Speaker 1: Episode three thirty nine, how to negotiate and save lots
Speaker 1: of money.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live your life here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, And today we are doing another
Speaker 1: episode on negotiation because it is such a great way
Speaker 1: to save money, earn more, and practice your people skills.
Speaker 3: At Negotiation Station where we'll tell you all the ways.
Speaker 1: But before we get into that, this episode is brought
Speaker 1: to you by our listener Special. So this year our
Speaker 1: listener Special is on October thirty first, Yes Halloween, and
Speaker 1: we want to share your spooky, strange, bizarre money stories
Speaker 1: with the community. So did you find money in a
Speaker 1: weird place? Did you have to pay a fee with
Speaker 1: a weird name? Did you have to pay a person
Speaker 1: with a weird name? Don't judge them, but let us know,
Speaker 1: make us laugh, And the listener with the best spooky
Speaker 1: season money story will win one of our new Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends T shirts. So use the bill of the weekline
Speaker 1: Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash bill today now through September
Speaker 1: twenty eighth, to leave your spooky silly story about money
Speaker 1: and tune in on Halloween to hear them all.
Speaker 3: I cannot wait for this one. I think this is
Speaker 3: going to be the best listener special yet. Lots of weird,
Speaker 3: spooky things.
Speaker 1: I hope. So if you're interested in flexing your negotiation muscles,
Speaker 1: then we've done a few episodes in the past. Episode
Speaker 1: three twenty seven Saving Money on Rent, where we talk
Speaker 1: specifically about negotiation tactics for rent. Episode two sixty three,
Speaker 1: How to negotiate a higher salary in any field with
Speaker 1: Mandy Woodriff Santo's. That one is so clutch. If you
Speaker 1: don't do anything else today, scroll back to episode two
Speaker 1: sixty three and queue that up to play next, because
Speaker 1: it is information you will want, even if you're happy
Speaker 1: in your job right now. Listen to this episode because
Speaker 1: it can only help you with your career growth and
Speaker 1: your salary negotiations. So two sixty three, Mandy Woodriff Santos,
Speaker 1: you will thank me later.
Speaker 3: I'll thank you now. Thanks Jen, it's a good one.
Speaker 1: You're welcome.
Speaker 3: So let's get into these articles about negotiation, and the
Speaker 3: first one comes from Go Go banking rates. They write
Speaker 3: articles too. It's titled ten biggest negotiation mistakes that are
Speaker 3: making other people rich. It's an interesting one say it's
Speaker 3: making other people rich. But I appreciate this perspective of
Speaker 3: the things that we might be doing wrong when it
Speaker 3: comes to negotiation, and so I'll just kick it off
Speaker 3: with the first two, which include going in without options
Speaker 3: and doing poor research on pricing. These two really do
Speaker 3: go hand in hand, so there's no real point in
Speaker 3: separating them for the sake of this podcast. So essentially
Speaker 3: one of the biggest mistakes that we can make is
Speaker 3: trying to negotiate without actually having real numbers in mind.
Speaker 3: That's not to say that when we start negotiating we
Speaker 3: can't kick it off with something like is this your
Speaker 3: best price? But we need to know in our own
Speaker 3: mind what am I willing to pay for this thing?
Speaker 3: What number could we reasonably come to and me be
Speaker 3: pleased with that, feel like it's reasonable or a good deal.
Speaker 3: And that again is paired with having done real search
Speaker 3: what are the going rates for that good or service,
Speaker 3: so that you can be well advised on is this
Speaker 3: going to be a good number. You can even utilize
Speaker 3: that research in your negotiation of whatever it is a
Speaker 3: good or a service to be able to say, oh, well,
Speaker 3: i've been able to find let's say, a similar phone
Speaker 3: plan for X amount of money, maybe even list off
Speaker 3: who it is that you've been able to find that
Speaker 3: rate and can you do better? So having done your research,
Speaker 3: having numbers in mind before you get to the negotiation table,
Speaker 3: so to speak. There may not be a table though,
Speaker 3: just beware, it may just be you standing there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this one is particularly relevant for me because Travis,
Speaker 1: my husband, has a price in mind that he wants
Speaker 1: to pay, but it's not necessarily always rooted in reality.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if that's you like listening to this,
Speaker 1: but it's very important. Especially unfortunately with inflation, the prices
Speaker 1: that we may have had budgeted for or think that
Speaker 1: we should be paying are a lot of the times
Speaker 1: no longer accurate. So doing your research on pricing, having
Speaker 1: the options of the current pricing options, and going in
Speaker 1: with the best most current knowledge is really important. And
Speaker 1: like for goods, that might bean going to Amazon or
Speaker 1: Target or Walmart dot com and looking at the price
Speaker 1: new and then if you're going for used, you'll take
Speaker 1: fifty percent off of that if it's kind of lightly used.
