Money Saving Week – Part 1 – Negotiate

It probably comes of no surprise that living in a home where so much renovation and improvement is necessary can be expensive. As great as it would be never to have to worry about things like budgeting, bank balances and cost, we live in the real world where things like that have to be taken into account.

Around this time of year, most of us tend to watch what we spend and we’re no different. We tend to set our goals for the year and try to sort and plan what house related projects we’d like to tackle and budgeting is always a major consideration.

As we frequently get asked about how we finance our projects (saving up is the short answer), we thought it would be fun to share some of our experiences and all of this week we’ll be sharing our tips and tricks for saving and our first tip is negotiate – everywhere!

This is what works for us:

1. Always remember to be friendly. This is by far our number one rule. Be nice. No one is going to want to help someone who they don’t like or is rude.
2. Know your facts. It’s easiest to negotiate a better deal if you know what competitors are offering. Most companies are happy to match prices if they can and if they can’t they may be able to offer you other kinds of bonuses that can still give you a better deal than the one you were on.
3. Just ask. What’s the worst that can happen? We’ll try haggling most places now. I personally find it easiest if you’re buying more than one item or if you’re buying something that’s ex-display. You’d be surprised how happy sales people are to help you! If you’re a bit nervous about asking for a discount, start somewhere easy like on your mobile phone contract – they’re almost certain to help you!
4. Switch. Sometimes no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to get a better deal. If that’s the case, don’t be afraid to walk away or switch your provider. Often new customers get better deals – don’t be afraid to take advantage of them. We’ve recently switched our broadband provider and not only are we now saving money, we have a better internet connection, too!

Here are a few of the areas that negotiating has worked for us:

Insurances & Providers:

• Car Insurance – Negotiating here has worked for us every time.
• Broadband – This is another easy one. Pretty much no fail area to negotiate.
• Home Insurance – Always worked for us.

Shopping:

• DIY Stores – Independent stores almost always give you a discount, especially if you’re buying a few products, they just tend to be more flexible. When buying a lot, negotiating has worked for us at the big chain stores, too.

Building Projects:

• We’ve negotiated on almost every quote (especially for larger projects) that we’ve ever received – and we’ve always been successful at getting at least some money off.

Holidays & Hotels:

• If you’re staying for more than just a couple of nights have a chat with your hotel or travel agent  and see what you they can offer you. Usually they will give you an added extra like a complimentary room upgrade, free breakfast or meal or some other kind of vouchers.

Basically, it’s always worth asking! And if they say no, well you’re not worse off than you were before, are you?

Do you negotiate? Have you ever got a better deal on something? What are your tips for getting the best price possible?