Ask and You Shall Receive

Ask and You Shall Receive

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9

Many of you who know Scott and me, or, if you have read our blog, Thirty Before Thirty (Four), you know that we swear by this guy. In our casa, Ramsey is a household name. We took his class together for the first time back in 2010, and Scott proctored the same class, Financial Peace University, at our church this spring. I won’t go into great detail about why we love him (you can read that here and here and here), but what I do want to share is how one of his lessons, “That’s Not Good Enough,” has been really helpful as we have transitioned from two incomes to one. Along with other great tips from this lesson (like the power of cash), Ramsey suggests that anytime you are making a purchase to ask for a discount or bargain.

We’ve adopted that idea, and for many of our larger purchases, we ask the service or retail provider for a discount. And guess what? Most of them agree! Here are a few things that we do when trying to save a few dollars:

·         Ask the seller and then shut our mouths. In other words, put the ball in their court. Ask open ended questions like “Are you able to help me?” or “Are you able to offer any sort of discount?” Then, be quiet! This shows that you are in control and not in a hurry to purchase.
·          Be specific. We try this if sellers respond to one of the above questions with a question of their own like “What’s your budget?” or “What kind of discount were you looking for?” Or, if they give us a blank stare that suggests “I can’t believe you really just asked that.” Scott usually does this in the form of percentages. Typically, he’ll ask for a 10, 15, or 20 percent discount (any more than that, and you can be borderline offensive). These reductions can be significant, especially if you are making an expensive purchase.
·         Be honest. Explain, without giving too much personal information, why you are asking for a price cut. This could be as simple as “I’m not willing to pay that.” In certain situations (like medical bills), you may need to give a few more details (“We’ve gone from two incomes to one.”).
·         Don’t respond right away if you don’t get the answer you want. By telling the seller that you need more time to think about the purchase, you are again showing that you are in control. We’ve found that by being patient, we end up getting very close to what we’d like to pay.

Since we have been asking companies for price reductions, we’ve saved a significant amount of green. When we moved into our house, we hated did not love the paint colors that the old owner had splashed on our walls. They were a bit ‘loud’ for Scooter, so in an effort to tone things down, we headed to Lowe’s to find neutral and less aggressive colors. Once we found our color babies, “Sautéed Mushroom” and “Mediterranean Sea”, the EXACT same colors Scott had in his old house (boy doesn’t handle change well), Scott asked the Lowe’s employee if we could get some sort of discount. The employee responded that if we signed up for the Lowe’s credit card (a HUGE no-no at our crib), we would receive a 5 percent discount. Scott then refuted, asking for the 5 percent without having to sign up. The clerk did not think he could do that, so Scott patiently said that he would think about it.

Scott and I slowly put some color cards back on the shelf, and wouldn’t you know it, not two minutes later, the clerk came back after “checking with his manager” and offered us TEN percent off of our purchase. Because we were painting our entire home, we needed a lot of paint cans, so that ten percent turned out to be the equivalent of one FREE paint can. Call me crazy for getting excited about saving thirty bucks, but, over time, our savings add up!

More recently, my window broke in my car, and we were quoted close to $600 in repairs. Scott initially forgot to ask for any kind of financial courtesy, but as we were driving back to pick up the car up, he thought he’d give it a try. By just calling and asking for a discount, the mechanic approved a 10 percent courtesy. Score. That saved us between $60-70.

I can ramble off several more examples (just last week, a friend told me that she was approved to have all of her medical bills written off and did so simply by making a phone call and asking for financial help), but I think you get the point. Asking for discounts can be humbling, but it is SO worth it. Even if you are told ‘no’, you can look at other places selling the same service or product. In this free-market, competitive economy, you are sure to find someone who will offer a little financial courtesy! It’s so easy, and the best part about it…no tedious coupon cutting involved (although I am interested in learning how to efficiently “coupon”…any coupon gurus out there?!).

And for all my blogsters, I want to leave you with this little treat (shared with me by a friend) called the Queen of Free. I recently started following her blog and have already scored a free iced pumpkin latte from Einstein Bagels AND a free dinner from Panda Express. #yum #um,awesome.

How do you all save money? What are your tips/tricks? Please share!