Speaker 1: I would say if it's brand new with tags, maybe
Speaker 1: seventy five percent of the brand new price. And then
Speaker 1: if it's like really well worn but still good, then
Speaker 1: you could even maybe negotiate down to twenty five percent
Speaker 1: of that full price, butually somewhere around fifty percent of
Speaker 1: full prices where you want to be in your negotiation
Speaker 1: for goods. So those are the places where I go to,
Speaker 1: and I also go to just Facebook Marketplace and just
Speaker 1: compare what else is going like for dressers, what price
Speaker 1: are other dressers going for that are sold and versus
Speaker 1: sitting there for a long time, so that I can
Speaker 1: have more leverage to say, hey, I can get this fast,
Speaker 1: and you might be able to get a little bit
Speaker 1: more off if you say you can get it fast,
Speaker 1: but you want to make sure that it's in general
Speaker 1: line with what else is on Facebook Marketplace at the time.
Speaker 1: So the next one I also have a personal experience
Speaker 1: with is overhaggling. So haggling is one approach to attempt
Speaker 1: and they use the word haggling a lot. In the
Speaker 1: next article we'll get into haggling. It triggers me, I think.
Speaker 3: I don't love this word either.
Speaker 1: So over negotiating is maybe what I'm gonna say, right.
Speaker 1: It's one approach to attempt to get something at a
Speaker 1: lower price, but some people overdo it and then they
Speaker 1: end up paying even more than they would have if
Speaker 1: they kept haggling tamer. And we'll talk a lot about
Speaker 1: that in the next article. But my personal experience with
Speaker 1: this is similar to what the author is saying in here.
Speaker 1: She says one of the most common well, this is
Speaker 1: a quote from somebody, but one of the most common
Speaker 1: mistakes I see is overhaggling, or essentially customers haggling to
Speaker 1: the point where the business owner will actually add an
Speaker 1: inconvenience fee to the service due to time already wasted
Speaker 1: from the outset. So I don't think it's ethical. I
Speaker 1: don't know if this per se is true, but my
Speaker 1: experience with overhaggling is I used to work at The
Speaker 1: Gap and longtime listeners of the show will have heard
Speaker 1: this story on every Negotiating episode we've ever done. And
Speaker 1: there was a mom buying clothes for her kids that
Speaker 1: worked at Gap Kids, and they were buying a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff and her dad, so Grandpa Pop Pop, was
Speaker 1: there and they were ringing out, and he was like,
Speaker 1: what discount can you get me? And I was like, well,
Speaker 1: if you sign up for a GAP card, you can
Speaker 1: get this much off. And I was a robot. The
Speaker 1: only thing they cared about was how many Gap cards
Speaker 1: you could sign people up for, and not how much
Speaker 1: merchandise you could sell. If that tells you anything about
Speaker 1: the store credit card industry. That's all they cared about.
Speaker 1: So that was all that I could offer them. That
Speaker 1: was the only sale going on right then. It's probably
Speaker 1: a weekday because we had sales every weekend. It's not
Speaker 1: like you probably could have postponed the shopping trip three
Speaker 1: days and there would have actually been a discount. But
Speaker 1: there was just nothing that day. And that dude pressed
Speaker 1: me so hard, verbatim, saying, you're going to give me
Speaker 1: this credit card discount without me signing up for the
Speaker 1: credit card. And I was like, I literally can't because
Speaker 1: if I key in this code and you do not
Speaker 1: pay with a GAP card, it will kick the code out, like,
Speaker 1: it won't allow the code.
Speaker 3: It's not possible, sir.
Speaker 1: And I had to call manager and he said the
Speaker 1: same thing to the manager.
Speaker 3: And she was like, no, it doesn't work like this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they left there with no discount because there was
Speaker 1: literally no discount to be had. We were not the
Speaker 1: owners of the store. We could not make up discounts.
Speaker 1: This is an experience you should not have with store associates.
Speaker 1: That is overhaggling in negotiation.
Speaker 3: It's one thing to have an experience like that, Yeah,
Speaker 3: when you're trying to advocate for yourself for an injustice
Speaker 3: that has happened, but not when you're just.
Speaker 1: Trying to get a deal right.
Speaker 3: Yes, but now, I've never heard of someone tagging on
Speaker 3: extra money because they were irritated by you. I've never
Speaker 3: actually heard of that.
Speaker 1: I could see a small time service making up some
Speaker 1: kind of fee that is not like an annoyance fee,
Speaker 1: but a fee that they would not have charged otherwise
Speaker 1: that may make seam standard. I can definitely see that happening.
Speaker 1: But that's just another time where you should be vigilant
Speaker 1: in negotiating fees, not overhaggling. Be nice people.
Speaker 3: The next one is not embracing AI technology, So essentially
Speaker 3: not using chatpt to your advantage is a mistake we
Speaker 3: can make now. I mean this is a newer mistake. Obviously,
Speaker 3: negotiation five years ago, this was not love of this,
Speaker 3: this is awesome. So you can use chat ept to
Speaker 3: help you identify where there's room to negotiate. So they
Speaker 3: essentially say, here, you can ask chat ept what are
Speaker 3: some of the alternatives to the negotiated deal on the
Speaker 3: table at the moment. You could use prompts like which
Speaker 3: argument should I use in this negotiation? Or what are
Speaker 3: alternatives to this deal? Or what terms could I trade
Speaker 3: in this negotiation to get what I want? And so
Speaker 3: much more so you could essentially plug in what is
Speaker 3: the deal that you're trying to negotiate and let AI
Speaker 3: do the work of what is it that I'm missing?
