Yes, it’s time for some more cheap living ideas, this time in the form of shopping at Overstock.com. Although their television campaign promoting the “Big O” had most people’s minds going in a direction that wasn’t really shopping-related, they are definitely one of the best places on the Web to find good deals for mad cheap, many times at steep discounts off the retail price.
Overstock has a wide range of items, from furniture & home décor to children’s clothes. I’m a personal fan of their watches; you can really get some killer deals on Movado watches, Kenneth Cole watches, and the like. It’s also a very good place to shop for engagement rings and other jewelry. The only disadvantage to Overstock is that it’s a lot like Marshall’s and T.J. Maxx—once they’re out of something, there’s no guarantee that they’re going to replenish it, because they’re working a lot with closeouts and the like. A cool thing you can do, though, to get the “breaking news” on new inventory and sweet deals is to sign up for their “O-mail” email newsletter, and they’ll send you alerts via email so that you can be one of the first to jump on the latest deals.
Again I say, as Mr. T would also eloquently put it, I pity the fool that pays retail. You really don’t have to. Some people would argue that it’s inconvenient to shop online because you have to pay shipping. Well, right now, Overstock is actually offering free shipping for the holidays, and if I’m not mistaken, they have changed their shipping prices so that during non-holiday times, you pay a flat rate for your entire order. Pretty cool.
Overall, I’ve been pleased with shopping on Overstock.com, even though it can be tedious at times hunting for deals. But, when you’re living on the cheap, that’s the whole point—you have to dig a while before you strike gold. Over and out.
Showing posts with label cheap shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cheap shopping. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Guide to Living Cheap: Shopping on eBay ROCKS!
Being that this website is designed to be a guide to living cheap for average peeps, I would be remiss if I did not talk about using the Web to find butt-kicking deals. There are actually so many ways out there to cut costs, save money and be frugal in today’s climate, especially with the Web at our fingertips, that in my mind you’re a bumbling idiot if you still insist on paying retail for things. It’s really not a secret at all that the Internet is a wonderland of awesome deals on shopping, saving, and so forth; all you really have to do is just commit to doing the research (with a heaping helping of help from Google—yeah, that was a lame phrase) and you’ll be well on your way to saving money and obtaining killer goods at dirt cheap prices.
Anyone who is familiar with shopping online to any degree probably has, at one time or another, been introduced into the world of eBay. For a long time, I steered clear of eBay, because I thought it was just an online yard sale, and I didn’t think that it had much use unless you were trying to sell some rare set of postage stamps that your dear old great Grandmother bequeathed to you in her estate. But come to find out, half the doggone WORLD shops and sells on eBay (okay, that’s a slight exaggeration). The latest numbers I have (which aren’t very recent) report that eBay received over a billion (with a “B”) visits in 2007—that’s a ridiculous amount of traffic. But you can literally find just about ANYTHING on eBay, and even some stuff that you don’t want to ever find at all (such as exotic skeleton thongs or something).
I encourage anyone that hasn’t signed on with eBay to go ahead and do so…there are a ton of websites (including eBay itself) that can teach you exactly how to bid and buy on eBay. A simple Google search will provide all the sites you need to figure it out, and I’m much too un-motivated to look them up for you and put them here. I personally like (and almost always use) the “Buy It Now” feature—I’m just not one for much quibbling about auction prices, and I hate getting out-bid by some last-minute idiot. You can search for whatever you want and sort by price, and let me tell you—you can find some RIDICULOUS deals on the site, just by doing a little research. There are people who are so devoted to living on the cheap that they refuse to shop for clothes and so forth anywhere outside of eBay. I can see why—I’ve seen deals on clothes where people are getting Abercrombie & Fitch sweatshirts for only $8.00 and so forth. Again, with some of this stuff, you have to see it to believe it. One thing to keep in mind: Almost everyone on eBay facilitates purchases via PayPal, so it would be very useful for you to get a PayPal account as well.
There is, however, an even better way to shop on eBay…a way where you can shop and get CASH BACK for shopping on eBay!!! It’s a site called “Big Crumbs”, and they will literally pay you a percentage of cash back (via PayPal) from every purchase that you make on eBay! So think about it: If you’re buying something from eBay and are already getting a sweet deal on it, once you sign up with Big Crumbs, you can get the additional cash back, making your net expense even lower. Good stuff.
So in conclusion, one of the cornerstones of learning how to live cheaply is definitely getting familiar with eBay. As you will see once you get on the site, it’s not all just old junk and used items; there are quite a bit of big-name retailers that have set up a presence on eBay, so many of the items sold there are brand new. I will be going into the other side of eBay, which is selling, in a future post, so you can get more info on how to earn a little extra chingy in the pocket by selling stuff around your house. Rock on, and keep living cheap!
Anyone who is familiar with shopping online to any degree probably has, at one time or another, been introduced into the world of eBay. For a long time, I steered clear of eBay, because I thought it was just an online yard sale, and I didn’t think that it had much use unless you were trying to sell some rare set of postage stamps that your dear old great Grandmother bequeathed to you in her estate. But come to find out, half the doggone WORLD shops and sells on eBay (okay, that’s a slight exaggeration). The latest numbers I have (which aren’t very recent) report that eBay received over a billion (with a “B”) visits in 2007—that’s a ridiculous amount of traffic. But you can literally find just about ANYTHING on eBay, and even some stuff that you don’t want to ever find at all (such as exotic skeleton thongs or something).
