Websites For The Frugal?

fwc writes "Like most people, I like being able to get the most benefit out of my money. In pursuit of this, I use several websites which help stretch my dollar even more. For instance, I have found smarterliving.com which I consult for good travel-related deals. I also use slickdeals.net and fatwallet to make sure I don't miss those almost-too-good-to-be-true deals. When looking for the best price on a specific item, I usually consult Froogle, Pricewatch, and Shopper.com. I also use a collection of online stores which sell stuff dirt cheap, such as newegg, PC Surplus Online, and of course half.com. Recently, I was looking for some tools at Harbor Freight's Website and a friend suggested that I might want to also look at Homier's. I was pleasantly suprised to find that they have some prices which are even lower than at any other site which I have found. This makes me wonder what other sites are out there I haven't found yet which are in the same category." I know techbargains has "saved" me money on some things I might not otherwise have bought. Where have you been best led?

How does this matter?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is this usefull or relevant to anyone outside US?

Visit our manufacturing division

[xyote]

a link on the Homier [homier.com] site. I was expecting to see lovely fjords, but no, it was Global Outsourcing [hdcgo.com].

Re:Dear God man

[ejaw5]

it's not thriftiness, it's Money Optimization! The game is to maximize the amount of money still remaining in your wallet after each purchasing excercise.

The Motley Fool

[acshelp]

Stop spending your money and pay off debts and invest. Think of your (financial) future for once!

www.fool.com

Clothes can be an investment

[GoClick]

Dressing well can REALLY help your career, a well dressed idiot will make more money in the long run than a poorly dressed average man. I consider my clothes, hair, smell and all of that to be an investment, it's a good way to get an edge in the compeditive IT industry, and it works VERY well.

Time is money!

[rueger]

Comparison shopping on-line is time consuming and generally irritating. Is the $5 you save on some item really worth the hour that you spend going from site to site, checking prices, checking shipping costs, adding and subtracting taxes, and then double checking that the company at hand actually is trustworthy enough to deal with?

Plus the added challenge of trying to find out if what you want is actually in stock.

With few exceptions you're just as well off just paying retail at a big outfit like Amazon.com and not worrying about it.

Of course, if you have no life, then spending five days shopping for deals on a $300 system is probably as good as anything.

Re:UK Computer Hardware

[Psiren]

I can understand where you're coming from in terms of work purchases, but I don't see what it has to do with personal ones, which seems to be what this story was about. I certainly don't care how much of my personal time I use (within reason) to look for the best deal.

Re:Clothes can be an investment

[Ubergrendle]

Why is this modded "FUNNY"? For all intents and purposes its true. Unforutnately, people *do* judge a book by its cover.

From my perspective, its like this -- if you dress well, EVEN IF YOU'RE A DEVELOPER, when meeting with your business partners or clients, it sends many signals. #1, you're professional; #2 you respect your client well enough that you wish to impress them; #3 you clients business is valuable to you and so you emulate their behaviour; and #4 if you respect yourself this much, it probably extends to other facets of your life (including your code).

In keeping with this subject, you should dress in a suit, but it doesn't have to be a *name brand* suit or designer fashions.

Is it always a deal?

[howlinmonkey]

One thing I have found about frugality - it can be penny wise and pound foolish.

If I spend 2 hours comparing deals, checking competitors, and surfing sites to track down $50 savings on a gadget, did I gain anything? I could have spent that 2 hours with my family, working on consulting gigs, and doing other household chores. It is called the opportunity cost of time in economics. It didn't cost $0.00 to track down that $50 - there was a cost.

I guess it depends on where you are in life. As a college student, I clipped coupons, and comparison shopped to get the best deal. Now with 2 jobs, and 3 kids, I think a few bucks here and there is worth a little more time with my family.

Re:The Motley Fool

[nuggz]

Good site, I recommend it.
Basic advice is spend less then you make.
Don't get into too much debt.
Save a bit (even a little bit)

Re:and while we're at it - international shipping!

[Agent Green]

I think it's that we need to wait for that credit card to clear, and find out that it's not actually a stolen number out of Eastern Europe. ;)

Re:Ebay Sniping

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Bullshit. If you "really care" about winning an auction, then be prepared to pay through the nose. The only person who ever really wins at an auction is the seller - the buyer is just the guy who was willing to spend the most money.

