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| The Basics | 6 ways to make bargain-hunting pay off
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While chasing bargains, you may be frittering away your time, expensive gasoline and your personal energy. Here's what it really costs -- and tips for making it pay.
By Bankrate.com
Susan Hamersky's clients often ask her errand service, California Concierge Service, to run from The Dollar Store to Wal-Mart and across town again for the best bargain, at $39 an hour.
It ends up costing the clients more in time than they could possibly save on bargains, the Los Angeles-based business owner says. But if that is what they ask for, she is happy to oblige.
The idea seems extreme: paying someone to run all over town to save a few dollars here or there. But it is the essence of what many families do every Saturday morning.
A weekly race from place to place
They hop in the car and go to the drug store that is having a sale on vitamins, then on to Target, where paper towels and dish soap are always cheapest, and then over to the next town, to the warehouse store, to stock up on meat and maybe pick up some jeans.
The day's total tally is four hours, 35 miles and less than $10 in savings.
All that and the grocery shopping still hasn't been done, plus the minivan is probably full of things that weren't on the shopping list.
At times when so many of us are trying so hard not to waste money, we often fritter away time and cash.
Every bargain hunt is a judgment call, Hamersky says, but the balance of the cost of gas and the expenditure of time is easily underestimated. She is inclined to go for simplicity.
"Whichever store you feel overall on their prices is the best, then you just do your shopping there and don't worry about the rest, because you can drive yourself crazy running to three or four stores to finish your list," she says.
Related news and commentary on MSN Money
A gas analysis
In late September, the AAA Fuel Gauge Report showed the national average for regular gasoline prices was $2.81, up 90 cents from a year earlier. The escalating price of gas is quickly bringing up the cost of driving every mile, said Geoff Sundstrom, spokesman for AAA.| Hamersky shares her best tips: | Know shops that are close to home with short lines.
Call around instead of driving around, especially for a very specific item.
Keep an eye out all year for gifts, so there is no urgency when birthdays and events come around.
Use the Internet as a starting point to research what something should cost. Then when the item turns up, you know if it is a good deal.
Keep two lists on the refrigerator: one for the grocery store and one for the discounter your family uses most. When supplies run low, make a note on the list. Go shopping when a few things are on the list and the timing is convenient.
Always shop with a list to keep from getting distracted.
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The cost of gasoline alone is now 9.9 cents per mile for a 2005 Dodge Caravan, for a total operating cost of 16.2 cents per mile, including maintenance and tires, according to recent AAA calculations. At 15,000 miles per year, with insurance and maintenance factored in, the Caravan costs 56.3 cents per mile to operate.
On a recent weekend in Portland, Ore., three of the best deals at Target -- a box of Frosted Mini-Wheats, a 15-pack of Bounty paper towels and a 24-pack of Frito-Lay snack bags -- were $6.65 cheaper than they were at a local Albertsons grocery store. The paper towels were the big bargain, at a savings of $5.
At 56.3 cents per mile, if Target were even six miles away from home, you would be losing money on that "great deal." Just considering the operating costs, it actually costs more than $3.24 to make a 10-mile trip across town and back. So the savings plummet to $3.41.
Then the question becomes less about math and more about what makes sense in your own life.
"You don't tend to put a price tag on your time, and people tend to think of time as an unlimited resource, but it is limited," Hamersky says.
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