Archives for July 2015

Diamonds in the Rough Roundup 7/24/2015

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Slow time in the sports world for me. No basketball and no football. When the ESPY award show was on there were no sports anywhere! Can’t wait for the NFL season to start.

Just a couple of articles today that made the cut:

Dangers of Earning Extra Money by Eyes on the Dollar: Making more money is the goal, but it’s also important to be smart about it. Keeping taxes in mind and giving your new found income a purpose right away is the key.

–Shouldn’t The Joneses Be Keeping Up With Us? by Dividend Mantra: There are people out there that believe getting a fancy car is more important than being able to have free time. These are the Joneses, and these are unfortunately most Americans out there. It’s time for people to stop being fooled by marketing and start doing things that bring them closer to their goals.

Filed Under: blog

When a Sale Really Isn’t a Sale

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What the recent Amazon sale felt like.

Amazon recently had a “flash” sale on July 15 only for its Prime Members (which is pretty much everybody because who wants to wait more than two days for shipping?). The company and other news outlets were hyping it up a few weeks before, saying this would be the biggest sale that Amazon users have ever seen etc etc.

I was actually thoroughly excited about it because I’ve had a great experience using Amazon over the years. For example, my awesome new laptop I currently use was bought from Amazon. I was originally going to buy it directly from the manufacturer as they had some type of sale going on. I put in all of my custom specs and was excited to finally buy it, but a thought occurred to me to check if there is anything comparable on Amazon. Lo and behold, the same model with better specs was available for $200 less than I was about to pay.

I would consider that a steal, but this most recent sale by Amazon, not so much.

If you don’t need it, it’s not a deal

When the big day came, I excitedly clicked on Chrome and typed my way right to Amazon. As expected, the website was full of fanfare and can’t miss deal banners. But after browsing for a few minutes, I came to realize that all the excitement was for nothing.

Nothing practical was for sale. We get baby stuff and some household things from Amazon once in a while, and I was expecting to see some decent deals on this stuff but was sorely disappointed. Most of the sales were for electronics and “services”, which I didn’t even know Amazon had. Did you know you can order housecleaning services from Amazon? It is definitely more expensive than finding a housekeeper on your own, but if you can just click and maids magically appear, then why the heck not?

There was even a Kindle on sale for a higher price than when I got it a few months ago! Not much of a sale after all. While I was ready and willing to spend some money on things that I needed or even wanted, I didn’t end up buying anything. And it seemed that only things nobody really needs were the featured items.

Don’t give in to the hype

One thing I’m slowly learning over the years is that despite what the salesman says, this is not the last time a product (car, phone, furniture etc) is going on sale. This is a classic line that retailers will tell you, increasing the pressure on you to buy now because you may never get a chance later. This is a bunch of bologna because everything goes on sale again at some point. Retailers are very good at making us feel that we have a limited time to make a purchase, but if you’re willing to walk away and wait, you will be able to find the same deal, or something even better, later on.

As the recent Amazon “sale” showed, don’t be swayed by pre-sale marketing. And if you don’t see anything you really need or like, it’s okay to just walk away.

Filed Under: Money Savers

Diamonds in the Rough Roundup 7/11/15

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It’s been a slow slow sports week. Not much to talk about today except: don’t play with fireworks. Jason Pierre-Paul, one of the best defensive players on the New York Giants, had to have his index finger amputated because of a fireworks incident. Not a good thing for a professional athlete. And he’s only 26 years old. As a result of the injury, the Giants withdrew their long term contract worth $60 million. That’s an expensive injury.

Also, today is 7/11. Get your free slurpee if you like that sort of thing. Here are some articles which I sort of liked myself:

–Behind the Scenes at a Free Financial Seminar by Stacking Benjamins: Really insightful piece on what exactly goes into those “free” dinner invites we get in the mail every so often.

–9 Actions to Take to Trick Yourself into Saving Money by Making Sense of Cents: Our brains are not wired to save money. Especially when we have companies marketing to us every second of the day. With banking being fully electronic nowadays, it’s easy to force yourself into savings.

–Is the first $100K the Hardest by Dividend Mantra: Get ready to be inspired. Gaining momentum is always the tough part in any endeavor, but once the momentum is there, it’s easy to ride to success. Jason’s story is a great example.

–Preparing Your Home to Sell Quickly and For Top Dollar by Eyes on the Dollar: Most home buyers will want to buy a house from their first few seconds of seeing it. That means curb appeal and keeping the home clean are a must.