Guest Post: Make Sure You Check Your Receipts

Mrs Mommy very graciously agreed to guest post this week.  Here’s a great post for those of you who are last minute shoppers or are brave enough to venture out on the day after Christmas!

I keep reading posts from other personal finance bloggers about how to save money during the holidays and other tips and tricks to cut back this year. One thing we are doing at the Money household is not purchasing gifts for each other and making many of the gifts we’ll be giving this year. I’ve decided to try my hand at soap making, which is pretty dangerous but also really fun for me. The other day I went to the health foods store to purchase some essential oils to use for my soap making.

The essential oils were all on sale. Many were almost half price, and I decided that I would purchase all oils that were on sale that I thought would be good for my soap and many people would like. I selected my oils, went up to the register, she rang me up, and told me my total. I balked. It was about $6 more than I had anticipated! I carefully checked the register, and the reason became clear to me: they were ringing up all 30% off versus the correct sale price. I told her and went back to the aisle to check the prices. I was definitely getting over charged. I told her the correct prices and she fixed my total, but I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened to someone that wasn’t paying as close attention. They would pay more than they are supposed to!

That’s one trick my mother taught me that has stuck with me throughout the years: pay attention to the cash register. I think it’s especially important during the holiday shopping season because stores are busy and cashiers aren’t going to know the difference a lot of time unless you inform them. Make sure you double check your receipt before you pay!

In case you don’t check and realize later, a lot of stores will refund you the difference if you take in your receipt. Be an alert consumer and make sure you don’t pay more than you need to. Every little bit counts!

Megan Smith

Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:

In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance.  It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information.  It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck.  While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.

While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.

Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.

So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan.  I needed to budget.  I needed to know what I was spending my money on.  I needed to prepare for the future.

I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way.  I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.