Speaker 3: Because sometimes we just don't know what we don't know,
Speaker 3: especially when it comes to those various fees and how
Speaker 3: services are charged or the going rate on deals. When
Speaker 3: we talk about coming in with a number or having
Speaker 3: done your research, that doesn't necessarily mean that you've got
Speaker 3: to have put in a ton of your own time.
Speaker 3: We can utilize AI to our benefit to ask chat
Speaker 3: GPT what do I need to know here? What are
Speaker 3: the terms that I can negotiate? How low could I
Speaker 3: possibly go? What's even a script? What wording can I
Speaker 3: be using? So I've not done this yet. This is
Speaker 3: honestly the first time that I'm hearing of this little tip,
Speaker 3: so thrilled about it. You bet your bottom dollar, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna be out here negotiating all of my bills using
Speaker 3: chat GPT now.
Speaker 1: Well, in a few weeks we'll be recording an episode
Speaker 1: on how chat GPT can save you money. So I'm
Speaker 1: very excited about that because there are so many ways
Speaker 1: that as long as you know like the right prompts
Speaker 1: and the capabilities of chat GPT and the limitations of it,
Speaker 1: that it can help you with some of your decisions
Speaker 1: that you would make that would be taxing for you,
Speaker 1: or research that would be taxing for you. But chatgypt
Speaker 1: can do it very quickly, so it alleviates that stress
Speaker 1: from your brain so that you can make better decisions
Speaker 1: longer throughout the day. So I really like, I know
Speaker 1: CHATGYPD can't crawl like actual websites, but if you're like,
Speaker 1: what's the going rate for internet in my city? What
Speaker 1: are deals that are happening, that it can give you
Speaker 1: an idea of where to start so that your research
Speaker 1: is faster and yes, and it can give you like
Speaker 1: verbatim scripts stuff like that. So if you haven't signed
Speaker 1: up for chat GPT, if you've been nervous about it,
Speaker 1: or you're like I don't need that. When I first
Speaker 1: heard about it, I was like, I don't want to
Speaker 1: try this. I think this is a scare, this is
Speaker 1: a spiral, this is a rabbit hole. But I've been
Speaker 1: very interested and excited about the capabilities of this free technology.
Speaker 1: For now, it's free to help us save money. So
Speaker 1: embrace AI before the robots take over, use them to
Speaker 1: save money. That's it, Thank you for tuning in today.
Speaker 3: We're not robots.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 1: Next is overlooking long term value. So this is the
Speaker 1: difference between being frugal and cheap, right, So are you
Speaker 1: only looking at the upfront cost of something or are
Speaker 1: you also factoring in long term value? So you need
Speaker 1: to have a big picture perspective when negotiating. And this
Speaker 1: is also something that AI could help you with, determining
Speaker 1: the cost per weare or cost per year, something like
Speaker 1: that math stuff. When you don't have a math formula
Speaker 1: that you know of, the Internet knows. So the article
Speaker 1: says that assessing the long term consequences of your decisions
Speaker 1: could mean occasionally paying a little more upfront for favorable terms,
Speaker 1: and so this isn't like paying more upfront for an
Speaker 1: extended warranty, but for better quality or for maybe some
Speaker 1: kind of I don't want to say warranty, but some
Speaker 1: kind of like plan that you know that you will
Speaker 1: use or know that will give you peace of mind
Speaker 1: that's still affordable. Peace of mind can sometimes be just
Speaker 1: as valuable as saving money. So yeah, definitely consider the
Speaker 1: long term value. If you're buying something used, then don't
Speaker 1: shy away from higher priced items that will last longer.
Speaker 1: That's kind of why we buy used, not just for
Speaker 1: the environment, not just for the money saving, but so
Speaker 1: that we can not have to buy things as frequently.
Speaker 3: The last one I'll hear for me is fear of rejection.
Speaker 3: This can be a big inhibitor of negotiating. Is that
Speaker 3: we just are afraid of the salespeople. I don't know why.
Speaker 3: We just get It's like when you're six years old
Speaker 3: and you have to use the telephone for the first time.
Speaker 3: Only we're adults now, and for some reason, it's still
Speaker 3: difficult to pick up that phone. So essentially the articles
Speaker 3: just saying kind of get over it. Afraid of salespeople.
Speaker 3: The worst they can do is say no to you,
Speaker 3: and I would take that a step further than just
Speaker 3: saying get over it. By practicing, have chat apt create
Speaker 3: scripts for you. Just get used to hearing these words
Speaker 3: come out of your own mouth by yourself in a room.
