Can You Save As Much Money As Sally Savealot?

This is the story of Sally Savealot. She’s living on a tight budget in order to pay down her credit card debt. While she’s far from wealthy, her friends suspect she makes more money than she actually does. How does she do it? She’s a professional shopper!

Being a professional shopper doesn’t mean that Sally shops all the time; it means that, when she does shop, she does it smartly. Our consumer credit counseling service (CCCS) agency takes a look at some of her habits. Read along and compare your habits with hers to see how you rate.

Before Leaving the House

We mentioned Sally’s household budget above. This is important because she took the time to plan out her income and expenses on a monthly basis, making sure to include not only regular expenses but other things that pop up throughout the year like birthdays, holidays, car maintenance costs, and more.

With this much planning in place, Sally never leaves home without a solid idea of what she intends to buy. She may shop around a little to find the best price, but she knows ahead of time who she’s buying for and how much she has to spend. Sticking to this plan also helps her reduce the urge to impulse shop.

Another regular activity for Sally prior to shopping is reviewing sales flyers and clipping coupons. Sally knows that, even though coupons offer just cents off of each item, those cents add up to many dollars each week and hundreds of dollars each year. As a result, she’s become quite good at reading through the Sunday newspaper, the telephone book, advertising flyers, web sites of stores she visits, and web sites of product manufacturers.

In light of all this, Sally understands that coupons only offer savings if the item advertised is something she was going to buy anyway. She makes an effort not to approach coupons with a mindset toward what she wants; rather, she looks for discounts from things she needs.

Out in the Marketplace

Once she gets to the stores, Sally prefers to use cash for most purchases, thereby avoiding any situations where debt might accumulate and have an adverse impact on her monthly budget.

When she’s out, she scans the aisles for unadvertised, in-store specials that might save her money over the items on her list. When she doesn’t have good coupons, she also makes an effort to purchase store brands of common items instead of national name brands. Often, the generics contain virtually identical ingredients yet cost considerably less. She also hunts for bulk deals, especially for nonperishable items that will allow her family sufficient time to use them.

Occasionally, Sally finds deals on things in unexpected places. Thrift stores and outlet malls often carry items for significantly less money than they cost elsewhere. No matter where she shops, Sally is always careful to read up on the store’s return or exchange policy.

Returning Home

When she comes home, Sally makes sure to save all of her receipts in case anything needs to be returned. She also files warranty information alongside her receipts. If something breaks under warranty, she’s going to make sure to get the replacement she’s entitled to.

If an item she purchased offers a rebate, Sally carefully fills out the forms according to the instructions. She keeps copies of her receipts and other materials sent in so that she’ll have easy access to them in case of a problem.

Other Ways Sally Shops

In recent years, Sally has been able to find savings opportunities on the Internet as well. For this type of shopping, Sally uses all of the best practices described above, adding a few extra steps for safety.

For example, she’s good about checking up on the trustworthiness of any web site she may be purchasing from. All she has to do is browse over to the Better Business Bureau’s web site at www.bbb.org and check up on the site. She also likes to read up on a web site’s privacy policy and know the site’s phone number and address in case of a problem.

Prior to purchasing her items, Sally always makes sure to understand the full shipping and handling costs involved. And, when its time to enter her credit card information, she makes sure the web site is secure.

When the transaction is complete, Sally makes a printout for her files. And, since she uses a credit card for her online purchases, she makes sure to pay off her balance in full each month or, at a minimum, make more than the required minimum payment. This ensures that her monthly household budget will not be negatively affected by costly credit card balances.

Setting up a household budget that you can stick to takes time and determination. If you’d like help with this or would like to discuss ways to manage your debt effectively, contact one of the certified credit counselors here at our consumer credit counseling services (CCCS) agency.