🛑 You Will REGRET Trying to Save On This!

What’s included this week:

• 📉 When Frugality Can Deflate Your Lifestyle

• ✅ The Things I Will Always Be Frugal On

• 📰 IN THE NEWS

• 🤫 An App To Help You Save Big!

• 🏷️ Top 5 Deals of the Week

• 👀 EXCLUSIVE TRAVEL TIP

📉 When Frugality Can Deflate Your Lifestyle

IN A MARRIAGE: I recently saw the look of sheer disappointment when I replenished my wife’s Nutella with a generic Walmart attempt to replicate the product only to save $1.

While every dollar adds up, sometimes the pure joy of your significant other is not an area where I try to cut corners.

MISSING EXPERIENCES: If you avoid spending money and risk missing that once in a lifetime concert, a magical family vacation or a cultural event, you might not remember the money you saved but you will forever remember the experience if you are fortunate to attend.

On a year you’re more financially secure, I always recommend saving money in a “experience” fund so if a time to buy tickets on a more cash-strapped month arises, you may still be able to create that core memory.

GENEROSITY: Even during my most financially constrained months, I try to never compromise when it comes to gratuities, donations or treating my parents and in-laws to thank them for all the assistance they offer my immediate family in terms of time.

For the times where donating money feels more financially unfeasible, my wife and I try to donate our time instead.

ACCOUNTING, LEGAL, MEDICAL: Whether it’s seeing a specialist for health issues, hiring a great accountant for a tax mess, or getting sound legal advice, these are areas where I never skimp. I find that (within reason) you get what you pay for and I try to forget about frugality during a dire time of need.

✅ The Things I Will Always Be Frugal On

TRIPLE CHECKING AMAZON: While Amazon is arguably the easiest and fastest order placing process, the platform makes it too easy to spend money on something that could be found at a lower price elsewhere.

I also triple-check Amazon’s so-called “sales” with Camelcamelcamel and favor places like the Dollar Tree where you can often find nearly identical products at a fraction of the price.

DECREASING STREAMING SUBSCRIPTIONS: I never love the advice from savings experts who tell you to completely eliminate a subscription permanently.

In our house, we’ve made a calendar of our favorite shows on Netflix, Prime Video and HBO Max. Cycling our subscriptions based on programming release dates generally means we’re not paying for more than one streaming service at a time.

GOING OUT FOR DESSERT INSTEAD OF AN ENTIRE MEAL: We have found our kids are most excited about the dessert at a restaurant and don’t love sitting through an entire meal waiting for someone else to do the cooking.

We have saved a substantial amount of money by eating our appetizers and mains at home and then going out for that special treat dessert.

📰 IN THE NEWS

Every week in this section of the newsletter, I share some of the most interesting and helpful money-related articles I’ve read over the past week. I hope you find these as valuable as I did!

💵 “The 4 best money decisions I made while traveling ”  - READ HERE.

💵 “Save $100 every year by unplugging these appliances” - READ HERE.

💵 “My money saving strategy that doesn’t cost me any joy” - READ HERE.

🤫 A Non-Invasive App To Help You Save Big!

(THIS IS NOT SPONSORED)

GoodBudget is a free AI driven budgeting app to help you account for every dollar you spend, that DOES NOT require logins to your banking or credit card accounts.

If you have privacy concerns about apps that link to your personal accounts but still want the money-saving, tracking and spending assistance to pay down debt, I would recommend this app although it does require a bit more set-up than you’re typical automated savings app. 

You can access GoodBudget by clicking here.

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👀 EXCLUSIVE DOLLAR TREE INFO

I wanted to dedicate this week’s newsletter to a very common comment I get underneath my videos.. especially when it comes to the ones I upload about Dollar Tree.

For this weeks newsletter I wanted to share some of my tips and tricks to hunt down all the “coveted” Dollar Tree items I feature in the videos.

1) VISIT MULTIPLE LOCATIONS

A lot of people don’t realize that my Dollar Tree videos are not filmed in just one store. In order to film my monthly roundups, I visit around 5–6 stores in order to capture all the new items on offer that month.

While I don’t expect any of you to spend time and energy going to that many stores, not a lot of people realize that if one store in their area doesn’t have a popular item, more often than not, the next closest store will.

2) CHECK DOLLAR TREE’S WEBSITE!

Something I didn’t realize until recently was that Dollar Tree now shows store inventory directly on their website. All you have to do is search the item you’re looking for, select your local store, and then it will show you if it is “available” or “out of stock”.

My only tip is that when you click “Check nearby stores” from the drop-down menu, it will often glitch and list the item as “Out of stock." Try selecting your preferred store even if it shows no stock, as I have found it often will show “Available” once selected.

3) ASK AN EMPLOYEE WHEN THEY RESTOCK

Talk to the employees at your local Dollar Tree to find out which day of the week they typically restock the shelves. Shopping on restock days will give you the best chance of finding new and popular items before they sell out.

To take it a step further, if you really want to capitalize on restock days, I recommend visiting the store before midday - if possible. This is when the shelves are most organized and stocked, giving you the best chance of finding high-demand or new products.

4) SEASONAL ITEMS

If you see a seasonal item in one of my videos that really catches your eye, run—don’t walk—to your nearest store, as these will sell out quickly! Even if it’s a Christmas item I show in early October, seasonal products like holiday decorations tend to sell out fast since stores may only receive one shipment of certain items.

As a bonus tip.. don’t forget that every store has a direct phone number you can call to check with an employee if something you’re looking for is in stock. From electronics to holiday items, they can physically check the shelves to help ensure you don’t waste time or gas money going to the wrong store.

🚨 LATEST VIDEO

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this newsletter. If there are any topics you want me to prioritize for next week, please let me know!

Happy Savings!👋

The Deal Guy (Matt Granite)