Good things come to those who wait

Another key ingredient in getting a good deal is patience. Often times its nessicary to be prepared to find a good deal and then be patient while you look. But other times you just have to be patient while you wait for it to come in the mail.

A phrase not common among my generation is "It's more at the door" refering to the days when door to door salesmen would come to your home peddling their products. People would find later that they could have purchased the same product for less at the nearby store after the sales person was long gone. The phrase that could be coined today is "Its more in the Store" because you can almost always get it cheaper online.

This week Sarah and I both recieved packages in the mail from online purchases. Mine was a set of gears and limited slip discs for my Limited Slip Power Lok differential in my truck. The only place I could find it locally wanted $395 for it out the door. Looking for it online presented a challenge because anytime I thought I had found what I was looking for there wasn't enough information on it to make me feel confident that it would actually fit my truck. After a lot of leg work I was able to get it shipped to me for $284, which was a 29% savings.

The patience factor was that my truck was unusable for a week while I shopped and waited. It was inconvenient but to me it was worth saving that much money.

Sarah found a good deal on a new digital camera. After recieving raving reviews from her siblings who had purchased the same camera (Pentax W90) she searched online and found it for $50 less (20% off) of what walmart offered it for locally. IN ADDITION, because she bought it online she also recieved with it a free mini tripod, carrying case, screen protector and cleaning kit that she would not have recieved if she bought it in the store.

Sarah's sacrifice and patience came because we bought in online and didn't know if it would come in time to take with us on our trip to Disneyland this past week. Sure enough, it didn't, so we had to share a camera with friends.

Having patience in order to find a good deal is 180 degrees opposite the mindset and feeling that comes with impulsive buying, or telling ourselves that we need it and we need it NOW!! While Sarah and I both were very tempted to run out and make our purchases we were patient and made do with what we had and with what friends would help us with. So next time you think "I gotta have that" go home and look it up online and see how much you can save.