your research with various sites as an example you can make it a lot cheaper and as well can pretty much go in and out of the store where you know exactly what to buy. Ultimately, that is time saved from having to visit multiple stores or say having to walk around the whole place to try and find the best deals.

People do it all the time for high ticketed items like a new TV, so why are things like your grocery needs any different? In some ways I think it goes back to the topic of many times where if it is a necessity we think that the price we pay is in a sense non negotiable. I find an easier way too is that if you think it is too much work to research it yourself there are usually a lot of different communities even online that you can visit where bargain hunters are fully willing to share the deals they find as well.

For example, I know one good practice that people use to save money is that they first look at the flyers that the stores put out. Afterwards, they specifically try and find coupons for those items in an effort to get the best deal as usually if the item is on sale then adding the coupon as well can often mean you are getting it for the cheapest as possible. Sometimes the coupon can even end up making it where you get the item for free too.

I think you will be presently surprised at how much you can save if you tried too even when it comes to your necessities like these.

For one reason or another today I saw this quick video that talked about what you must do in life to save money. While watching it there were the usual points such as tracking your budget and finding discounts. However, the list just kept going on to the point where it felt like if the question was how do you walk you are then bombarded by all these instructions on how first you need to wear socks, shoes, calculate the gravity and wind turbulence, etc.

To be fair, maybe they were trying to aim more for a “Ways to save money” approach. I then started to read some articles on the same topic and sure enough it seemed to follow the same theme. I was thinking too, is one of the reasons that we over complicate it so much is because the simple answer sounds too simple? For example, I would think the the biggest answer on how to save money is to simply not spend it. I’m sure that answer would usually generate a “but” response.

I still think the most important thing about saving money is your mindset first and foremost. For example, I’m pretty sure people would say things like “You have to spend money, otherwise you can’t eat.” Like in that case though, you could still say the main way to save money is to find ways to not spend it. Example, find a way to say grow your own food. The key point out of that is so that you develop the mentality that you are essentially spending money for the convenience in having someone else do it for you as opposed to it being something you have no choice over.

Another more straight forward tip that a lot of people use which makes perfect sense is that if you want to save money then stop buying stuff that you don’t really need. Similar in that case, is the concept of simply not spending too simple to accept? That would make more sense to me if you are truly in a position of wanting to save money. For example, instead of only trying to find ways to reduce the cost of that $200 pair of sunglasses that you can’t really afford maybe it’s wiser to not buy it all. It all starts with how you perceive money I think. If you can’t get past the notion of saying there is no way you can do anything with no money then that is a good first step to work on.

To my surprise today I was talking to a friend who was in the midst of setting up an Internet access service for his new home and setting up a wireless network was on his list too. The company itself had an option where the customers could rent the necessary equipment from them too if they decide not to buy their own. The crazy thing was that the rental price was about $15 a month when you could easily buy the the necessary equipment for pretty much tat price.

Of course my first reaction was who in the world would even pay those crazy fees. Then again, someone must be doing so for it to even be there as an option. It usually makes more sense to simply buy the equipment outright in these cases consider how little they cost. It’s a little different if the item itself costs a few hundred dollars. Then again, there is always the factor of if you actually own the item then down the road you could probably sell it to get some money back. So minus all the rental fees that you would have avoided plus that you could have actually ended up ahead a oppose to simply renting.

I think for myself usually the only exception is if it is something that I rarely do. For example, if you rarely ski and maybe do it like once a year then it may simply make more sense to rent the equipment. But usually for equipment that revolves around your daily life I usually find that overall you save money buy having your own equipment as oppose to renting it each month.