Before You Click 'Buy' On Your Next Online Purchase #103

looking forward to leaving our listeners with some good tips. Yeah, they should be a fun one. In prime day, I know some people get carried away with it. They buy like eight instant pots because those are always on sale, or they used to be. What's it gonna be this year? Well it's been instant pots a lot of years. But then there's a ton of other gadgets as well. A little is yeah Toma Gucci and that like a little

electronic toy. I just made up a word and added Gucci to the end of I think those were from the nineties, and I'm pretty sure they were pronounced differently. Yamagucci Tomagotchi. That's what. Yeah, there go, my little sister had one of those. Totally remember that. Speaking of my little sister, I wanted to quickly mention Matt that I've got her on board riding her bike to work. So she just moved kind of closer to her work, which coincidentally is also where I work. Oh yeah, we work together.

So that's kind of fun. It's kind of fun that I get to work with my little sister every day, and now that she's only eight or nine blocks away from the building, so close, it's so close. It's been kind of nice. Like, so I hop on my bike, I ride most of the way, but I peel a little bit off my route and I go pick her up, and then we've been riding in and it's been really fun. It's been fun too, just to get to see her realize that hopping in that car for even just the

eight blocks. I know most people don't live that close to work. That's pretty exceptionally rare, but really cool that she's seeing the value of biking to work. Man, absolutely, and literally the only two bikes in the park deck are the freaking large guard bikes. It's just me and my sister. That's right. Well you said you pick her up as well. It's not like she's actually jumping on the handlebars like little sister style. Yeah, I mean she has her own bike like you said. She right, she

rides up to the to the building. Yeah, that's super cool man. You know she rides eight and nine blocks. How far is your house from work? Like eight or nine miles? Uh? Yeah, almost eight miles? Okay, Yeah, I didn't know what the actual mileage was, but I mean, I think that's amazing for her to actually start doing that. And even though she's blood right, like she's your actual family, she's not super uber cheap like we are. Right, she doesn't out for the free haircuts like like you do.

Or she doesn't buy all of her eyeglasses from Zinny like I do. Does she work, She doesn't wear glasses, does she know? But she gets haircuts a itt she does, but she doesn't get the free ones. And and that's okay and totally okay. She doesn't have to do everything the way I do it, but it is fun that especially just I mean, driving a car eight blocks seems silly. For the most part. She could even walk that right

eight blocks that's like New York living right there. Totally. Yeah, she totally could, although the bike's just so much easier. It really is. That's fun, man. Yeah, So it's been t y'all are able to do that. Yeah, it's been fun. It's been kind of this nice little bonding experience, and I think it's been good for her confidence living in the city. It's been good for us as brother or sister. Man.

It's just yeah, it's all around good times. Do people stare at ch'll see like the tall Norwegian couple, Uh, they think like right and thew They're like, well they look a lot alike and married and their brother sister. It was kind of fun too, just to see the faces like as we walk in holding our helmets or whatever of our coworkers and they're like, all right, maybe a little revolution is starting where we are. Probably not,

it's probably just gonna be the tool. Is their music playing as you walk in with your helmets in like slow motion like that one scene from Garden State, you know, when they're like walking into the hotel room. In my mind, there is the hotel lobby. Does that count? That's all that matters? Yeah, all right, Matt Let's mention. The beer that we're having on the show today. We're drinking a beer called Fort by dog Fish Head Brewery and dog Fish had dude, crazy cool name and they've been making

beers for a long time up there in Delaware. Yeah, dog Fish head Man, they were one of the original craft beer craft breweries. What was that guy's name? Do you like the head brewers? When it's Sam something Sam Coucio, And I think, is it really? Yeah? You with your craft beer trivia, you're a better beer drinker than I am. I guess. But I'm excited to have this one because this is one that we can't actually purchase in Georgia

because of the A B V on it. And this is another one that our buddy Tyler donated to the show Man, And in particular, I think this is a beer that you're going to really enjoy because guess what's in it? Raspberries. We keep getting raspberry beers, and you typically don't like raspberry beers. Song it people stop sending me the raspberries. But you did enjoy the last raspberry beer that we had, and I can tell you're already digging this one too, So We've already had a couple

of SIPs on this one. And the reason why I do like this one, well, I'll just tell you at the end of the episode. There we go. All right, that's called a tease in the radio biz. Joll. Everyone's on the edge of their seats right now. They can't wait to hear. All right, Matt, let's get onto the subject at hand. What you need to do before your next online purchase. And you were talking about online shopping

