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I love a great deal. I imagine most people are like that regardless of how much or how little money they have. There’s something satisfying about the whole idea of getting a bargain – almost as if you somehow won “the game” (whatever that game is).
But in most cases, scoring a great deal (particularly online) involves some effort on your part. And sometimes getting that great deal can involve a lot of time and effort.
Unfortunately, at times, putting in that work can even be a little frustrating. You might even think, “Sheesh, this wasn’t worth the effort. I saved a bunch of money, but I could have just worked a few more hours to pay for it at full price instead… and without all the headaches!”
And that begs the question… is it worth the time and effort to score a great deal or is it smarter and easier to simply pay whatever the asking price is?
Heads, you put in the effort to get the great deal
I’ve always been someone who aims to find that great deal. In fact, I aim to get the best deal on a lot of things. Sometimes, I’ll spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to save money on something.
For instance, if I need to order a $35 item online, I’ll dig into it… a lot. I’ll scour the internet to ensure that I save as much money as possible on whatever it is. Ok, it’s $35 at Amazon, but it’s $30 at ABC store with $4 shipping, but I can get it for $32 at Walmart with free shipping and use Rakuten to get cash back.
Yeah, this happens all the time.
Periodically, I need to stop myself and think, “Is it really worth an hour of my time to save $5?” The answer is usually “no”, but it’s something my mind just wants to run with anyway.
And I’m not talking about using browser extensions like Rakuten, Capital One Shopping, or CNET Shopping. I have all three of these installed and they do a fantastic job of doing the leg work for you in helping you get some free money back. As a side note, I’ve uninstalled Honey from all our computers – I’ve been seeing/reading about some of their shady practices lately and it’s been leaving me too unsettled to keep using it.
Instead, I’m talking about putting in actual time and effort in digging way too deep with comparison shopping, determining ways to stack deals with credit card shopping offers, figuring out and taking advantage of points-back opportunities, and other strategies to get the best deals.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I do find enjoyment in trying to save money on something. And I think that’s fine when it has the potential to save mucho dinero, but I need to work on just letting the small amounts of money go.
On the flip side, sometimes the extra effort can yield really big savings. I posted about two great examples over the past year:
- The Secret to Scoring the Cheapest Southwest Flights
- Free Cruises with Just a Little Leg Work… Living Like Rock Stars!
With the Southwest flights, that will easily save us hundreds (and probably into the 4-digit realm) of dollars. All that’s costing me is a few minutes here and there to just look for cheaper prices… that’s sort of a gimme.
But the free cruises post is a bigger example of a great deal – let’s go so far as to call it an exceptional deal!
I should do the math on that, but with our year of travel that’s currently in full effect, I would bet that we’ll likely save around $20,000 or more over what it would have cost us to book it outright. Yeah, that’s a huge score, right?
That said, you gotta keep in mind that for this to work, we needed to cram all the travel into a single year. That’s not what we would normally do, but we do love to travel and it made sense as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
It also took effort to do, including taking a trip to Atlantic City. Now, this was almost like a treasure hunt and was a lot of fun to do (and we went with good friends of ours), but it still took time to make it happen nonetheless.
Are these two examples worth the work we put in to make it happen? I would say so, but you might think otherwise. But is it worth the time and effort to save $10? $25? $50? $100? Maybe… maybe not.
Tails, you work more and just pay the cost
My brother and sister-in-law enjoy the high life, so to speak. They make really good money, live in a beautiful house in a ritzy neighborhood, and don’t have any kids.
When they want to buy something, go out to a fancy-pants dinner, or travel somewhere, they just shell out the money to make it happen and they’re done.
They don’t go crazy, but they do buy or book what they enjoy. For example, when they want to go on a cruise, they’ll generally book a balcony cabin, but it’s not unusual for a suite to be the pick either. They’re not chasing after the service class with the butler (yet), but not needing to price shop the cruises so much is a luxury they can roll with.
The same goes for all their traveling, whether it’s a trip to Vegas or a big international trip. The accommodations will almost always be primo as will everything they do while at the destination. My sister-in-law does put in some time to try to find the best prices or to use points when possible, but cost is not necessarily the driving factor as it would be for folks like us.
