Describe five or more strategies for making smarter purchases or being a better consumer.
What will be an ideal response?
1. Buy Store Brands of Food Instead of Name Brands - Did you know that most canned goods and other packaged foods are made by the same packaging company with the same quality? They just slap different labels on the items. That means the value green beans may be the exact same as the name brand, but without the pretty label. You can save a lot of money over the course of one year by going with store brands for most items.
2. Buy Items on Sale - Why pay full price when things go on sale all the time? With proper planning you will find that sales come in cycles. Check a few different advertisements of nearby grocery stores and compare. Then stock up enough to make it until the next time the item will be on sale again.
3. Create a Seven-Day Waiting Period - For larger—dollar amount items (which could mean $10 while you are in college), don't buy it the moment you see it. In many cases, you didn't even know the item existed a few minutes ago. Now you have to have it? Wait a week. If you still really want the item then go back and get it. Chances are you will forget about most of those items by the end of the week, and save yourself a lot of money.
4. Make a List and Check It Twice - When you go shopping make a list of what you need or what you are there to purchase. This applies to groceries as well as clothes shopping. Now for the hard part. Only buy what is on your list. If you find things that look great but they are not on your list, refer back to tip #3.
5. Drop Your Home Phone if Possible - If you are under the age of 30 you may not even think about this. But there are many adults who have a home phone. Assuming they also have a cell phone with unlimited minutes, their home phone may be nothing more than a way for telemarketers to call them during dinner. Instead of paying for two phones, just use your mobile.
6. Cut the Cable - Reduce your cable bill to the basic tier or eliminate it completely. One of the satellite dish companies is always offering large discounts for new signups. Or you can go with a combination of Netflix, Hulu, and other content providers and save a lot of money each month. For people over 35, this may be a tough change, since it may require managing multiple subscriptions and/or devices to watch all the channels you are accustomed to; especially if you desire watching shows in prime-time without having to wait for their release a few days or even months later.
7. Pack Your Lunch - Packing your lunch is not free, but it is significantly less expensive than buying your lunch each day. If you live off campus, you can pack a sandwich and some snacks (healthy or otherwise) for about $2 per day or less. You will be hard-pressed to find a cheaper alternative. And if you work evening shifts, pack yourself a dinner. Why work for five hours at your retail job, just to spend a significant portion of your earnings that evening on the dinner you had to grab because of your evening shift?
8. Brew Your Own Coffee - If you want to save money or spend it on other things, you can quickly save by brewing your own coffee instead of buying it each morning. Sure, treat yourself on Fridays for making it through the week, but the other four days can be home brew. You will save a small fortune over the course of a semester.
9. Skip the Warranties - So your club is making smoothies for beach day and you bought a $50 blender. The manufacturer offers a two-year extended warranty for just $9.99. But the blender is only $50! If you buy a warranty for every appliance or electronic item you could be broke before the semester ends. Instead, keep back a few dollars (about 20%) of each purchase in an emergency fund and you will have your own replacement account—but the cash will be yours to keep if the item doesn’t break.
10. Remove Yourself from Deal Alerts -Deals and coupons are great. But if you don’t really have any money to spend, then all you are doing is tempting yourself into buying thing you don’t need. After all, it’s 75% off the regular price. It’s a once-in-lifetime chance—although how are there entire websites and businesses based around deals that are once-in-a-lifetime? Chances are a similar deal will come around again later—hopefully when you have more money to spend.
You might also like to view...
Describe how competitive advantage can be created via strategic intent, giving examples of successful approaches of competitors
What will be an ideal response?
The comparison of actual outcomes with desired outcomes is an example of a(n):
A) planning activity. B) control activity. C) operating activity. D) static activity.
Horizontal analysis is the comparison of a company's financial condition and performance to a base amount.
Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)
The Lily Company uses the percent of receivables method of accounting for uncollectible accounts receivable., and a perpetual inventory system. As of January 1, its net accounts receivable totaled $192,000 (Accounts Receivable $200,000 less an $8,000 Allowance for Doubtful Accounts). During the current year, the following transactions occurred. 1)Merchandise costing $1,050,000 was sold on account for $1,400,000. 2)The company collected $1,294,000 from customers on account.3)$6,000 of accounts receivable were deemed uncollectible and written off.4)$1,000 of accounts receivable previously written off as uncollectible were recovered.5)At year-end, Lily Company estimates that 4% of its accounts receivable are uncollectible.Prepare journal entries to record these transactions.
What will be an ideal response?