and Amazon Prime Day just about to happen. Whether you're an Amazon Prime member or not, chances are you do a good bit of purchasing online. Man. I know you and I both do. Although the way we have viewed online shopping is changed over the years. I'll be see. We love getting a great deal, we love the convenience, but we think there are other considerations that should be taken into account at the same time. Just because we're getting a good deal, now, does that mean we're spending

less money in the long run. Also, we're going to cover tools, plug ins, and the best sites in order to help you become a good online shopper. So a lot to cover here today. That's right, Joe. You know our family. I feel that we do a like an average amount of online shopping, but lately we have been

doing a ton. We've had a lot of boxes showing up to the house recently, and that's because way back when we talked about if we should host an airbnb, you guys were thinking about doing that's sort of an airstream style. We were thinking about maybe doing that, you know, down in the basement. Well, we're basically at that point now we are furnishing that airbnb. So so that'll be a topic that we cover in an upcoming episode once

that thing is up and running. Yeah, I want to hear the nuts and bolts it's actually like running an airbnb. I think that will help me make my decision as to whether or not I want to do it. So

you're my guinea pig. All right, let's do it. But before where we get into online shopping, I think we should discuss what we're giving up to a certain extent when we do shop online as opposed to shopping locally, which is another option, right, And so I think that's a question that has come in to a lot of people's minds with the proliferation of online shopping, and really it seemed like in the beginning of online shopping mat that it looked like anybody could open up a store

and sell their own wears online, and then actually online shopping was gonna open itself up to a proliferation of small businesses. And that has been true to a certain extent, right, Like sites like Etsy have really taken off, and people people dig that. But for the most part, the big players are still entrenched. Amazon has obviously made a name for itself, you know, Walmart, Target, Best Buy. Those are still some of the most widely shopped sites on the internet.

And so we are giving up purchasing locally supporting small businesses when we seek to just shop for the lowest potential cost item. So let's talk about the aspect so shopping local that we're missing out on when we do just quickly opt to purchase online instead of thinking about where else we could go nearby our house. Ye. So, I think one of the biggest things right that we are sort of foregoing, right, that we are sacrificing when

we purchase online, is expertise. I'm thinking of specialty stores. Typically there's some sort of pro or somebody that has more experience with that item. That or the type of items that they sell. Who can help you, like, they can help you make a decision, they can educate you while you're there standing in the aisle. When I was first kind of getting more into photography going into the

camera store, I guess who works at camera stores. Just a bunch of photo nerds, right, Like they know everything about every camera. It's like everybody there is really into it, totally geeking out over everybody that comes in because they want to, you know, talk about megapixels and whatever else was on the radar. Megapixels tell me more. People still

like talking about that, but it doesn't really matter. But when you are able to go in person in the store, you have that knowledge there for you at your disposal. You can pick their brains, get a feel for, you know, what their experiences with that specific product, ask questions. There's just a lot of advantages when you're talking to somebody who knows the actual product and what you're looking at.

Even you know, we're kind of discounting the big box stores a little bit, but even if you go to lows right like a local hardware store, chances are you're going to be able to learn something about the part that you're buying versus if you were just to make that purchase online from Amazon, right, No, that's completely true. Yeah, I think if you are a savvy online shopper you can find some of those resources online. Let's say you're

searching for a smartphone and you want to read reviews first. Well, I think YouTube is a great place to turn. There's like m k b HD that dude makes some awesome videos about smartphones, tells you all the features, price point, what he likes the best, and savvy shopper can find just as many great expertise resources online in some categories. Also, articles on a site like wire cutter or whatever can be really helpful in helping you hone in on certain

products that might have the features you're looking for. Consumer reports another place to turn. So there are some of those things available online. But I completely agree, especially for specialty products that face to face interaction with the salesperson that has extensive knowledge and use of the products that

they're selling. A hardware store, a camera shop, places like that, it can be really really helpful to actually be there in person and ask the questions to someone who knows and you're giving that up in large part when you shop online instead of looking to buy locally. Yeah, and

something else you're giving up is community, right. Oftentimes there can be an entire social network or group surrounding a specific store who's really into whatever activity uh that store facilitates, right, Like I'm specifically thinking of the local bike shop man that is in the neighborhood and right next to us. Greatest name for a bike shop loose Nuts Nuts, But honestly, a lot of the bike shops in Atlanta they facilitate just group rides where they all meet together at a

certain point. They've got a set ride, anybody can join. It's just it fosters that community. There's just something so awesome, right and it's kind of hard to put your finger on, but it's just so sort of gritty and in real life when you're able to meet up with these folks who are also into what you're into, and it kind of surrounds a location, and geography is important when it

comes to being able to do some of these things together. Obviously, you know, like the online version of that, you've got online communities and you can you know, get together with folks through maybe an app or site like meet up, but still there's something natural and organic that happens when you're able to go and get your bike teamed up, but then at the same time learn about a rye that's happening the next morning that you're gonna be ready for. Yeah,

