Bagging Those Bargains

Huge bottle of pine cleaner for 73 cents. Two solid glass candle holders for 24 cents apiece. An MP3 player with camera, video recorder, voice recorder, FM radio, and a bunch of other gadgets: $29. Sneakers with arch supports: $8. Solid wood telephone stand: was $79, I got it for $19. What do all these have in common?

Clearance racks. My mom was adept at using little money and making it stretch. After years of watching her it seemed like second nature to look for bargains at every markdown rack in every store. I never deliberate on whether to see what's on sale. Even if I only have time for just a glance, I make sure to visit every clearance aisle to scan for bargains.

Stores want to sell out of seasonal items. If they can't sell these things many of them will be thrown away. Why? Because it would cost more for the store to send it back to the manufacturer than to take a slight loss and get rid of the item.

Stores with recycling policies are going to pay even more to recycle an unwanted item than to sell it to you cheap. They'd rather make a little money than lose money on their wares. The simple math of keeping companies in the black has resulted in enormous savings for the savvy customer.

Would I have been able to use the $8 shoes if I had already bought the comparable $24 ones I looked at two weeks earlier? Would I have needed an MP3 player for $29 if I had bought one when they were $50? Saying no is just as much a part of the bargain hunting process as scooping up the treasures we find. We must wait, hold out, have patience till we find a price with which we're satisfied. In the meantime it pays to shop around and compare similar items. You only know a bargain when you see one if you've done your homework. Window shopping is a good way to stay informed on what's out there and what the going prices are. Window shopping on your computer makes things even easier.

A word of caution: online clearances have not always been up to standard. There have been a few bargains and markdowns online that were only cheap because the items were cheaply made. These were not as nice as they looked in the pictures. Let the buyer beware of anything you can't see and touch in person. It may be all right, especially if it is made by a nationally recognized chain or brand name. Just keep your eyes open.