eAction

For many years now I’ve said that I’m not much of a shopper. Meaning I don’t shop very often. But that’s because I’ve had almost zero income while I was caregiving for my parents. I fought temptation to feel sorry for myself, by simply not hanging out in stores any more than I had to.

Even when I went online in 1999, I stayed away from shopping sites because I knew I couldn’t afford to order/buy much. I focused on the things I could learn to do for free. I think I could write a book now on all that you CAN do to start a business on a shoestring too short to tie around your finger.

Despite all that, I am coming around to admit that I’ve learned to be a wise and frugal shopper, with self-discipline. This is a good thing to be! As I am focused more on growing my business and doing more things online, I discover that I am a shopper after all, but not so frequent and much smarter than spendthrifts who blow whatever they have on whatever strikes their fancy.

Recently I agreed to accept a free Online Mall with over 1000 stores. To look for whatever I thoughtfully want in these stores first, is a smart move. I can get rebates up to nearly half of the price of the item. There is much more selection than just what’s in my city, and I don’t have to get blisters on my feet, walking through three or four malls in my city. I can do my comparison shopping online, sitting right here in this chair.

In fact, the owners of this powerful mall are setting up a system whereby I can “load” a debit card and reload it when used up, to do all my shopping, including for groceries. This gives me discounts and rebates twice over. (I’m wondering if that gal, Ginny, has been down the path of my life ahead of me).

Surveys prove that online shopping is catching on like a world-wide epidemic, and for some people that’s bad news because they do NOT have the self-discipline to shop wisely. However, if you think of yourself as a frugal and careful shopper, then this is a great blessing. Here’s just a few basic advantages to start with; save on gas (no driving around), save time (all those frittered minutes in malls when you could be doing something productive), save money (because online stores offer better prices, and often free shipping, plus this mall provides rebates too), much greater, wider selection (even from outside your country), and you don’t have to carry your purchases home - they are delivered to your door!

Perhaps what we need now is a site or book to teach people how to become better shoppers, and to take advantage of these fringe benefits.

What do you think? Have you got shopping tips and lessons you could teach others? Have you ever thoughtfully looked at your shopping habits to know whether you have techniques that might helps someone else? If you do, let’s pool some and see if this works out to be a good idea.