I completely agree. I think sometimes if we don't ever think the shop locally, we're probably missing out on some really cool community experiences and meeting other people in the hood and hearing about other things going on. Totally. Another thing that we're definitely missing if we refuse to shop locally ever, and we're only shopping online is an experience, right to to create an experience with the people and the staff who run or work at this local business.

Uh to to get a chance to know them, to see their well designed, their beautiful shop, right the smells, the variance of shopping somewhere that's maybe boutique, local, close by walking distance to you, something like that, even if that candle costs five dollars more than it would if you bought it on Amazon, or it might be a candle that's locally handmade, right that that's something that you can't even buy online, and so sometimes it might be worth it to spend more to support our local business

and to get that experience of shopping locally, which is something that it's just kind of hard to put a price tag on. Yeah, I love what you said about the smells, right, and and like sounds as well. I think about there's a flower shop that I like to take the girls to when we're gonna get flowers from mommy, And you know what, we get to walk in there and there's people there, and there's flowers everywhere, and the girls get to pick out what flowers they want to

include in the bouquet. But I mentioned sounds, and and that's because like the floors are old and wooden, and so you walk in there and like the floors are creaking, the door opens, and the little bell rings. There's just all these sort of intangibles that you totally miss out on that are all part of the experience. And for me, I'm more than willing to pay way more than I would if I were to get flowers that say Kroger that you score for really cheap. You know, those tulips

were a good deal. Yeah, they're really good deal. But when it comes to special occasions or kind of making some lasting memories with the girls, uh, that's just an amazing way to be able to do that, and a local brick and mortar store like that just helps facilitate

that so well. Yeah, and the last thing that we want to mention about considering buying local, it's just something that to me, the probably the most important reason to at least think about buying local before you make an online purchase is you have an opportunity to support these local business owners and and some of these local business owners might be your neighbors too. I think about a

local CrossFit gym. I don't cross fit because I don't really got the time right now nor the enthusiasm to work out like that, but we have a lot of friends to go to that gym and the guy that owns it, and he's right around the corner from me, And so if I were going to start working out like that, I would totally consider joining a gym like

that because it's part of the community. It's supporting local businesses, and I think that's like the cool part about shopping or doing business locally, is that your dollars kind of stay in the community helping people out who are your neighbors and friends. And I think that's a really good reason to consider buying locally as opposed to shopping online. Right, yeah,

J that's right. These local businesses, the brick and mortars right near us, they're not going to be able to compete when it comes to price a lot of times because with the volume of goods that they're able to sell, I mean, they're gonna be able to sell it for much cheaper, and it's going to be a product a lot of times that might be not quite as good,

but it's a lot cheaper. Well, and your local business isn't going to have robot assistance filling the orders like Amazon might have, Right, But because of that, I feel like that's why these things are even more important, right, like having the expertise or that community or that experience

built into your local brick and mortar. Honestly, I do see the way we shop, I see our consumer economy changing over time, and I see these smaller local businesses not doing so well if they aren't able to provide something other than just a low cost. Right. I think that's a huge reason why instat cart and clicklist, like these different apps that allows somebody else to do your grocery shopping for you, Because why would you want to go to your local grocery store, your local big box

grocery store. There's no community there, there's no experience really and there's no one really there that's going to help you make the best purchase when it comes to, you know, whatever type of produce you're looking at. Typically it's just a faceless chain grocery store, and there's just not a lot of personality there. There's not people really there who know you and are gonna like say your name and

you walk in, right. It's not cheers, it's not cheers. Uh. And so for that reason, it makes sense that you would want to get your grocery shopping done for as cheaply and quickly as possible where it inconveniences you, you know, the least because you don't want to go there to begin with. I think it's just interesting to think through how small local businesses might have to adapt in the coming years to make sure that they're able to provide

something that local folks are gonna want. Yeah, man, I think we are kind of at a time where the ease of online shopping is really nice, but a lot of us, at least four some segments of the shopping that we do. We're looking for a little bit more of an experience when we actually do shop for items. We want it not just to be the cheapest, quickest,