I use another sniping service and I routinely win auctions which have tons of "human" sniping going on (easy to determine from the bid records).

Furthermore, sniping is GOOD for buyers because:

1) It lets you "retract" a bid with no penalty since all you are doing is cancelling a snipe instead of a real bid.

2) It reduces bid-inflation. Snipers set a max price and walk away. If everyone used automated snipes, it would be like a blind auction since there would be no opportunity to "make an exception" and bid "just a few dollars more" then your pre-determined limit because someone has outbid you.

most slashdotters have the wrong idea

[CAIMLAS]

Most slashdotters seem to hold an incorrect meaning for the word "frugal" true (and indeed, so does the majority of society).

Frugality isn't so much about only buying the cheapest thing, it's about not buying things in the first place. It's using the wisdom to know what you do and do not really need. Buying 2 liter bottles of cola because 20 oz bottles are more expensive isn't frugal, that's economics. Frugality would be not buying the soda in the first place, because you don't need it and water is freely available (and better for you, to boot).

Re:Deep Discount DVD

[May Kasahara]

Anime and manga fans might also want to try The Right Stuf [rightstuf.com]. They carry just about everything and some of their weekly specials are unbelievably good.

Re:Is it always a deal?

[sharkdba]

Now with 2 jobs, and 3 kids, I think a few bucks here and there is worth a little more time with my family.

Well, sometimes looking for a deal on the internet will actually allow you to spend more time with family. Flight deals we found on priceline [priceline.com] and hotel deals on orbitz [orbitz.com] allowed us to take a family vacation we normally couldn't afford. There's probably more tourist sites offering good deals. Thanks to the internet the tourist industry has become very competitive.

Fuck Professionalism.

[themusicgod1]

Seriously, the whole concept is but lies, deciept and my-penis-is-bigger-than-yours applied to everything to make it bigger-faster-and more slick. We should NOT be encouraging professionalism. We should be encouraging pragmatism! We should be encouraging zenlike intuitive and resourceful intelligence not 'this guy is white^wlooks good in a suit so let's promote him instead of the other guy just like him without the suit.

I recognize #4 as something straight out of Aristotle's Poletics, but notice that not once in that tomb did Aristotle ever use the word 'professional'.

I do however realize that most of the rest of the world agrees less with me and more with you. However, it pisses me off, at least, to no end hearing anyone refer to professionalism in any sort of positive light. It's at best a distraction, and let's leave it at that.

Re:Clothes can be an investment

[King_TJ]

Perhaps, but perhaps not. I'm more inclined to refrain from pre-judging a person based on their clothing choices. I'll agree that, all else being equal, odds are greater that the sloppy dresser in worn-out sneakers and holes in their jeans also lacks some basic social skills. But there's no direct correlation between the two. (EG. My I.Q., personality and/or skillset doesn't change when I dress nicely.)

Proper hygene and a personal choice to wear more "casual" clothing are two completely different issues. There's no excuse for not washing one's hair, taking a shower, and so forth. That's just laziness and a lack of self-respect, and as you said - indicates a person you can't really trust to take care of important matters in the workplace.

With clothing, there are so many reasons someone opts to dress a particular way. I've worn the shirt, tie and dress slacks before, when employers required it. My opinion is, it's just not very comfortable or practical. I remember working as a computer technician for a store that required it, and I actually got my tie caught in a CPU fan once! Even where I work now, doing on-site service, I was originally told I couldn't wear jeans to work. Initially, I obeyed the rules, wearing kackis/dress slacks instead, but I had enough of that after shreding up a couple pairs while crawling around on the floor, stringing network cables for people, and helping remove old monitors and re-arrange systems. I just started wearing jeans (but always new-looking, clean ones), coupled with nice shirts - and nobody so much as commented once on my breaking the dress code.

You are not frugal if...

[Anonymous Coward]

"I know techbargains has "saved" me money on some things I might not otherwise have bought."

Your buying gadgets and extra useless things on top and think you are frugal! Perverse American thinking.

Re:Is it always a deal?

[cborg]

Yeah, but you've got plenty of time to post to /.