Speaker 3: That's fine. Maybe pull a friend in with you, someone
Speaker 3: that you trust, and kind of go over how this
Speaker 3: conversation might go, and then start with like low level stakes.
Speaker 3: Maybe do a phone call before you try to negotiate
Speaker 3: in person. Sometimes that can feel a little bit better.
Speaker 3: Or use the chat function with whatever good or service
Speaker 3: that you are trying to negotiate. Sometimes we can negotiate
Speaker 3: our internet bills just chatting literally typing back and forth
Speaker 3: to their salespeople or their customer service. So start small,
Speaker 3: start on your own, do some practice, and essentially keep
Speaker 3: reminding yourself that the worst they could do is tell
Speaker 3: you no.
Speaker 1: I get this. And it's not so much a fear
Speaker 1: of rejection as it is like sometimes I think I
Speaker 1: deserve to pay more. It's like sad, But if I
Speaker 1: get a higher price, I think it's like, oh, I
Speaker 1: didn't do enough research or I didn't negotiate right, so
Speaker 1: I deserve this higher price. Like one time we bought
Speaker 1: a four park Disney ticket thing and it was twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one. They had just reopened after the pandemic, and
Speaker 1: you had to make reservations for the parks, but the
Speaker 1: only park that had reservations available was Animal Kingdom, and
Speaker 1: so like, we couldn't. I didn't want to go back
Speaker 1: to Animal Kingdom three more times. Huh. So we just
Speaker 1: didn't use it. And Travis is like, I want my
Speaker 1: money back. I didn't use the whole ticket, and I
Speaker 1: was like, but I bought it. I shouldn't have bought
Speaker 1: the four I should have just bought like what two
Speaker 1: or three? Like it's my fault. I deserve to pay
Speaker 1: that money. And he's like no, and so he calls
Speaker 1: Disney and he gets a partial refund. Did he I
Speaker 1: wasn't going to do that, no, Yeah, and that's why
Speaker 1: he does the negotiation in the household. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: get it.
Speaker 3: Well that's the thing too. Yeah, like not wanting to
Speaker 3: even appear like a cheapskate, I don't want to, but
Speaker 3: who cares? This person doesn't know me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't know if you don't ask, and you
Speaker 1: don't have to be rude about it. Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: be firm and kind, And I think that's maybe something
Speaker 1: that people see as separate. If I have to be firm,
Speaker 1: that I am being unkind, But they are not mutually exclusive.
Speaker 1: I have found that you can have boundaries and you
Speaker 1: can be persistent and still do them in a kind way.
Speaker 3: Agreed.
Speaker 1: So our next article is one that I liked a lot.
Speaker 1: So this is written by Peter rothbart And and he says,
Speaker 1: I've haggled down the price of everything from rent to
Speaker 1: dental surgery. And I have six dues and don'ts for
Speaker 1: anyone who wants to negotiate. And I liked these dues
Speaker 1: and don'ts, and I like how he puts them.
Speaker 3: Yes, these are very fun. I would definitely recommend this article.
Speaker 3: And the first one is be friendly but firm, which
Speaker 3: is exactly what you were just saying, Jen.
Speaker 1: That the two can can tell that I read the
Speaker 1: article out of time.
Speaker 3: The two do go hand in hand. They can, at least,
Speaker 3: so they're saying, do play nice. We can sometimes get
Speaker 3: this idea that to negotiate we kind of have to
Speaker 3: have this hardened facade, and we've got to be cutthroat
Speaker 3: hustlers who are just out here wheeling and deal in
Speaker 3: at high pressure stakes to get a bargain, and in reality,
Speaker 3: just being a pleasant individual is going to take you
Speaker 3: more enjoyable to engage with and more likely to get
Speaker 3: a deal. So being polite, staying positive, using your good
Speaker 3: manners and your kind words, just overall being pleasant to
Speaker 3: work with is going to get you more likely the
Speaker 3: deal that you want. And with that said, pairing it
Speaker 3: or holding the tension if you will, with not being
Speaker 3: a pushover. So being polite doesn't always mean being overly accommodating.
Speaker 3: You can absolutely know your number, your boundaries, what you
Speaker 3: will and won't do, the number you will do, the
Speaker 3: number you won't do, and being willing to walk away.
Speaker 3: Failing to close a deal is not a breach of etiquette.
Speaker 3: If you can't come to terms with the person that
Speaker 3: you're negotiating with, it's also okay to walk away. So
Speaker 3: being kind but having your own limits and boundaries, being
Speaker 3: willing to walk away, these all can be true at
Speaker 3: the same time time.
Speaker 1: Number two and three we just talked about in the
Speaker 1: last article, So be mindful of context, negotiate in settings
Speaker 1: where negotiation is more well received, not at the gap,
Speaker 1: and then do your research. Know what you're going in there,
Speaker 1: don't mistake similar for equivalent. I like that, so look
Speaker 1: for differences between available items, but don't mistake similar features
Speaker 1: for equivalent. So account for costs like taxes, shipping, external
Speaker 1: factors like time, distance, convenience, stuff like that. But I
Speaker 1: want to go into number four. Really, Next is be
Speaker 1: frugal not cheap. Hey, oh you know that, yay, he says,
Speaker 1: do bid to your advantage and don't blow a good
Speaker 1: deal looking for a better one. So bidding to your advantage,
Speaker 1: start by offering less then you're ultimately willing to pay.
