My Number One Secret For Saving Money

I have a favorite secret for saving money, and it's this:

Patience.

I'm serious.

There's an old adage that says, "You can have it fast, cheap, or good. Pick any two."

It really is true.

Think about dinner. You've got your choices. Let's say you want to have a good dinner. That leaves with two choices. You can get it fast, by going to a restaurant, but it isn't going to be cheap. You can get a good meal more cheaply, by cooking it yourself, but it isn't going to be very fast.

So obviously, on this blog, we're dialed in on cheap. We want to save some money, right?

This means we've got to give up one of the other two. And who wants to give up good?

That leaves fast as the thing we have to sacrifice to get good stuff cheap.

If we're willing to put some time into it, we can get good quality stuff at a cheaper price.

How do we do that?

Well, it might mean waiting for it to go on sale, or waiting for it to go on clearance. Buying things out of season or waiting for the new version to come out is a good way to get something at a deeply discounted price.

It also might mean spending more time shopping around. Obviously, taking the time to hunt all over the county (or the Internet) for a used car takes more time than heading down to the closest Used Car lot and picking out the best deal there, but your time pays off with deep discounts.

So next time you're looking to save a few dollars, ask yourself if there's a way that you can put some time into getting a discount, and turn those minutes into some dollars off your purchase.