5 Things I Do Before Buying Anything

When it’s time to go shopping—whether you’re walking into a store or surfing the web—you want to make sure you’re getting the best deal possible. And locking in a great deal comes down to more than just “sale” signs. Below are five things I’ve learned to do before buying anything. Turn them into a mental checklist before you make your next purchase and see how much cash you can save.

Check my wallet

Few things are more infuriating than rushing through the checkout line only to find an unused coupon hiding in your purse…after you’ve left the building, of course. (Can you tell I’ve experienced this a few times?) Now I keep all my coupons in one place and sift through them before I get to the front of the checkout line to make sure I’m not forgetting anything.

Check my phone

Whether I’m pulling up a store’s discount app (such as Cartwheel from Target) or using a general barcode scanner app to compare prices, I try to make sure I’m getting the best deal possible. I also check through email and texts for any mobile coupons. Plenty of stores will regularly send you coupons just for signing up for their email alerts (Old Navy, Payless and Bed Bath & Beyond are a few examples). Create a new email account if you don’t want promotional emails clogging up your regular inbox.

Do my research

For large purchases like electronics, my husband and I are pretty thorough with our research. For example, we don’t want to pay full price for the latest iPhone if a newer model is coming out in a month. It’s also good to check customer reviews and get a feel for when certain products may go on sale (Black Friday sales, for example). Big purchases should not be impulse buys.

Use EBATES or AmazonSmile if possible

If you do any amount of online shopping, you need to check out these two websites. EBATES gives you cash back for online purchases you’d be making anyway. AmazonSmile gives a percentage of your purchase to the registered nonprofit of your choice. There are nearly 1 million charities to choose from. Some of my favorites are my local church, Compassion International, Samaritan’s Purse and Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (full disclosure: I work for BGEA). If you’re going to buy something anyway, you might as well help out a worthy cause while you’re at it, right?

Say “no” to the store’s credit card offer

If you can’t tell, I’m all about saving a buck whenever possible…with one exception. You will not see me digging through a wallet full of store credit cards. Believe me, I know it’s tempting to get that extra 10 or 20 percent off for “signing up today” for a new credit card from Sears, Kohl’s, Target, Marshall’s and on and on. The retailers push those cards so hard because they know that they—not the consumer—will usually win in the long run. Getting 15 percent off isn’t really a good deal when you have so many cards to keep track of that you forget to pay one on time and get slapped with a 20 percent interest charge.