Procrastination has Saved Us Money

In general, procrastination is not a good idea. However, I have found at least one exception. Procrastination can be quite beneficial when considering a purchase during a weak economy. Here are some recent experiences where I found procrastination saved us money.

Gasoline. When gas prices were rising, I used to buy whenever I saw a good price, before he inevitable increase. Now that the price of oil is falling, I've found waiting is better. It seems the price of gas has been dropping almost every day. Whenever I fill up my gas tank, gas prices always seem to be lower the next day.

Best price seen this year: $1.769 for unleaded regular gas.

Health club membership. Earlier this year, I was investigating different health clubs for a possible membership. They would offer deals on initiation or monthly fees that expired at the end of each month. However, after the expiration date some of the clubs offered even better discounts.

After choosing a health club over the summer, we were unable to join due to my needing a physician statement. By the time I had the doctor's note in September, the club had a special $0 initiation fee to join, which saved us $52.

Periodical subscription. I have subscriptions to financial publications to help generate article ideas for My Wealth Builder. I sometimes let a subscription lapse, to enable me to try other periodicals. In one case, a periodical sent reminder notices, that reduced the renewal price with each succeeding note, until it was equal to the best special introductory offer given to new subscribers, saving between $50 and $100 from "normal" renewal offers.

Since it was one of the publications I like, I relented and re-subscribed for another year.

In our case, all the examples were relatively small savings. However, I expect that people who have waited until now to buy a house or car are getting much better prices or discounts than they would have a year or two ago.

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This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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