Speaker 1: That is just as a seller, we always list items
Speaker 1: for about twenty dollars or twenty percent less more than
Speaker 1: what we're wanting to accept. So as a buyer, you
Speaker 1: can start with maybe thirty dollars less than you're willing
Speaker 1: to pay or twenty five percent less than the listed
Speaker 1: so you'll end up somewhere in the middle. But don't
Speaker 1: blow the good deal looking for a better one. So
Speaker 1: if when you're presented with a strong offer, take it.
Speaker 1: When you have met somewhere in the middle, don't keep going,
Speaker 1: don't annoy the seller, just take it. And there's also
Speaker 1: another don't to This one is don't give lowball offers
Speaker 1: with a little chance of success. That's insulting. It's annoying.
Speaker 1: I know that very few people listening to this would
Speaker 1: ever do this, but it tells the seller you're not serious.
Speaker 1: It starts negotiations off inhospitably. So again, before you name
Speaker 1: a price, know that the seller's probably going twenty dollars
Speaker 1: or twenty percent over what they're willing to take. So
Speaker 1: just go thirty forty dollars less, twenty five, thirty percent off,
Speaker 1: and then see where you can end up in the middle.
Speaker 1: They might be willing to just part with it at
Speaker 1: that thirty forty dollars off or thirty percent off if
Speaker 1: you're like I can pick it up now in an
Speaker 1: hour or something, so you may luck out on that
Speaker 1: if you also put speed behind, but normally you land
Speaker 1: somewhere in the middle and be okay with that. That's great. Again,
Speaker 1: tether your expectations to the reality that things are more
Speaker 1: expensive now than they were four years ago.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't love that reality, but it is where
Speaker 3: we are, which does paranisely with number five, which is
Speaker 3: act decisively, not hastily. So this tip is encouraging us
Speaker 3: to strike while the iron is hot. And he's talking
Speaker 3: about how he often buys and sells things. I don't
Speaker 3: know exactly the platform that he use uses, but let's
Speaker 3: think Facebook Marketplace, and how when he's selling something, nothing
Speaker 3: pleases him more than a buyer who offers to close quickly,
Speaker 3: come with their cash, and do it immediately. And I
Speaker 3: can vouch for that as well. When I have sold things,
Speaker 3: I don't want to waste a ton of time going
Speaker 3: back and forth with people holding it for days or weeks.
Speaker 3: If someone's going to tell me they're going to be
Speaker 3: at my door in an hour, that's fantastic. And a
Speaker 3: lot of times in those instances, if you are actually
Speaker 3: following through, not just texting things to make someone feel
Speaker 3: good about themselves, but getting in your car and following through,
Speaker 3: then you are more likely to also be able to
Speaker 3: get the best possible deal because you're the first one there.
Speaker 3: You're the first one showing up the whole cash thing.
Speaker 3: As far as private sales go, that's kind of a
Speaker 3: weird one to me, Like, I don't have a point
Speaker 3: of sale system, I can't take your credit card. Of
Speaker 3: course you gonna pay me cash, So whenever someone's in
Speaker 3: my Facebook messenger or trying to buy something from me
Speaker 3: like cash. Now this off from like, of course you're
Speaker 3: paying me cash. I don't take credit cards.
Speaker 1: Well, the other option is Venmo or Zell, which has
Speaker 1: become more commonly used. I honestly will only take it
Speaker 1: if I see the person face to face. I know
Speaker 1: Travis several times has bought things via Venmo to reserve
Speaker 1: it before he can actually like he wants it. He's like,
Speaker 1: I'll venmo you right now if you'll hold it for
Speaker 1: a couple hours. I don't love that, but it's always
Speaker 1: worked out for him because he's well discerning. But that
Speaker 1: is I mean a lot of people are using Venmo
Speaker 1: and cell now, a lot of people prefer Zell.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess I'm open to that. But using cash
Speaker 3: as a negotiating tool it does work a lot of
Speaker 3: times at some of your stores where they have to
Speaker 3: pay a credit card fee on any credit card purchases
Speaker 3: that you make. So I've utilized this, for example with furniture.
Speaker 3: If I'm willing to purchase it in cash, I've often
Speaker 3: gotten at least a five to ten percent discount because
Speaker 3: it's advantageous to them to not have to pay the
Speaker 3: credit card fee, so they'll usually discount it throughout our renovations.
