Disclaimer

This blog contains some simple tips and advice from two regular guys. We're not accountants, financial advisors, or brokers, so follow, ignore, or discuss our ideas as you see fit.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Article: When A Deal Isn't Worth It

Posted By Paul

I found this article on CNN Money that I thought had some great information.

The article is "When A Deal Isn't Worth It"

It reminds me of something I read in my favorite financial book:




Where it talks about the idea that people who think they're being good with money but aren't often spend a lot of time saving money on things they don't need.

This article goes even further to say that you need to make sure that the time you spend finding a great deal is in line with how much your time is worth.

I had never given this idea much thought until my new job where I can be paid overtime under certain conditions. This made me aware of my hourly pay rate, which makes it easy for me to keep this in mind.

Of course if looking for a good deal is something you classify as fun, then I say bargain hunt away, but I thought it was interesting to view time spent in terms of an hourly return.

1 comment:

Matt said...

I've got a perfect example of this. We found a child bike seat on Craigslist that we wanted to buy, but when we went to pick it up, discovered it wouldn't mount on my wife's bike. We then went to REI and discovered that their shop techs had some additional hardware that would let us mount the seat. I remember actually asking my wife "is it worth the money to drive back and forth across town again to buy from the Craigslist seller?" We both answered that question "No" and bought the same seat from REI at a slightly higher price.

Saving time and frustration can be worth $ sometimes.