Comparison Shopping

Okay, I know this is not a life-altering frugal strategy, but comparison shopping and price matching is a staple of our Low Falutin' life style.  I submit two cases for your perusal. 

Case 1:  I was desperately in need of a new computer.  My only computer was a netbook that I had on short-term lease (not frugal).  I was leasing because when my last computer died, I didn't have the money to buy one outright.  Bad planning on my part, but we heavily rely on the internet in our family.  Anyway, the buy out on the netbook was ridiculous, so I started comparison shopping.  I found a desktop emachine with 320GB Hard Drive, and 2GB Ram online at Walmart.com for $278. 

I didn't want to wait for it to be shipped, that would have left me with no portal to the outside world...unthinkable.  So, I called my local Walmart and asked if they had it in stock.  They did, but it retailed for $318.  The manager said that the in-store price was sometimes different than the online one.  I asked him that since Walmart price matched other stores, couldn't he just price match their online one.  He paused for a minute and then said okay.  That question was a savings of $40.  I don't think this is their standard policy, but the point is that it never hurts to ask.

Case 2:  I have one room in my apartment that is carpeted.  It is in big need of a steam cleaning.  The rug doctor at the local grocery store rents for $54.  That is a little steep for a one time cleaning, so I started pricing cleaners to buy.  I found one that I liked at Kmart.com for $79 plus shipping.  I had seen the same one in the store for $89.  Next, I tried Target.com.  Same price...$79 plus shipping.  Next, I tried Old Faithful aka Amazon.com.  I found the same model for $64 with free shipping.  Guess what came on the UPS truck while I was writing this post...

Yeah!  I save fifteen dollars and got free shipping.