There’s no doubt that Brad Wilson knows a deal when he sees one. He also knows how to outsmart banks, airlines, hotels and retailers to make his hard-earned money go further. As a student, he considered his college bookstore overpriced, and so as a solution, he started a website that would provide better deals.
Today, that website, bradslist.com, greatly expanded, ranks in the top 500 most visited in the United States. Followers of bradslist.com claim to have saved more than $200 million in 2012 alone.
With the January 2013 release of his new book, Do More, Spend Less: The New Secrets of Living the Good Life for Less, Wilson divulges a new treasure trove of secrets for saving money. This is a guy who makes a habit of going first class without paying first class — and believes that each of us should too.
With January paychecks smaller due to new payroll taxes and most economists predicting slow growth for the country of 1.7 percent (or less) in 2013, Wilson offers some timely solutions for getting more for your money.
Of course, just how much you may benefit depends on your own situation. The book is divided into three areas of interest: shopping, travel and personal finance.
Wilson admits that almost all his shopping is done online. This includes nearly all non-perishable food from peanuts to milk (soy), personal care items such as soap and shampoo, and even diapers for his baby daughter. The reason why: it’s cheaper, (even warehouse clubs are more expensive); often there is no sales tax; and it is convenient.
Sometimes successful shopping is knowing where not to buy, Wilson says. For example, “you should never actually buy a computer in the Apple Store, no matter how cool the hipster Genius makes you feel,” he suggests. You can always find a better deal by getting online and checking out alternatives of Apple Authorized Resellers and Apple’s own special pricing departments.
Buying a diamond at Zales or Tiffany’s is “incredibly flawed,” he says. Online companies, such as Blue Nile, buy diamonds from the same wholesalers as these stores. Their innovative business model helps them keep prices low, offer excellent service and provide a fair deal. While stores generally have a markup of 50 percent above wholesale, online companies’ profit margins are between 15 percent and 20 percent.
Frequent travelers could learn a great deal from Wilson’s insights on changing travel drudgery into first-class fun. Most of the material in the travel section is stories about how Wilson personally scored great deals, such as a first-class flight to Hawaii for $285 or a $40,000 trip to Australia and New Zealand almost for free.
However, if you’re not a frequent traveler, the attention paid to this part of the book may seem out of proportion to the other two sections. Read it in the spirit of opening up your mind to the possibilities of thinking like a deal-getter. Learning from Wilson, you’re apprenticing to one of the best dealmakers; you may wonder if you could ever pay full price again.
If you’re planning any flight travel at all, particularly overseas, the section on “TSA Precheck, or how to make it through security without taking your shoes off” is worth a quick study.
If this is your year to take a fresh perspective on your financial decisions, Wilson has suggestions beyond the traditional clipping of coupons and avoiding debt. In the section on personal finance, he covers ideas on car buying, home mortgages, and why credit unions can be advantageous over banks.
For example, if you’re interested in buying a new Chrysler vehicle, first join a non- profit called Tread Lightly. A $100 membership fee allows you to buy Chrysler vehicles at the preferred price of 1 percent below factory invoice. Better yet, this discount can be combined with factory incentives on eligible vehicles, Wilson notes.
Wilson provides a list of similar ways you can get discounts with zero haggling with car dealers. By joining certain clubs, professional organizations and applying discounts you can possibly save thousands of dollars.
Also in the personal finance section, the author tells how to get into credit unions to save on banking fees, how to raise your credit scores, and how to get home loans for less.
What Wilson teaches us is that there are deals out there, and each of us has opportunities to spend less and do more. That’s a deal we each should take.