easiest thing that we've ever done. We are actually looking for maybe a little more friction, a little more expertise, a little more of that actual experience of going to a small business that is thoughtful about how they do business. And as modern American businesses get bigger and bigger and bigger and fewer and fewer companies dominate the landscape, I think we're gonna see a reversion to an older, different way of shopping, at least in certain parts of our society,

because that's something people crave. They crave an actual experience where someone cares about what they're getting and what they're putting in their mouth and what they're wearing on their body, as opposed to just getting the cheapest, easiest to get thing. Yeah, I hear you, Like, I think folks are craving some

of that humanity, right. You think it'll actually end up reverting back to like the old school grocery where you walk in and you know, you talk to them and they kind of weigh everything out and like cut the meat for you, and you want to talk about bunch style like oh, just like or whatever. It's a wonderful lifestyle, you know, like super old school. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that that's necessarily exactly where it's going to go. But there are like a little too boutique.

We've noticed in our community a couple of local butchers popping up, right, and so it is kind of cool to see. And I don't know exactly for myself and my family how far I'm willing to go, but I do know that it's entering my sphere of thinking a lot more that when I am spending my dollars, I want the experience to be more satisfactory. And I don't want to just give my money to enormous corporations that

are selling me stuff at the lowest possible price. I think that's what I wanted for a long time, and I've just kind of changed the way I view that. And there's some really cool people in our community creating really interesting stores and unique concepts, and that's the kind of stuff I'm more and more willing to spend my money on. It's good for my own shopping habits, buying fewer things, but buying better things and then also supporting my community at the same time. Yeah, man, Yeah, I

couldn't agree more. Right, we're prioritizing where we put our money and just making sure that our money is aligning with our values. So on that note, though, we are going to actually talk about online shopping after the break. We're going to discuss the shortcomings of online shopping. All right, Matt, we're back, and we all know the benefits of online shopping. It's easy to find the best deal, it's easy to compare prices, and getting something shipped right to your door

without you having to even leave your house. I mean, who doesn't think that's awesome. That is nice. That is a benefit, It's very nice. That is something I have appreciated throughout the years and I still continue to appreciate. So hope, in the first segment we didn't come off as completely anti online shopping, because we're not. There's some good reasons to do that. But you know what, in this segment here, we might still come across as a

little bit anti online shopping, even though we're not. We just want to give you food for the thought before you click to purchase and it's healthy to recognize some of the shortcomings of online shopping and those downsides. So let's go through a few of those. Matt. You know you just talked about how it's easy, right, it's easy to find the best prices. I think sometimes it is

too easy for us, right. When it is so easy for us to purchase things online, it can lead to over consumption, and we talk about that a good bit. There's just zero friction between you thinking of something and then just pulling out your phone and just tapping that one click purchase button right. So again at zero friction, but there's also a lot of zero price sensitivity that comes into account with new technologies that are encouraging us to buy more as well. Think about the Amazon dash

buttons right that that are out there. It's amazing to me when those came out. I was like, really, people are gonna do this. It's literally just this button you might stick under the table or on your fridge or whatever, and anytime you run out a Sharpies or laundry detergent or whatever it may be, you click the freaking button and the Amazon ships that thing to your house. It's like, really kind of crazy, how far online shopping has come, and I think the Amazon dash button is like the

perfect almost ridiculous example of that. And you don't even know the price when you're clicking order, and as price act happened all the time, you have no idea what you're paying for that laundry detergent today. Yeah. Man, that's it's just absurd, right like that you make these purchases, you're not even aware of the costs. It's insane. The other thing too, something else to consider our shipping costs.

They add up. Not everyone is a prime memory on Amazon, and not all stores offer free shipping, and not only that, if it's something that you're not totally sure you want and you've got to make a return, well in that case, you're paying for shipping costs twice and again like those costs add up. Yeah. Another thing that's really important to think about when you're online shopping is the price fluctuations that occur constantly. Prices are changing online all the time,

sometimes down to the minute. The price that you see one morning on Amazon or Walmart or best Buy or whatever for a particular item might have changed by early that afternoon, and then again by evening time. Online shopping has also actually made the original manufacturers retail price much

harder to find. You might find the same item at different online sites and they might be citing different original retail prices for that same item, and so it's hard to know whether the item is actually off or off or you know what, that's actually the price they always charged for it. It's actually muddled pricing, surprisingly in a huge way than clarified it, which is what everyone thought online shopping was gonna do. It was gonna make pricing

a heck of a lot easier for consumers to understand. Well, it hasn't actually done that, And sometimes prices are as clear as mud when you're shopping online, and in my opinion,

that's one of the worst parts of shopping online. Yeah, Joel, you know, and that's almost at the core of what we're discussing here, is that online shopping is easily seen as this way to save a lot of money, but in the end, I think it really could cost us a lot more due to over consumption, unclear pricing, and just the host of the different reasons that we're discussing here.

