Clark's Big Book of Bargains

CLARK’S
    
BIG
    
BOOK OF
BARGAINS

CLARK HOWARD + MARK MELTZER

For Rebecca, Stephanie, Nicholas, and Courtney.
As they grow, may they learn to spend
less than they earn.

And to Lane and Nancy for their continued
love and support.

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

A NOTE FROM CLARK

CHAPTER 1 -
FOOD

SUPERMARKETS

RESTAURANTS

FAST FOOD

LEARNING TO COOK

WINE

BOTTLED WATER

CHAPTER 2 -
FAMILY + CHILDREN

BUYING FOR YOUR FIRST CHILD

RAISING CLARK-SMART KIDS

MUSIC AND DANCE LESSONS

THE DENTIST

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

PETS

CHAPTER 3 -
NECESSITIES

CLOTHING

SHOES

HAIRCUTS

COSMETICS

EYEGLASSES AND CONTACT LENSES

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

THE EMERGENCY ROOM

CHAPTER 4 -
LEISURE

MOVIES

MUSIC

BOOKS

VIDEO GAMES

THEATER AND SPORTS TICKETS

VACATIONS

CHAPTER 5 -
ELECTRONICS + APPLIANCES

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

LARGE APPLIANCES

CHAPTER 6 -
EVENTS

PARTIES

WEDDINGS

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

VALENTINE’S DAY

FUNERALS

CHAPTER 7 -
HOME IMPROVEMENT

PAINTING

CARPET AND FLOORING

SHEETS AND TOWELS

HIGH-EFFICIENCY LIGHTBULBS

SMOKE DETECTORS

FURNITURE

HOME SERVICES

CHAPTER 8 -
CARS

TIRES

DETAILING

OIL CHANGES

REPAIRS

TOWING

GASOLINE

BARGAINS + INFORMATION ONLINE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

About the Author

ALSO BY CLARK HOWARD + MARK MELTZER

Copyright

A NOTE FROM CLARK

This book is about spending money, something we do every day, but sometimes without a lot of thought. We spend our money in so many ways, large and small, that sometimes we wonder where our paycheck went. I’d like every dollar you earn to buy more and last longer.

One of the reasons I wrote
Clark’s Big Book of Bargains
is to show you how to treasure hunt, how to have fun—as I do—finding great deals. For example, I’ll show you how to buy a box of disposable contact lenses for $13.95, a bouquet of roses on Valentine’s Day for $19, and a great bottle of wine for less than $8.

I also want to share my philosophy of spending and give you a new way to think about the choices you make each time you open your wallet. Instead of burning your paycheck, nurse it, so you can get more of the things you want in life.

Making better spending decisions lets you take control of your life and gain more financial security. Every day on my radio show, I talk to listeners around the country whose spending, and the resulting debt, is causing tremendous stress in their lives. Is it worth having the possessions you have, if underneath it all, you’re trying to figure out how to pay the bills? I want to help you turn down the pressure, so you don’t have to worry when you open the mailbox about the bills waiting for you.

The average American now owes more money than they earn in a year, according to data compiled by the
Wall Street Journal
. Never in history has that happened, and it’s deeply disturbing. Just ten years ago, we carried far less debt than we do today. And this isn’t just a problem for lower-income or middle-class people. High-income families, those in the top fifth of U.S. households, are carrying debt averaging 20 percent more than their disposable income, according to the
Wall Street Journal
. If you get anything out of this book, I hope it will be the idea that this is a choice people have made, not a necessity.

The answer is simple. It’s not what you earn that matters—it’s what you spend. If you spend less than you earn, you can take the dollars you don’t consume, and put them aside to build long-term financial security for you, your children, their education, and your retirement.

This book is about choices you can make that will allow you to live a debt-free lifestyle, or at the very least, a lifestyle that puts you in control of your finances.

Some of the things you’ll read in here might sound a little strange, like feeding your baby generic formula, or buying used furniture. I’m certainly not suggesting you do everything you read here. This isn’t like a recipe, where you have to follow the steps carefully, and only then will the dish taste good. Look for ideas that work for you, and add your own. You may have ideas that are better than what I suggest. The goal is to create a new way of thinking about spending, before you spend. Perhaps you’ve always gone to a major oil company station to buy gasoline, you have that company’s credit card, and you go there without thinking. Instead, think about going to a discount gas station. Just making that one change will put a few extra dollars in your pocket every week. Or let’s say you normally buy Tide detergent at the supermarket. What if instead you bought Tide at a discount store, or if you bought the store-brand detergent and tried it? Maybe you’ll like it and use it again and again.