Speaker 3: That was the case we got a nice discount on
Speaker 3: paying cash for our countertops, so definitely still use that
Speaker 3: as a bargaining tool. Just know it might not go
Speaker 3: as far in your more smaller private sale deals. But
Speaker 3: then also pairing that with not rushing, being willing to
Speaker 3: act quickly if you are for certain that this is
Speaker 3: the good or the service that you want, but also
Speaker 3: recognizing that you're not beholden to anybody. You don't have
Speaker 3: to make a purchase out of courtesy. Trust your gut
Speaker 3: if you're feeling as though you know what actually even
Speaker 3: if you have some sunk cost the negotiating table, if
Speaker 3: you're still not certain about it, If it doesn't feel
Speaker 3: like the best deal to you, you don't need to
Speaker 3: have a sense of loyalty to this deal. You can
Speaker 3: walk away.
Speaker 1: The sixth one is to set limits, not limitations. Do
Speaker 1: have a plan, and don't be a robot. I love this,
Speaker 1: and it's the same reason why I hate strict budgets.
Speaker 1: I love the freedom to if I see a really
Speaker 1: unique deal, I want to be able to pounce on
Speaker 1: it without feeling guilty, but then I also don't want
Speaker 1: to rush like the last tip, but I want to
Speaker 1: be able to strike while the iron is hot, and
Speaker 1: so I just wanted to like get at you with
Speaker 1: a few places where this might be relevant. So if
Speaker 1: you're in the market for anything from these retailers that
Speaker 1: you might be able to take this into consideration, like
Speaker 1: have a plan and still keep a budget, but don't
Speaker 1: be a robot about it. So if you see the deal,
Speaker 1: then you can pounce on it. So here are a
Speaker 1: couple like big box retailers that you can negotiate at.
Speaker 1: The gap is not on this list, I'll just put
Speaker 1: that right out there. Gaps not on this list, but
Speaker 1: best Buy, floor models, open box items, stuff like that
Speaker 1: you can negotiate on. We have negotiated on televisions from
Speaker 1: best Buy Brand New just the box is open. So
Speaker 1: if you are looking for a TV and you find
Speaker 1: the one you want it at best Buy, negotiate it
Speaker 1: for it. This is something you want to pounce on
Speaker 1: because it's something that may not come around again. Home
Speaker 1: depot and lows. If you're doing renovations, like Jill said,
Speaker 1: you can obviously scratches dense dings if you bring that
Speaker 1: to an associate, they can give you a lower price
Speaker 1: with very little haggling. Poor quality lumber. Floor models are
Speaker 1: all over the place. You'll see them denoted by certain
Speaker 1: color tags, and then sometimes stocking errors. This doesn't always work,
Speaker 1: but if you see something you want and the price
Speaker 1: looks too good to be true, then it could be
Speaker 1: in the wrong section. They might give it to you
Speaker 1: at the price that it's marked at. So a smidge
Speaker 1: of talking would be required there and doesn't always work,
Speaker 1: but sometimes Sam's Club Costco. Again, like floor model stuff
Speaker 1: produced that maybe at the last days of its life.
Speaker 1: Tires never should be stopped bought at sticker prices. Warehouse
Speaker 1: stores will definitely discount tires, Jill already said. Furniture stores,
Speaker 1: but even Walmart and Target, if you know what you're doing,
Speaker 1: you can haggle on some stuff there, like damages dings.
Speaker 1: Target will give you thirteen percent off damaged items food. Again,
Speaker 1: that's near.
Speaker 3: Think about anything just already on clearance. Yes, things that
Speaker 3: already have a clearance sticker on it sometimes can go
Speaker 3: even lower.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And then our beloved pawn shops thrift stores, you
Speaker 1: could definitely negotiate stuff there. Like all the time. Everything
Speaker 1: you can usually try and go for maybe like ten
Speaker 1: percent off, I would say, is kind of where you
Speaker 1: might end up. So maybe start twenty five fifteen and
Speaker 1: see where you end up. And then even department stores, Nordstrom, Macy's, Coal's,
Speaker 1: Dillards if you find the same and this is where
Speaker 1: research comes in. If you find the same thing cheaper
Speaker 1: somewhere else, bring that information to them and they can
Speaker 1: let you know if they can price match it. Very
Speaker 1: often they will price match it. So all that to say,
Speaker 1: don't rush, don't take advantage of sales just because they're sales,
Speaker 1: because they're marketing poys. Have a plan, don't be a robot.
Speaker 1: If you see these like really good unique deals at
Speaker 1: these retailers and it's something you actually need, then get it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: take advantage of it. Yeah, negotiate it.
Speaker 3: And you know what else you can take advantage of.
Speaker 3: And I'm sure there's room for negotiation. It can all
Speaker 3: be negotiated, but it will always be here.
Speaker 1: Yes, the bill of the week.
Speaker 2: That's right, it's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 2: is Williams.
Speaker 1: Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe.
Speaker 2: Your car died and you're happy to not have to
Speaker 2: pay that bill anymore. Duck bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton,
Speaker 2: this is the bill of the week.
Speaker 4: Hi, Jen and Jill. This is Rachelle from Minnesota. I'd
Speaker 4: just like to say thank you and share my bill.