Another downside, right, another way that online retailers would have get you are let's talk a little bit about product images. You know, I'm a photographer, I'm into pictures, but a picture of a product, it only goes so far. When you're in person, you can feel the texture of something. You can kind of like tap it with your fingernail, you can pick it up really good a feel for it. You can actually see the true color of it if you're looking at, you know, clothing. When you're shopping online,

it's really hard to do that. So you order something, you have it shipped to you, and then you unpackage it and you realize after ten seconds of actually holding it in real life, that it's an item that you don't want, and so then you have to go through the hassle of repackaging it, you know, returning it, waiting for it to get credited back to your credit card. It's just a lot of hassle to do something that would have taken you a few seconds where you in

an old school brick and mortar store. Oh Man, Online returns such a hasshole, be because then I gotta drive somewhere anyway just to return that item. I mean, maybe some people schedule their returns to be picked up at their house. That's probably a really good idea, but I've never done that, and I know some online retailers make returns a whole heck of a lot easier. It just

depends where you shop. But then you're also talking, Matt about a double negative impact to the environment when we are giving the item ship to our house and then also doing the return shipping. The environmental impact of online shopping, it's kind of hard to quantify. It's kind of hard to know whether it's actually more harmful to shop at big stores or something nearby that use a lot of energy. The cars it takes to drive there, the energy it

takes to cool and heat those spaces. It's just hard to know which way of shopping is better for the environment.

But yeah, then on the other hand, when you're ordering a ton online, like you said, you've got the truck driving back and forth just dropping off single packages, when if had you gone into the regular store, you could have picked up I don't know, ten items, maybe all at once, and instead you are making several purchases and so you're getting a few different ship and then if you end up returning all of those and you're swimming in that sea of cardboard. Man, I hate to admit this,

but right now we are swimming in cardboard. We have almost an entire room that just is full of cardboard because we're making those purchases to kind of get that Airbnb ready, and so it feels wasteful. It feels like there is a lot that we are recycling. We're throwing in the recycling bin, breaking those boxes down. Like you said, Man, it's it's hard to quantify, and I don't know which side of the fence I kind of fall on when

it comes to the environmental impacts. Yeah, and I think the one thing that we have in our hands at least when it comes to mitigating or lessening the environmental impacts we make by our shopping is to a shop less in general, whether it's online origin stores, just to create less manufacturing of new goods, and then be to when we are making an online purchase, do it less often and lump more things that you planned on buying

into one order so they can be packaged together. And I know that's not always possible, but it's just one good thing to keep in mind that will kind of cut down on the deliveries in the package. Yeah, that's always an option, right when you're checking out on Amazon to kind of ship my packages in as few as possible. Have you seen Amazon has got this new Your Amazon Day thing where that where you basically choose the day of the week and they don't deliver anything to your

house except for that one day. And so good for them for actually doing something like that. They're kind of taking a proactive step towards reducing waste. I'm a little bit of a skeptic, and so I know they're also doing this because they're trying to make their drivers more efficient. Right, It's like, if you have to go to a house, cut down on their own shipping costs exactly, if they haven't only have to go to a house one time out of the week versus you know, if you're ordering

something every day of the week Monday through Friday. Well, you know that costs them a lot of money to make those shipments. But other way, it's it's sort of a win win situation. I think it's pretty cool that they're rolling that out. Yeah, just a couple more things about the downsides of shopping online. Well, it hurts the small businesses around us, like we mentioned before, and some

of those small business owners are our neighbors. And also there are lots of options when you're shopping online sometimes, and I would say, this is what I get overwhelmed with is there's just too many options. Decision fatigue sets in, and when you are shopping online, it can be hard to stop your search and just make a choice, make a decision. And so if you're shopping for a faucet, let's say, for a bathroom, the choices seem endless when

you're shopping online. When you go to a local hardware store or a Lows or something like that, there are a finite amount of choices and that just makes it a little bit easier, at least on my brain, because I can get lost in a sea of internet searches for a particular item, to find the perfect thing. Dude, have you ever been to build dot com? It's like, I mean, it's a hardware it's basically a side dedicated

