Hond Financial

Economic downturns are never much fun, but as Adam Smith observed over two centuries ago, these cycles of paucity and plenty are a fact of life. Although none of us can say for sure when this latest slump will reverse, there are at least sure ways of saving your money in the meantime. Here are some penny-preserving ideas tailored to our 21st-century lives:

1. Plenty of people are in the habit of cutting out paper coupons, but even though many of us do some of our shopping on the Web now, not as many of us seem to have learned to coupon-hunt on the Internet. Sites such as CouponCabin.com, CouponMountain.com, and DealofDay.com offer thousands of current offers at merchants all across the Web.

2. Use price-comparison websites such as Pricegrabber.com, Shopping.com, mySimon.com, and Google Product Search to find the best deals online.

3. When you’re out at a brick-and-mortar store, send a text message to 46645 (Google’s number) and enter the letter “f” and then the name of the item you’re interested in. Google will reply with a text quoting its online prices. To compare prices at stores near you, use ShopLocal.com.

4. If you don’t already belong to one, consider joining a warehouse club such as Costco or Sam’s Club and buying things in bulk. This can be especially helpful if you have a large family.

5. Buy generic instead of brand-name products. A lot of the difference is usually in the marketing hype and not the product itself, anyway.

6. Withdraw your cash from surcharge-free ATMs, which can be located on AllpointNetwork.com and MoneyPass.com.

7. Buy locally-grown food at farmer’s markets or stores that sell local produce. Prices are usually lower there because the food doesn’t have to be transported far.

8. Shop at dollar stores. You should have an easy time finding one since they’ve been turning up all over the place recently.

9. Buy discount prescription drugs at online pharmacies. You’ll often end up paying under half as much for the generic medicines sold at these discount prescription drug stores than you would for the same brand-name medicines at brick-and-mortar pharmacies.

10. If your car is seven or more years old and/or worth less than $2,500, consider dropping comprehensive and collision from your insurance.  Your deductible may be nearing the worth of your vehicle anyway, in which case a major collision would send your car to the junk yard and you to the dealership.

11. Keep cell-phone expenses under control. Kids today love to text message, so save yourself from unexpected high bills by paying the flat monthly fee for unlimited text messages.

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