Speaker 4: I had a weed barrier for the garden sitting in
Speaker 4: in my Amazon Kart for a couple of days because
Speaker 4: you know, we went through the is this an impulse
Speaker 4: or not? Will this bring value to my life? And
Speaker 4: then I also looked on Facebook, Marketplace and other places
Speaker 4: which I haven't really done before, and it cost me
Speaker 4: sixty dollars instead of one hundred and thirty. And it
Speaker 4: definitely these habits that you guys talk about on your
Speaker 4: episodes have greatly reduced you know, impulse purchases among other
Speaker 4: you know, big hitters too. So I'd just like to
Speaker 4: say thank you. And like I said, this particular bill
Speaker 4: will add value to my life because you know, decreasing
Speaker 4: groceries and also being able to spend time with my
Speaker 4: two year old that loves plants and watering them.
Speaker 2: So thank you.
Speaker 1: Bye, Yes, Rachelle, thank you for sharing that with us.
Speaker 1: That's it, like it wasn't that hard. That's all we're
Speaker 1: trying to get people to do every week is just
Speaker 1: very up your habits a little bit. You know, know
Speaker 1: what you want, know that it brings value, and then
Speaker 1: just check check to see if it's at the thrift
Speaker 1: store or Facebook marketplace before you go buy it on Amazon.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it will and it'll save you over fifty percent,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it won't. Sometimes you'll end up buying it new.
Speaker 1: But instead of buying one hundred percent of things new,
Speaker 1: we just want to lower our percentage of buying things
Speaker 1: new and full price.
Speaker 3: What a beautiful example of putting a pause in place
Speaker 3: before you actually pull the trigger. And I even feel
Speaker 3: like this is an example of negotiating with ourselves, of
Speaker 3: giving ourselves this kind of space to say, is this
Speaker 3: the best deal? Could I find better? Let me think
Speaker 3: about this, let me do my research like you negotiated
Speaker 3: with yourself. And that's amazing and well done, Rachelle. And
Speaker 3: if you all have a Bill of the week about
Speaker 3: negotiating with other people, with your spouse, with your child,
Speaker 3: with yourself, about limiting impulse purchases, creating a pause, or
Speaker 3: you are a bill and you've not even done any
Speaker 3: of those things. But you've lived your life with the
Speaker 3: name Bill. Visit Frugal friendspodcast dot com, slash Bill, leave
Speaker 3: us a bill, Thank you Bill, And now it's time
Speaker 3: for the lightning round.
Speaker 1: So this week's lightning around is sharing your most recent
Speaker 1: successful negotiation and even maybe you can say how much
Speaker 1: you saved from the original price if you remember it, Jill,
Speaker 1: go for it.
Speaker 3: Yes, I negotiate all the time constantly. I have moved
Speaker 3: way past that point of being afraid of negotiating. I
Speaker 3: have no shame now. I'm still kind and I'm not cheap,
Speaker 3: but I'm an negotiate with you. If we out here
Speaker 3: doing an exchange, we're going to talk about it. You're
Speaker 3: not just going to get my money. So my most
Speaker 3: recent one was at Home Goods. Eric and I are
Speaker 3: at the point of furnishing our house now that is
Speaker 3: nearly completely renovated. Now I will do this all the time.
Speaker 3: At Home Goods, Marshalls, DJMax, all of these places you
Speaker 3: can negotiate. Most of the time, it's on things that
Speaker 3: are already marked down clearance items, and they can know
Speaker 3: how long something's been out on the floor and mark
Speaker 3: it down even further. This one however, was not on clearance.
Speaker 3: But I just liked it a bunch, and I did
Speaker 3: my own survey of the chairs and found some imperfection,
Speaker 3: some loose threads, a spot that seemed to have a
Speaker 3: small stain on it that I wasn't sure if I'm
Speaker 3: going to be able to get out. I'm okay living
Speaker 3: with the stain, but didn't want to pay full price
Speaker 3: for some of these imperfections, and so I pointed that out.
Speaker 3: The manager inspected it and they gave me twenty percent off.
Speaker 3: I forget what the exact savings on that would have been,
Speaker 3: but I want to say at least one hundred dollars
Speaker 3: one point fifty was marked down off of the price.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, these chairs look great too, they do?
Speaker 1: Are they the ones I've seen?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So did.
Speaker 3: I got it home a little bit of don dish
Speaker 3: soap and then my own scissors to snip off the
Speaker 3: loose threads, and we're good.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 1: So I feel like I have been the one doing
Speaker 1: all of the negotiating with because we've been selling a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff and then like with our rentals, so
Speaker 1: it's hard for me. I have been negotiated down so
Speaker 1: many times. It is hard for me to remember what
Speaker 1: I've recently don negotiated, which is so bad. But we
Speaker 1: divvy up these tasks in the house and negotiating is
Speaker 1: not my.
Speaker 3: Task for the household. You can answer for the household, then.
