Five Things You Should Never Buy New
Staying out of debt can be tough. Spending less than you earn is the best way to ensure your personal finances won’t suffer. But to avoid risk in other ways you must learn to find the best deals for the things you buy. This means looking for the best deals and sometimes buying used instead of new. To help you out with this task, here is a list of things that you should never buy new.
CDs, DVDs and video games can all be bought used to save up to half of the retail price. You can find used media and games at Gamestop stores and online at SecondSpin and Wherehouse. If you are a frequent DVD renter, think about renting online through Netflix or trade them with other people through Peerflix.
Used books can be bought through the usual sites: Amazon, SecondSpin and Half.com, as well as sites like bookfinder.com and abebooks.com. You may have not thought about this but you can borrow books for free from your local library. Libraries still exist and good ones can be found in every major city. Textbooks usually carry a high price tag so it pays to buy used or rent them. So if you’re a college student and are looking for textbooks, try Chegg.com. Here you can rent books by receiving them through the mail. Simply return them when the semester is over. This is ideal for textbooks since they almost always go unused as soon as the class is complete.
Cars depreciate at an outrageous rate - on average 12% the first year, according to Edmunds.com. Some can fall even faster making the reasons to get a new car less attractive. As MSN Money points out - “Why not let someone else take that hit?” Companies like CarFax can help you with your search. They often provide a detailed history of a car’s life including accidents and damage. Just a note: There can be big differences between heavily used and slightly used. Try to find a slightly used car as the factory warranty is still in effect. Also many domestic cars depreciate so fast that you won’t be able to resell it for much after a few years. Foreign cars, namely Toyota and Honda, are the makes that hold up the best and get the highest resell value. Do your research before you buy!
Sports and exercise equipment. While your initial intentions would to use that hockey equipment or ab cruncher until it wears out, more often then not it will end up sitting in the corner and collecting dust. The same things goes for that ping pong table and weight set. The exceptions are anything that would mold to the user’s body, including baseball mitts and shoes. The best places to buy used: online sites like Craigslist, and resale stores like Play It Again Sports.
Consumer electronics are expensive, but refurbished electronics - those returned and retooled by the manufacturer - can offer a great deal. In most cases refurbs are sent back after sustaining minor cosmetic damage like dents or scratches. Apple products, while the best computers out there (in this humble bloggers opinion), can be very pricey. But Apple stores also sell refurbished products, as do online retailers. If buying a refurbished product, try to get full-disclosure about a refurbished model before you buy.
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