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Last week I wrote about PriceProtectr, a free site that alerts you when prices fall on items you’ve recently purchased. This allows you to take advantage of “price protection” guarantees. I still haven’t used the site myself, but I’ve received several comments and e-mails from readers who rave about the service. For example, Jennifer wrote:
I read about PriceProtectr on your site last week, and so far have had more than $40 refunded from Amazon in price drops. They even refunded shipping for one item that I had purchased through Amazon but shipped from target.com because it now qualified for the free shipping. This is an amazing savings and that $40 is on purchases totaling just more than $150.
I haven’t tried PriceProtectr yet myself. Maybe I should.
Elsewhere, Trent at The Simple Dollar shared a great post today about the meaning of it all. “The problem for most of us is that we’ve made ourselves a very nice prison cell, with bars constructed of mortgages, student loans, car payments, credit card bills, bad debts, and so on…Every time we make a purchase that doesn’t have real meaning for us, we’ve added another bar to our prison cell.” Thought-provoking stuff.
Finally, at CNN/Money Janice Revell recently analyzed six money dilemmas. Here are the six dilemmas and Revell’s solutions:
- Pay off a credit card or fund your 401(k)? (If you have a big credit card balance, take care of it first.
- Save in a Roth 401(k) or a regular 401(k)? (Roth, unless you’re near retirement and know your income will drop.)
- Lease a car or buy a car? (Buy.)
- Prepay your mortgage or invest? (Invest.)
- Buy a home or rent? (Buy if you plan to stay put for a few years.)
- Take early social security or wait? (Wait, if you’re healthy and don’t need the cash.)
Though Revell offers bottom-line recommendations, she does a good job of presenting both sides of each issue.
This article is about Spare Change Wednesday, 12th December 2007 (by J.D. Roth)
December 13th, 2007 at 1:19 am
Great roundup. I’m going to be facing a few of those dilemmas after I start my job next month, so that article is really helpful.
December 13th, 2007 at 6:11 am
I will try out that price watching website and see how it goes too =]
December 13th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Good post.
One thing most people don’t realize, is that if you want a new car every few years, leasing is by far the way to go. You pay depreciation plus some interest, and have an automatic buyer. Granted, we don’t all want/need a car every 3 years, but if you do then go ahead and lease. If you want the best financial decision, then yes, buy.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
I have read so many discussions over lease vs. buy…they are always related to new cars. Will someone ever compare the cost/benefit of buying a late model used car over leasing or buying a new car? I know it is less expensive, but will the additional repairs overtake the savings?