I encourage anyone that hasn’t signed on with eBay to go ahead and do so…there are a ton of websites (including eBay itself) that can teach you exactly how to bid and buy on eBay. A simple Google search will provide all the sites you need to figure it out, and I’m much too un-motivated to look them up for you and put them here. I personally like (and almost always use) the “Buy It Now” feature—I’m just not one for much quibbling about auction prices, and I hate getting out-bid by some last-minute idiot. You can search for whatever you want and sort by price, and let me tell you—you can find some RIDICULOUS deals on the site, just by doing a little research. There are people who are so devoted to living on the cheap that they refuse to shop for clothes and so forth anywhere outside of eBay. I can see why—I’ve seen deals on clothes where people are getting Abercrombie & Fitch sweatshirts for only $8.00 and so forth. Again, with some of this stuff, you have to see it to believe it. One thing to keep in mind: Almost everyone on eBay facilitates purchases via PayPal, so it would be very useful for you to get a PayPal account as well.
There is, however, an even better way to shop on eBay…a way where you can shop and get CASH BACK for shopping on eBay!!! It’s a site called “Big Crumbs”, and they will literally pay you a percentage of cash back (via PayPal) from every purchase that you make on eBay! So think about it: If you’re buying something from eBay and are already getting a sweet deal on it, once you sign up with Big Crumbs, you can get the additional cash back, making your net expense even lower. Good stuff.
So in conclusion, one of the cornerstones of learning how to live cheaply is definitely getting familiar with eBay. As you will see once you get on the site, it’s not all just old junk and used items; there are quite a bit of big-name retailers that have set up a presence on eBay, so many of the items sold there are brand new. I will be going into the other side of eBay, which is selling, in a future post, so you can get more info on how to earn a little extra chingy in the pocket by selling stuff around your house. Rock on, and keep living cheap!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Shopping at ALDI
If you’re just now discovering this blog about cheap living and you wonder why I’m even devoting an entire post to the subject of shopping at ALDI, let me say that grocery shopping at ALDI is Jedi-Knight-level frugality in action. If you’re not familiar with ALDI stores, let me first of all say that I feel sorry for you, almost to tears. If you are familiar with ALDI stores but yet don’t have one in your area, I honestly don’t know which is worse—to not know about ALDI at all, or to know about it but not be able to taste the fruit of frugality that so plentifully drops from the wonderful tree known as ALDI.
For the uninitiated, ALDI is a grocery store that offers probably the cheapest prices of any store around. They can do this because they eliminate a lot of overhead by keeping the store somewhat bare-bones—there are no fancy decorations, no bag boys (yes, you bag your own groceries as a rule), and no frills whatsoever—but, they keep the prices so low that you really don’t give a crap. As of this writing, a gallon of milk at the ALDI in my area is $1.49—that’s almost unheard of for today’s times. Even during the summer last year, when food costs were skyrocketing and a gallon of milk would cost $4.29 at the local big-name grocery store (well, it did at mine anyway), ALDI still beat the crap out of everyone else by offering milk for $2.99 a gallon. Everything at ALDI is cheap, and everything they offer is quality. They have a lot of private label products that you can’t find anywhere else, but the quality is really good. Their produce is the bomb as well—again, speaking of my local ALDI.
I happen to really like their oatmeal and cereals there…I actually think that they’re of a higher quality than the name brand stuff at the regular store. And again, the prices are awesome. A box of Kidz Crunch (a Captain Crunch ripoff, but tastes just as good, if not better) at ALDI is only $1.89, but the Captain’s gonna charge you about $3.00 for the same amount of cereal. I could go on & on with other price comparisons, but suffice it to say, EVERYTHING is cheaper at ALDI.
So again, if you are able to partake of the privilege of shopping at ALDI, for your own sanity and for the love of everything sacred, please do so.
Here's the link to locate an ALDI store near you.
For the uninitiated, ALDI is a grocery store that offers probably the cheapest prices of any store around. They can do this because they eliminate a lot of overhead by keeping the store somewhat bare-bones—there are no fancy decorations, no bag boys (yes, you bag your own groceries as a rule), and no frills whatsoever—but, they keep the prices so low that you really don’t give a crap. As of this writing, a gallon of milk at the ALDI in my area is $1.49—that’s almost unheard of for today’s times. Even during the summer last year, when food costs were skyrocketing and a gallon of milk would cost $4.29 at the local big-name grocery store (well, it did at mine anyway), ALDI still beat the crap out of everyone else by offering milk for $2.99 a gallon. Everything at ALDI is cheap, and everything they offer is quality. They have a lot of private label products that you can’t find anywhere else, but the quality is really good. Their produce is the bomb as well—again, speaking of my local ALDI.
I happen to really like their oatmeal and cereals there…I actually think that they’re of a higher quality than the name brand stuff at the regular store. And again, the prices are awesome. A box of Kidz Crunch (a Captain Crunch ripoff, but tastes just as good, if not better) at ALDI is only $1.89, but the Captain’s gonna charge you about $3.00 for the same amount of cereal. I could go on & on with other price comparisons, but suffice it to say, EVERYTHING is cheaper at ALDI.
So again, if you are able to partake of the privilege of shopping at ALDI, for your own sanity and for the love of everything sacred, please do so.
Here's the link to locate an ALDI store near you.
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