Phone book and the Internet: Frugality’s Best Friends
Published April 20th, 2008
For a long time, the Yellow Pages have owned the phrase “let your fingers do the walking”, now more than ever that saying is true. I’m a huge fan of the phone book for quick access to local information, and now, finding everything from maps to that perfect gingerbread recipe are available with a few key strokes on the web.
If you’ve read any of my other posts, one of my biggest keys to saving money and getting the best value from my purchases comes from planning ahead. In the age of sky high gas prices and increasing environmental awareness, it’s almost a must to do your homework before driving around from store to store looking for that one item.
Everybody has a different system, but I’ll tell you how I go about using the phone book and the Internet to save precious money and time:
Your local phone book
Not every yellow phone book is created equally. In my part of Canada there’s the real phone book with Yellow Pages and these small fake books with some pages that are yellow. These little books are often a waste of time, because not all businesses are going to pay to advertise here. My advice is stick to the real thing. Pull out your phone book and take a look through what sections it has. Some proper phone books have local maps, postal code keys, or even a section with menus and coupons for some local restaurants.
In 5 Things You Never Thought Were Negotiable,I talked about the process I use to get the best price on big ticket items. The Yellow Pages in the phone book or a web search can be a good place to start the calling procedure to see if that business has the product or services you’re looking for. If it’s something local, I prefer the phone book so I don’t have to sort through those search results to find the most relevant information. For example, if you’re looking to buy a specific bed, and you’ve done your homework online to know the features and price points, you can call up local mattress or departments stores and see if they carry that brand, have it in stock, have any sales, etc.
If you know exactly which business you want to visit that day, the phone book is so handy to call up and find out how late they’re open, and get exact directions–sometimes it’s just faster and easier to talk to a human being.
The phone book is also useful if you’re traveling and in a hotel. You may not have easy access to the web, or you may want to just make a quick phone call to a Chinese restaurant and make a reservation for dinner.
The Internet
While keeping in mind that you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet, it can be a great place to do background research on a product or service you’re in the market for. As covered in 5 Things You Never Thought were Negotiable, having that knowledge is power, and will give you increased confidence and bargaining power in your negotiations.
As I mentioned in My 25% Savings Rule, a large part of my efficient grocery planning involves checking out the grocery and other stores’ flyers or circulars online as soon and they come out. Finding out what’s on sale and taking a look in my kitchen allows me to plan the next week’s meals and grocery list pretty quickly at my convenience.
There are many online sites that have links to either printable or mailed money-saving coupons. I prefer to have them mail me the coupons, as I’ve heard some grocery stores don’t accept coupons you print from home. I think it really depends on the individual business. In general, Wal-mart is pretty accepting of coupons. Some businesses like Harvey’s and Dairy Queen periodically email out coupons for free products specifically for you to print out at home, just for being a part of their loyalty club. They usually need at least an email address to send you coupons, but many people just open a separate email account through Hotmail or Gmail just for this purpose.
Many trade and craft shows, and other events will now give you a discounted rate for buying online. By buying from a secure site and paying with your credit card you can be doubly protected against theft or fraud.
The web is also great for comparison shopping. You can often do a lot of the work yourself like comparing prices for flights or cruises, and then even call up your travel agent and see if they’ll match or beat the price you found. This way, you get the deal and a reliable person on the other end of the phone in case anything goes wrong and you need help.
Of course classified ads have always been a boon for those that are into being frugal. This concept has been taken into the 21st century with sites like eBay, craigslist, and other free classifieds sites in Canada like www.kijiji.ca and www.buysell.com Again, the convenience of being able to scroll through and view or post multiple ads, even with pictures, from your sofa or your office is a huge time-saver.
There are also sites dedicated to saving you time and money in a particular niche area. For example, there may be a site telling you who and where has the cheapest gas in your city, or a site with quick and easy meal planning ideas for the week like Menus4Moms.com
Your time is valuable, and you work very hard for what you have and the money you earn. How do you use the phone book or Internet to save time and money? I’d love to hear more ideas, please post them in the comment section to share with everyone!
Aaron Stroud on April 21, 2008
We’re trying to retire our new mortgage, so we’re trying to keep our spending to a minimum. Some of our biggest purchases have to do with our new home and the tools we need to take care of it and the land. Sometimes we research stuff online, but we’re also relying on advice from neighbors and friends from church. Sometimes a personal endorsement carries more weight than an anonymous review online.
Amanda Milne on April 21, 2008
Hi Aaron, You bring up a good point, I agree. It’s nice that we have so many options at our disposal in this day and age. Thanks for the comment!