A lighter note on savings

We are bombarded with messages about how much we can save.  They come from  your local furniture store, national retailer, insurance or home loan lender.  Some people are bold enough to even claim to save you time but that is a completely different subject.  If you think about how much you have saved by purchasing any number of items you might be surprised.

My son has played the clarinet for several years.  When we selected the clarinet it was really his second choice.  He asked to play the saxophone.  After consulting with a number of people we learned that the clarinet was a less expensive instrument and making the switch later on was very doable.  For the first year he played, I crowd sourced a clarinet.  That really saved us a lot of money.

Given that he kept playing the instrument we went to the local music store and got a slightly better but relatively inexpensive instrument.  A few years later we upgraded to a simple professional instrument.  We decided to keep the older model as well because we didn't want him to use the nicer clarinet at outside football games, marching band and pep concerts.

This Christmas I remembered the discussion we had about giving him the chance to play the saxophone.  After obtaining promises that he would practice we began our search for a saxophone.  Again we began at the local music store.  We tried a model by the same manufacturer as his clarinet and he liked it.  He liked it to the tune of about $3000.  Not the most expensive sax but more than a chunk of change in my budget.

For the first time I used a local online classified service and found the same sax that was a couple of years old.  After looking into the instrument I was able to save half the price and got the instrument for $1300.  I didn't even barter because I felt the deal was fair.  We spent another $25 at the music shop for basic upkeep and a minor tweak.  And here I sit $1700 richer right?

Wrong.  I haven't saved any money.  I didn't save money when I crowd sourced the first clarinet.  I didn't save any money when we bought the first less expensive one.  What I did was delayed a purchase and ultimately made two buys instead of one.  Also I might have actually purchased other items with the $1700 but I certainly didn't save it.

If you use coupons and you save $50, I say, "Good job."  But I'll also believe that unless you take those dollars and actually put them in a savings account or an investment fund, you haven't saved a penny.  You have either deferred the money for a later day or you might have actually purchased more items that day, but I don't think you saved a dime.

To really check your savings, just take a look at your savings and investment accounts.

But don't get me started on rebates.