HOW TO CONTROL YOUR SPENDING HABIT 4

Buying Second-Hand Items

The thought of buying second-hand items might put some people off but this is a great way to stretch your Ringgit. The greatest benefit of doing so is to allow the first buyer to take the initial depreciation of the goods, which is normally the largest. Take for example of buying a brand new car. Most of the time, the new car owner would suffer between 10-20% depreciation of the value of his new car the moment he drives it out of the showroom! If he sells it after 3 years, he may sell it for two-thirds of the initial purchase price, if he is lucky! Imagine if you’d bought it from him… it’s like getting a “discount”. Yes, you may not get that “new smell” of a car but does it really matter? It may be worth the sacrifice as long as the car is well-maintained, accident-free and heavily discounted, don’t you think so?

Another good example of products that we may not want to buy it new is baby products, especially clothing and toys. Some of us might cringe at that idea but it is not uncommon. Baby clothing is not cheap and your baby will most likely wear for short period of time as the baby will outgrow the clothing very fast. Ideally, we could get hand-me-downs for free by dropping a hint here and there. Otherwise, we could either borrow or buy them second-hand from parents who will no longer need them anymore.

Buying Second-Hand items can also include new items sold at a fraction of their original price because of product defects, factory overruns and clearance of old stocks. Unless you are a celebrity or some very important public figure, you do not need to be spotted with the latest fashion or newest model of mobile phones, watches etc. If we do not mind the slight defects or it being a slightly older model, there are bounds of opportunities to grab a good bargain. There are numerous places to consider when buying these items, including warehouse sales, factory outlets, garage sales, junk stores and the flea markets. The process of bargaining can be quite fun and you will certainly sharpen your bargaining skills over time!

~make sure it worth buying it.. be very detail about choosing second hand item occay