People who are informed make better decisions in life which usually end up making their lives easier and saving themselves a lot of money. When I need to make an educated decision, I usually do a whole bunch of research before making the final decision. This takes me more time than the average person but in the end, I am better off because I made the better decision. Later on when I am faced with a similar decision, I can make it quickly and effectively while the uninformed person will still not know what to do.
Here are 3 examples of how being informed can save you money:
Buying Books – My sister started college this past week and asked me to help her buy her text books for each class. When buying text books you usually have 3 choices, buy from the school bookstore for full price, buy used books from another student for a reduced rate or go online and find a new book for even cheaper. I find it amazing how many people still do not know how to buy books online.
I asked my sister for the book name, the author’s name and the isbn number of the books she needed. I then plugged the information into amazon.com, half.com and a Google search and within minutes, found the $195 textbook for $35. I ordered it on the spot and my sister will have that book within 3 days. I think waiting the 3 days is worth $160, what about you?
Downloading Movies and Music – First of all, I don’t promote, condone or suggest pirating movies and music but every day I see people on the street and subways selling pirated materials and people buy them. Using the materials are illegal no matter how you obtain them so why not just do it yourself. If you know how to download materials from the internet, you can save yourself a lot of money over the long run. Besides, once you know how to download materials, you will find thousands of legal materials to download for free. There are also legal downloading sites for movies and music which cost less than the illegal materials on the street and are much better quality.
Car Repairs – Car Mechanics are known for taking advantage of uninformed customers. Many times they will charge the customer 3 times or more the actual cost, and get away with it because the customer doesn’t know any better. Now-a-days with the internet and sites like repairpal.com, there is no excuse for being ignorant about car repairs and getting ripped off.
Get informed and save money! Have you ever lost or saved money because you knew or didn’t know enough about what you were buying?