to like renovating your house. No, I don't think I have. Okay, there's like I'm gonna guess, twenty two thousand facets that that you can sort of sort through and come through. It is insane versus Yeah, like you said, going to your local store, there might be twenty tops kind of all mounts it to the wall for you to look at. And this is you know that would be at a huge store or something like that. But I mean, I'm

with you. The more options I have that the harder it is to make it decision because you think, well, is that the right one? Versus if you are only given you know, a limited number of options makes the decision process so much easier, Yeah, no doubt. And something else Man to talk about is speed. Even with the same day delivery, it still takes time for you to receive that item. There is an immediacy of purchasing something

in person if you need that thing right away. It's not that hard to think of instances where we needed something, you know, very quickly, like we're talking about hardware, man, any sort of home renovation project where you think, oh, yeah, this will take twenty minutes and I've got all the parts, ends up taking two hours and you've got to take a couple more runs to the store. You know what I'm talking about, right, I've been there too many times.

Account or sometimes when you order something though a lot of times they can even be just seriously delayed or even back ordered. Something that would have taken you twenty minutes to run to the store, and purchases now taking you two weeks because it has to arrive in a container at a shipping port before it sent to a distribution center. Yeah, and on top of that, porch pirates, they're the worst. Man, I've never heard that term. I've

been remember that term pirates. Yeah, that's the common parlance for people that steal packages, those jerks. How's that a turned that you use. We live in the same neighborhood, but I've never heard it when he's like, I don't know what, man, I feel like when you're reading online, that's what they call the people that steel packages. I

love it. Yeah, So that is another problem, right for getting online deliveries, is something being stolen in the process of its sitting on your porch until you get home that evening. Yeah, I've never had something stolen out of my hand when I was walking from the store to my car or like before I got home, right, Like, no one's ever stolen something from me that just didn't happen that I remember. Yeah, you got knocked out for that one. Yeah, So that's just another thing you need

to think about. They're all these potential issues with online shopping so on, which we know at least upfront. Others of which we've just discussed, maybe you hadn't even thought about. But it's nice to at least know that going into it, so you can make an informed decision as to whether you want to buy in a store locally, whether that's

a locally owned business or a bigger business. But you know what, we've got some specific techniques and extensions and websites that you need to visit when you are shopping online in order to find the best deal. And we're going to get to that stuff right after the break. All right, Joe, we're back from the break. You know, we've kind of bashed on online shopping enough. I feel like the it's our duty as a frugal guys to not just talk about the best way is to be

a great online shopper. Yeah, you know, I really actually like online shopping. Like a lot of probably people that are listening right now, they're like, what's going on? Why do these guys hate online shopping so much? And it's truly not that. I just really want people to know what they're getting into. These are the things that are going on in the back of my brain while I'm bruising online, I'm thinking about the fact that the M

S r P is completely impossible to actually find. I'm thinking about what it might cost locally before I actually clicked to purchase. Those are just the things I want you thinking about before you just clicked by mindlessly. Right. But obviously neither of us are against online shopping, and the most provable way to show folks that would be just probably just to take a picture of all those

cardboard boxes in that room. Mate. We'll post that on Instagram maybe, and then I'll also post a picture of all of the Amazon dash buttons that you have set up around your house. Don't tell anybody, it's not true. What if you had dash buttons set up for Amazon Alexis, Dude? What if we had a dash button for craft Beer? Oh? Okay, that that actually sounds pretty s all right, you want

to kick this thing off. Yeah, we need to talk about some of the sites in particular that will help you as you're trying to find the best deal when you're looking online, because, like we said, the waters can be murky and it can be hard to actually know when you found a good price or whether you're paying too much. And so there are sites like slick Deals, Clark Deals, and deal News, and those are sites that list a lot of deals every day, and so in my mind, the best way to use these sites is

not necessarily for perusing. It's not just shopping for a random deal that might strike your fancy. And that's actually kind of how I used to use those sites. I liked shopping for a deal, and I would buy stuff that I didn't need, And so I don't recommend that

you use them in that way. But when you are looking for specific items, in particular typing that item name into the search bar, you're shopping for a refrigerator or a washer dryer or whatever it might be, turning to those sites and then using the search bar to your advantage there on a deal's aggregator site can be really helpful and actually help you find the best price. You know, I hopped on there the other day looking for some Adita slides because I've got a pair that I keep

at the front of the house. And it sounds kind of ridiculous, but I thought, you know what if I can only spend a few bucks and get a pair for the back of the house, so when I take out the trash, I would love to have a pair of shoes in the back door. You're the richest man,

