No Stupid Questions

I value my time too highly to bargain hunt for most things. But then I don't shop places with inflated prices if I can help it

I think this is better suited for asklemmy. This community isn't for "what do you think?" type questions, it's for questions about simple things that have a definitive answer but you feel kind of stupid for asking

I'll check for sales first, and if there is one upcoming within like a week or two I might wait if I can, but outside of that I just pay whatever the price is at the time that I need whatever it is I am buying.

I don't really buy anything solely because its on sale though. The sales are an extra bonus, not a necessity most of the time. Unless its something I can wait forever on.

Not really. Sometimes a sale randomly lines up with something I was gonna buy anyway, but I usually don't buy stuff because it's on sale or wait with buying something till it is on sale. For stuff like groceries I don't even check the price at all.

If it's not an urgent item, I definitely wait for a sale to buy something. Waiting also helps me reconsider if I realize later on I didn't really need to buy it anyway. I also like discount coupon hunting. The chance of finding a working coupon is low, but when it works it's like striking gold.

Depends a lot on what I am looking to buy.

I generally avoid anything with visible branding, aside from sneakers where it is largely a given and I found some nikes that work well with my feet.

I do look to buy quality/durability where possible, within budgetary reason, I try not to contribute to our mountains of garbage too much. Naturally i also avoid short fashion which will look bad next year, which is luckily pretty easy as a man.

For most other things aside from clothing I generally follow the military grade system: buy the cheapest thing meeting your needs. I generally have an initial idea what I am looking for (I basically never go on a sort of unprompted or unguided shopping spree just to buy something) and the needed properties, and I will opt for whatever does what I need the least expensive.

For food and groceries i generally buy organic store brand, though a few brand products just taste irreplaceable, so i go with those.

I usually consider myself frugal, but try to get decent quality (a major part of the difference between frugal and cheap) and occasionally I splurge. Yesterday I bought 4 shirts. They came from a medium-high end store (Dillard's, for those who have one nearby and know what I'm talking about). This is the time of year when lighter summer shirts are getting marked down. I've needed some more of them for a bit but waited for this moment.

Also, I'm a sucker for fancy cheeses and desserts from our Kroger variant. But it's rare that I buy something that isn't on manager's special.

I browse Facebook Marketplace all the time for stuff.

Sometimes I want something and dream about it, and it takes an excellent sale to get me to actually buy it. Like the shades I got for my house last year (50% off at Home Depot)

I also brought a brand new car in 2022 when the market was bonkers. Not the fanciest car in the world (Chevy Bolt EUV) but it was a hell of a value, gas prices were going nuts with Russia having invaded Ukraine, and my 2005 Ford Focus wasn't going to last forever (still serving my wife's cousin's stepdaughter well though)

I've also gotten furniture and stuff over the years. Maybe I'll smile at the idea of a sale, but realistically so many things are "on sale" more often than not (even if that sale rotates between 25% off and BOGO half off)

I once saw a meme saying that being a Midwesterner means that if someone compliments something you bought, you need to explain that it was a good deal. That resonates with me.

Anyway, I'm procrastinating my nightly chores before bed. Thanks, but I need to work on that 🙂

Depending on the store, I, uh, know a gal that sometimes gets a few necessary things with the old five finger discount, and I don't judge her one bit.

For most things I usually just wait with the original price in mind until a sale comes along. I don't need most stuff with any haste. For events, hotels, and the like I'll do a quick coupon search on the internet but it usually doesn't exceed 5 minutes.

Otherwise I'll just buy at full price.

Most things I get second-hand, so the bargain's built-in.

It depends on what I'm shopping for and what I intend to do with it. For clothing, since I work long hours as a welder, I buy cheap 100% cotton long sleeve shirts at thrift stores. They're all going to get burned up over time, so their design, color, and/or logo doesn't matter in the slightest. Cheap and disposable is the goal there.

Sometimes I'll shop at thrift stores for specific types of electronics or metals not for what their intended function is, but rather for what I can turn it into or use it for. I once bought a thin wall steel pot, cut it up, flattened it out, and I now cut pieces off to fix other things.

The last thing I fixed with it was a gash in a dryer drum. I cut the damaged section of the drum out, drew an outline on the flattened steel pot, cut it out, rolled it a little, and TIG welded it into the missing section of the drum.