Speaker 1: For the household. Gosh, Travis will go to home depot
Speaker 1: and like every other time, he'll come back with something
Speaker 1: that he has gotten discounted. He's always looking for imperfections,
Speaker 1: always looking at the discount place, and I do too,
Speaker 1: but I usually, like, I'll look at the discount stuff
Speaker 1: and it's already marked fifty percent off, so I'm like, cool,
Speaker 1: I don't have to negotiate that any further. So I
Speaker 1: would say that our flooring, we got it. It was
Speaker 1: already marked down, but we maybe got it a little bit.
Speaker 1: We haven't even bought all of our flooring yet. We
Speaker 1: just we pounced on a deal that was our flooring
Speaker 1: that we wanted. We weren't ready to buy all of
Speaker 1: our flooring yet, but we saw the flooring that we
Speaker 1: wanted and we bought part of it because it was
Speaker 1: a deal, it was open box. We did the same
Speaker 1: with our appliances. So I think I have an eye
Speaker 1: for when the best deals are offered at different stores
Speaker 1: so that I can just pounce on the deal, and
Speaker 1: then he has the eye for imperfections that he can
Speaker 1: negotiate down and will ask anybody for a lower price
Speaker 1: on anything, whether or not his perception of the price
Speaker 1: is tethered to reality.
Speaker 3: Yes, now I will say little small tip on that
Speaker 3: one Low's home depot. Even home goods, but especially these
Speaker 3: home improvement stores, you're going to do better negotiating the
Speaker 3: price within the department that you find it in. So,
Speaker 3: for instance, if you find lumber that is not that
Speaker 3: great or has imperfections, you need to find the manager
Speaker 3: of the lumber department to negotiate it. They on the
Speaker 3: spot can have the authority to print you a new sticker.
Speaker 3: Up to many times I've received like thirty to forty
Speaker 3: percent off. If you are trying to negotiate just at
Speaker 3: the sales desk, usually the best they can do is
Speaker 3: ten to fifteen percent, or they'll have to make the
Speaker 3: call back to the manager. And sometimes you're not going
Speaker 3: to do as well because of the inconvenience of that
Speaker 3: pulling them away from their department, or just maybe not
Speaker 3: even getting the manager and missing out on it or
Speaker 3: needing to walk away, So do your negotiations within that department.
Speaker 1: Well, that's kind of one of those hidden fees of inconvenience.
Speaker 1: It's not a tacked on fee. There you go, but
Speaker 1: it's lost savings.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, friends, thanks for being here. We hope that
Speaker 3: you've gained some negotiation tips and tricks and tactics, and
Speaker 3: you know that we just are going to love to
Speaker 3: hear about them, whether it's through the Bill of the
Speaker 3: week or on Instagram or through a review that you leave.
Speaker 3: That'd be lovely. We love hearing your kind reviews, and
Speaker 3: we especially appreciated this one from Kitty Lea, who said
Speaker 3: love it. Oh, super actionable, succinct, funny, approachable and just
Speaker 3: chef's kiss. Already making changes in my life based on
Speaker 3: this one. And I'm a serial spender, wow, Kitty leg Yeah,
Speaker 3: there's there's room for growth. We're glad you're here. Yes,
Speaker 3: thank you so much. Yeah, if you enjoyed the show,
Speaker 3: please take a minute to leave a rating and review.
Speaker 3: It helps potential new listeners know what our show is
Speaker 3: all about. Know that we don't say cupon and hoard
Speaker 3: everything and revolve your life around saving money, but revolve
Speaker 3: your life around the things that matter most, and just
Speaker 3: make sure you are spending enough to afford it. See
Speaker 3: you next time.
Speaker 5: Gorugal Friends is produced by Eric Siriani.
Speaker 3: So I am considering negotiating on my next flight, which
Speaker 3: is actually tomorrow, Oh, to see if we can upgrade.
Speaker 3: I mean, of course, that depends on if there's room.
Speaker 3: Eric tried to see if we could upgrade upgrade on
Speaker 3: the flight here. We're in San Diego at the moment.
Speaker 3: We fly back to Florida tomorrow, and I think they
Speaker 3: wanted We tried to ask at the gate just before boarding.
Speaker 3: They wanted two hundred a person, and that wasn't worth
Speaker 3: it to me. But part of our problem was not
Speaker 3: having a number in our heads ahead of time, or
Speaker 3: at least having talked about it. So I'm like one
Speaker 3: hundred dollars on a long flight per person, I would
Speaker 3: do that. So if there's room, we might pull the
Speaker 3: trigger on an upgrade. We'll see. I kp posted.
Speaker 1: I would love to. Yeah, California is such a long flight.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, it's so.
Speaker 3: Long east coast to west coast. It's a while.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you could. Maybe it's the same amount
Speaker 1: to fly to like London or something. From Orlando. It's
Speaker 1: a very similar flight length. But don't quote me on that.
Speaker 1: I don't travel a lot. It just feels that long.
Speaker 1: Let's go to London and find out. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't have this huge desire to go to London, but
Speaker 1: I do want to go to Greece. Yes, let's go
Speaker 1: to the Mediterranean.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do that.
Speaker 3: You negotiated, well, yes, oh
Speaker 1: That's my latest successful negotiation.