I know, that's the craziest thing. But come on, it's just like a few bucks and for me to not have to like walk to the front of my house to grab shoes so I don't have to walk barefoot through the rain in order to throw the trash in the trash can. For me, it would be worth it. No, all right, here's the thing. We're instituting a new rule. You have to do burpies to the front of the house in order to get those sandals before you can

take the trash out. Well, what I was gonna share though, is that I found some Adita slides, but they just had like ridiculous sizes size six and then size is twelve plus. I didn't get any twelve not ridiculous. Okay, is that what size you're wear? Yeah? Come on, weirdo. No, but like, seriously, you only need one pair and just do the burpies to go get your dava sandals. Okay, what are you talking about burpies for? You don't even do cross fit? I don't, I don't, but can you

even do a pull up. I just don't like to hear how soft you've gotten two pairs of Adita sandals. Dude, that's weird. I understand where you're coming from, right, my principle, it sounds pretty soft. You're wondering where your co host is gone. I'm just saying a few bucks there might improve my life drastically. That's all I want to say. Okay, alright, some items though that cost more than a few bucks. Let's talk about apple products. I stuck this in here

because you know me, I love my apple stuff. You need to know about the mac Rumors Buyer's Guide. That's a website where you can go on and see all the different Apple products, and they basically will tell you it's sort of like a stoplight. It's either green, yellow, or red. They'll tell you to go ahead and either buy that now, or maybe you shouldn't buy that now.

A lot of it is based on rumors, but you know, they do look at the specific product life cycles and they'll make recommendations on whether you should buy those things now or whether you should wait. However, a key distinction I want to make though, is that they'll tell you to buy something now. If there's a brand new product

out right. Let's just say we're talking about iPads. If there's a new iPad out, they'll tell you to go ahead and by it now because there's there's a new one and they want you to have the newest, latest, greatest iPad. But what that tells me is to go ahead and buy it now, but not the new one. You want to make sure that you were looking at the old version, because chances are the prices have dropped on that one and you're gonna be able to get

a much better deal in real quick too. I mean, if you're looking at Apple products, definitely look at buying their refurbished items. They come with the manufacturer's warranty, they're basically brand new. Almost all of the Apple products that I've purchased in the past ten years have all been refurbished, and they've been great. Nice. Okay, Matt, let's talk about some techniques that we can use to shop online to

help us get the best price. In the first thing, we're gonna mention, here is something I've never heard of, and you tip me off to. So why don't you fill this in? Yeah, man, And what you're referring to is to search Google for an image for more expensive items. What you can do, you can pull up an image of what you're looking for in Google Images, and then if you're in Chrome, you can control click or right

click and select search Google for image. And what that'll do is it'll pull up some websites where you can potentially find a deal of the exact same item. It's just a different site with a lot of products coming from manufacturing plants, like a lot of times they use the exact same photo, and so if you're able to search that specific photo, you can basically source the identical product,

but for a lot cheaper. So you're basically saying that sometimes manufacturers will have a different I D or something for that item, different I D or they'll just call it something completely different or you know, or it'll be a similar name, but it's just not the exact same item. Yeah. No,

that's cool. I mean, I think you're right in in this age of price comparisons and retailers not necessarily wanting to compete with each other on price, by just differentiating the item name or the item number, they're able to not have the price match, which is kind of a sneaky thing. But it totally happens all the time. Yeah. Case in point, Kate, my wife, she found a bed you know, that she really liked online at West Elm and West Elm it's a little nicer of a furniture store.

They got some nicer stuff there, and she tried that trick out and she searched that image and found it at World Markets for seven hundred bucks cheaper, which was a huge savings man for the exact same bed, at least from what we could tell, it was the exact same picture, looked exactly the same, and because of that

quick search man, we saved a ton of money. Yeah, there was a lawsuit that happened a bunch of years ago where someone had found something on a fancy site like West Elm and it was a thousand dollar patio furniture set, and they thought they were really smart and they did some searching. They found that exact same set on a site. I'm pretty sure it was wayfair for

half the price. It was like five bucks, and they're like, this is a great deal, and so they ordered it, and then when the item got there to their house, they saw an old Walmart price tag on it for like two seven dollars, like half of the price they bought it for. And so that's the kind of thing

that happens on the internet all the time. And yeah, if you want to be a smart shopper, doing something like this, image search can be really helpful so that you're not just searching the item name, because even just that can lead you to pay far too much, right, I mean it's kind of crazy. Yeah, man, it's it's nuts.

