Shopping Strategies

Buying and selling almost anything is easier if you have principles that guide your decisions. Commerce should not be a free fall into spending guided by emotions or the feeling that you are a victim being manipulated by advertising, peer pressure and competition.
Buying and selling a house recently has put me into the decision making position many times a day and I would not be surviving the process if I didn’t have some wisdom to rest on. If a ship’s captain relied on the stars for navigational decisions and the stars shifted their positions drastically each night, the captain would never get anywhere, except, perhaps lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
Here are the “Queen of Bargains Principles for Buying and Selling Almost Anything.” I recommend them to you because they will help give you peace of mind and they will protect your money from the chaos of impulse spending.
Principle #1. Just because you have the money to buy something doesn’t mean you have to spend it. (I’m not sure whether to buy carpet, a wood laminate, or hard wood for my basement floor. Therefore, even though I can afford it, I am waiting until I’m sure about what to choose. I will wait for a year if I have to in order not to make a costly mistake.)
Principle #2. When you don’t have the money to buy something, don’t use someone else’s money to buy. (I am only charging what I can pay for when the bill comes in. I will not string along payments and incur interest on a credit card bill.)
Principle #3. Budgets aren’t just for the poor. Budgets are also for the rich and the in between. ( Even though I am debt free and pay my bills on time, I’ve planned to spend only a certain amount on my new home. I will stick to that budget and wait for another year if I am tempted to exceed it.)
Principle #4. Ask for advice and research your desired purchase. You don’t have to take the advice or recommended research but have really good reasons for differing from others. Listening to others helps you clarify your own ideas which is helpful if you start out confused or unsure. (Friends, a decorator, and two stores counseled granite counter tops for beauty, permanence and ease of care. I am saving thousands by using a very interesting, rough textured, stone like laminate called ebony star. When the decorator heard and understood my reasons, she helped me find the perfect choice.)
Principle #5. An upscale look can cost downscale prices if you are willing to wait, think creatively and look far and wide. (I looked at scores of tile kitchen backsplashes and visited one store several times before figuring out what to get. I changed my design concept several times until the look and cost were right. Bringing a wallpaper sample into the tile store was also useful.)
Principle #6. Make your decisions and then wait two days. If you have the money and peace about your choices, go ahead. If not, rethink your solutions. (Even though I like white walls, my new walls are painted in Benjamin Moore creamy tone. It would be wasteful to paint over a perfectly good and expensive paint job. I am decorating around the color and I find that I like it.)
Principle #7. Don’t assume expensive stores will be out of reach. (Walls For U in Chantilly, VA has the perfect kitchen wallpaper in stock for $14.95 a double roll instead of $50 a roll on special order elsewhere.)
Principle #8. Don’t assume that the cheapest store will have what you want or need.
(Lowes is selling their best shower curtain rings for $9.99 and an upscale bathroom store, Bed ‘N Bath in the Bradlee Shopping Center in Alexandria is selling nicer ones for less. I bought a Fleur de Lys silver tone set for $6.99.)
Principle #9. Use window shopping in expensive stores to teach you. Union Hardware has kitchen cabinet hinges that are upscale and expensive, around $12.00 a pair. They taught me what to look for. I found it, an antique look 3/8” self-closing hinge, at Home Depot for $1.89 a pair. For 18 pair I’ve saved roughly $182 plus tax.)