I hope
Clark’s Big Book of Bargains
helps you get more for your money and feel better about your financial future.

Clark Howard

CHAPTER 1
FOOD

We all have different approaches to food. My goal is to enjoy it. Yours may be to eat all the right things. But however you look at food, I want you to buy it at the right price.

I have lots of money-saving tips for you to reduce your food budget, whether you eat at home, eat out, or bring home ready-to-eat meals. As to what you drink, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, there are tremendous savings available in that area as well.

In this chapter, I’ll show you how to save at the grocery store and at the restaurant, whether it’s white tablecloth, middle-market, or fast food. And I’ll show you how to save on a bottle of wine or a bottle of water to go with your meal.

I expect people to have the strongest reaction to this chapter of any in this book. I hope you’ll share with me your favorite ways to save on food and beverages. Maybe we can include them in a future edition.

* SUPERMARKETS *

One of the few places virtually everyone spends money is the supermarket, and it’s a prime place to save.

There are a few common-sense rules that can help you save on your grocery bill. You may be using one or more occasionally already, but you probably don’t follow them consistently.

The first is to shop with a list. If you go into a supermarket without a list, you’re going to fall prey to the store’s marketing tactics. You’ll buy things that are displayed at “end caps,” at the end of each aisle. You’ll be tempted by merchandise that is positioned at eye level, often foods with a lot of fat and calories that will earn a higher profit for the store and also be bad for your health. The store’s goal is to get you to buy things you hadn’t intended to buy. Using a list helps you fight that.

My wife, Lane, is obsessive about lists. She figures out exactly what she needs, goes down the aisles, and picks out only those items.

The second rule is never go to the supermarket when you’re hungry. That is a fatal error for your finances, because you’re much more likely to make impulse buys when you’re hungry. If you do just those two things, you can make an enormous difference in your grocery bill.

There are a number of techniques that will help you save money on the things you buy. One is using discount coupons. I judged a newspaper contest on handling money, and it was tough to pick a winner, because each of the contestants had brilliant strategies. One woman took $500 and turned it into $1,900 worth of food, simply by couponing. It was phenomenal. She did her shopping at four different stores, and was very organized about it. She went through the fliers each week to see what they were offering. If a store doubled or tripled coupons on certain days, she would shop there on those days. That may make your eyes roll, because that’s a lot of work and a lot of time. But if you can take $500 and turn it into $1,900 by spending a little time organizing yourself and going to four stores, that seems well worth the effort. Normally, you’re not going to spend $500 on groceries at one time, but I love the idea of being able to get double or triple the value for your money simply by buying items that are on sale or couponable.

There are a couple of dangers to coupons. One is that you’ll buy products you don’t need, just because you have a coupon. Or you’ll fall victim to the manufacturer’s strategy, which is to get you hooked on a product with a coupon, so you’ll buy it again and again at full price. The woman who nearly quadrupled her money using coupons doesn’t get tricked into making impulse purchases and she isn’t brand loyal, so she’ll freely switch brands depending on what coupons she has. She’s loyal to saving money, not to the brand.

There are a number of Web sites you can go to to get grocery coupons. Among them are www.cutouthunger.org, salesmountain.com, and coupon mountain.com.

A number of supermarkets and pharmacies across the country, including CVS, Kroger, Harris Teeter, and PriceChopper, are now offering discount cards that customers use to obtain advertised special prices. You don’t pay anything for the cards. You simply show them at the register upon checkout to receive the special discounts. Many people don’t like them because the store can track your purchases with the card, and people believe this is an invasion of privacy. I’m willing to give up some of my privacy in exchange for bargain prices, but you might want to avoid using the card when you are making a purchase you wouldn’t want tracked (for example, some type of medication you feel is private).

Another savings strategy is to shop the warehouse clubs, like Sam’s Club, Costco, and BJ’s, which have had an enormous impact on the grocery business. If you want to save on your grocery bill and you can work with a more limited selection, you should buy at least some of your groceries at a warehouse club. Roughly a third of the merchandise in the warehouse clubs are grocery-type items, and their prices are significantly lower than the regular prices at the grocery store; however, they probably will not be lower than the
sale
prices at the grocery store. When Lane goes to Costco or Sam’s, she’s not able to get everything she wants. So she goes there about once a month, and does the rest of the grocery shopping at regular supermarkets. She buys all the paper goods and the non-perishables at the warehouse club and then picks up the perishables at the supermarket, along with the brand-name products she wants but can’t get at the warehouse club.