Three Ways Comparison Shopping Can Save Students Money

According to an article in Business Week, the employment prognosticators were disappointed with a Labor report released on September 5 that placed the unemployment rate at 6.1%. Marketwatch states that 1.45 million homeowners have faced foreclosure in 2008, and the NY Times indicates that wages have failed to keep pace with inflation, taking food from worker's mouths and putting it into the hips of the bourgeoisie. I have never been a person with loads of money, so I have some experience at pinching pennies. You might save some money.

1. When shopping, compare prices. Compare prices between stores and within stores between brands. Generally, generic items are cheaper than name brands. Name brands spend significant capital in building their brand through advertising and charity. Usually, the company passes those costs along to the consumer. Navigating the shelves of different sizes and prices can drive any sane person nuts, so the best bet for calculating the store's best value is the "price per unit" area of the price tag on the shelf. The "price per unit" does the difficult work for you. The difficult work is dividing the total price by the weight or volume unit, yielding the "price per unit." Given how stores price items and the various ways companies package them, this apparently simple math problem can prove quite difficult. I don't like to shop with a calculator, so I live by the "price per unit" section of the label. Occasionally, the name brand items are cheaper or the same price, so the most frugal of us almost always check to be sure. The fifty cents you save here and there really adds up after awhile!

2. If you don't have health insurance and take prescription medications, it's worth shopping around for the cheapest prices on your medications. If a generic is available, be sure you get it, as they're usually cheaper. When I last had a prescription filled, the difference between two large store pharmacies came to about $40 for three different medications.

3. With a little extra planning, buying textbooks online can save college students a little money. While campus bookstores cannot have a monopoly, that doesn't prevent them from pricing at the higher end. Even the used books can be pretty expensive. The best value online is usually used books, but there are a number of pitfalls. First, you have to factor in the price of shipping if buying from an independent seller who uses a large online bookseller to list their inventory. Second, beware of multiple or outdated editions. If you're a literary scholar like me, the best edition can be the difference between success and failure. You have to be sure you're getting the right text you need for your course. My experiences with used book sellers have been positive, but different sellers put a different amount of effort into their listings. As usual, it's worth the trouble to shop around.

Sources:
Ben Steverman. "The Stock Market's Labor Pains
Marketwatch. "Foreclosures.com reports more than 100,000 homeowners lost homes in August". Marketwatch & Foreclosures.com
Steven Greenhouse and David Leonhardt. "Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity". NYT.