And why not? They’ve got the money to do it. And when I say that they’ve got the money to do it, that’s not like so many folks who think they have the money but don’t have money saved for their future. My brother and sister-in-law put away more money for retirement each year than I made in total working during my best year at my career in IT.
Are they getting a great deal when they buy a product, eat out at a fancy restaurant, or book their travel adventures? In most cases, not so much.
But for them, they’ll make it up with just a few hours at work.
Now, is there a downside to this approach? Sure, like most things in life, there’s almost always a gotcha.
While they enjoyed their careers for a lot of years, they’re at the point where they want to start to wrap things up. But they can’t – at least not yet. They’re working on retiring as fat FIRE folks and need to keep working for at least another handful of years until they can make it happen.
That’s not some sob story, but the fact is that the more you spend, the more you need to save to keep that lifestyle up once you retire.
So should they instead be focusing on finding that great deal on everything they do? I mean, I don’t think so, but maybe you disagree.
It’s all about your situation… and hopefully what you prefer
So, is one side of the coin better than the other?
I guess that depends. If the choice is in your hands because you can do either without financial worry being the only motivator, then of course do whatever floats your boat.
I know several financially independent folks with big bankrolls who could spend to their heart’s content. But they get that thrill from getting a great deal and love to save money even though they realistically don’t need to do that.
But if you’re only hunting for the great deals because that’s your only choice (you can’t afford not to do so), well, that’s a different story. If you don’t enjoy it, you probably would love to have enough money to avoid the headache of pinching pennies.
Outside of financial restraints, some folks enjoy their job (or are retired with plenty of money) and value their time a lot more than money. They hate the idea of wasting time trying to get the cost down (or don’t know how to) and would rather just pay full price and move on.
Others get satisfaction from finding that big savings, so more power to you!
As I mentioned, I’m in the camp that takes pleasure in finding a great deal. Keep in mind that I’m only looking for deals on things I’ve already planned on buying. Saving money on something I don’t need or really want isn’t something that makes sense to me.
However, I’d like to think that there’s got to be a happy medium for folks like myself. That’s because I do value my time. And although I’m happy to spend some of it chasing after a really great deal, I shouldn’t be wasting even an hour looking for a way to save a few dollars. That should be reserved for higher-value items or trips that could potentially help us save some big money.
Like anything, balance is important. We’re fortunate enough to have enough money socked away that saving a few bucks isn’t going to do anything for us in the financial department. But I do revel in the glory of saving money. On the other hand, there’s a finite amount of time on this planet and I shouldn’t be blowing a lot of it in this game.
So, what’s good for one person might not be good for another. In my case, I’m going to try to stop wasting time where I might only be able to save a little bit of $$$. But, I’ll still chase after the deals on larger spending when it can mean an opportunity to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
What about you? Do you hunt for great deals, just pay the cost and move on, or find yourself somewhere in the middle?
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Plan well, take action, and live your best life!
Thanks for reading!!
— Jim
Jim, a worthy question that I’ve also asked myself. In our case, we tend to fall on the “convenience” side of the coin, depending on the $ amount involved. For anything less than $100, I just click “Buy It” and move on. I’d suggest you consider setting a dollar limit, makes life easier and reduces the stress.
I also get great pleasure from getting more for my money but time spent will vary depending on product. For stuff from Amazon or other small item purchases, I get bummed if I buy something and later find a better value afterwards so I do some diligence to get that feel good of not getting ripped off (try to keep it at 5-10 min of searching). But hunting to potentially save that extra 5-25% less isn’t worth the effort in most cases. With other hunts, like insurance shopping, credit card hacks, bank and brokerage promo hunting, big ticket shopping, vacation planning … where the dollar savings are much bigger, I do take more time but even then, when the hunt gets tedious (after a few hours across many days for some items), I go with a good enough search and just buy it. I’ll periodically check back to see if I can get a better deal but getting 80% of the way to the best deal possible for 20% of the effort is the right balance for me.