You know. It doesn't always work. I don't want people to think that this is something that you can always do, but in particular for more expensive items, it's definitely worth a quick Google image search and then just searching Google for image, right, Like that's all you gotta do. Yeah. Another technique you should consider when shopping online is to know the time to buy specific items. And so nerd Wallett is a really cool site that Matt and I like.

They've got a lot of great information and they have a comprehensive list of the best times to buy certain things. So seasonality is really important in retail, and it's just as important in online retail. So when you're looking to buy things online, what you're gonna want to make sure that you're buying in the proper season. For instance, TVs are best to buy in January, and that's because of

the Super Bowl. Furniture is best to buy in May, and you'll find the best deals on mattresses in September, interestingly enough, So yeah, it's a good list. It's a good thing to keep in mind that buying things in their proper season is going to be a good technique to help you save more money when you are doing shopping online. Nice man, now you know when you can

get get your big boy, grown up adult mattress. I know I've been I've been waiting, been holding out, and and now I know I'm gonna have to wait a little bit longer until September in order to make that buy. And then finally, we want to discuss what we think might have one of the largest impacts on you saving money when it comes to shopping online, and that is

through extensions through your web browser. Specifically, I'm talking about Honey, which you can download and install as a Google Chrome extension. And if you haven't heard of Honey, let me just tell you about it. I'm a huge fan with it. You don't have to waste time googling and searching for promo codes. It'll automatically apply this for you. Right, So when you are checking out in your cart, it'll ask

you if you want to check for codes. It will automatically apply those codes to get you the best deal. And it cycles through all the codes that are out there, and there's a bunch of them and a lot of them notework And guess what, Man, I don't have time for that. Nobody got time for that. Over that, and

Honey does that for me automatically. I love it. You know, there was an older service that I used to use called Invisible Hand, and it did something really similar when when I was on a web page looking at an item, it would tell me whether there was a better deal on another website. But I feel like Honey has kind of just jumped over where Invisible Hand was and they're providing a lot more value than just that. And yeah, it just works. It's a huge time saver and money saver,

and that's nice. Yeah, you know, Invisible Hand they're still out there, they're just not quiet as it as they used to be, and like you said, Honey, they're just kind of crushing it these days. However, you might want to check out some other extensions. For instance, wiki by is one that's out there that is really good when it comes to, you know, different coupon codes. But then keep A and the camel Lizer, and that's from the website Camel Camel Camel. Have you ever heard of that one? Yeah,

I have because the name sticks out right. I don't think you don't ever forget the name Camel Camel Camel on the website. So it's definitely worth checking those out if you want. But bottom line, in my experience, they're they're not as good as Honey. They all do parts of what Honey does. Honey just does it all, and they do it better. Honey also does price history, which is what keep A and camel Lizer tout as one

of the biggest features. They also have what's called a drop list as well, and that's where you can set up a price alert if you add it to your drop list, and you can even set a specific percentage as well. That way, if the price fluctuate is just a little bit, you're not gonna get, you know, notifications if it drops two But if you say, hey, if it ever drops more than ten percent, let me know because I want to buy it. Well, guess what, You'll get that message and then you'll know when to pounce

because you'll get a deal that is slick. Man, that is really nice. Yeah, that's really cool. I think these extensions, these online shopping tools, taking into consideration the deal sites as well doing some searches when you're looking for a

particular item. I feel like all those things in concert can kind of help people when they're shopping online to kind of make sure that they're getting a really good deal and kind of helped create some certainty in the online buying process because there is right now, at least a lot of uncertainty. It's just kind of hard to know. Despite the many sites and the ease of price comparison, you still kind of don't know whether you're getting a great deal or not, in spite of the fact that

there's so much competition and ease of price comparison. Yeah, that's where these extensions come in. You know. The only downside with them though, is I feel like the more extensions you install on Google Chrome, the junk starts slowing down. I don't know if you've ever noticed that, but I definitely have. Yeah, and honestly, just kind of getting bombarded with stuff in your face. That's the part that I

hate the most, pop up aspect of it. Yeah. Yeah, it's like, now something else I have to think about. But if it saves me money, it's totally worth it, right, that's the truth, man. And you know what, we'd be remiss if we didn't recommend to folks to consider mining used. Obviously, we've talked about eBay before. We love eBay. We'd also recommend for folks to check out shop Goodwill dot com. Joel, have you ever gone on to shop Goodwill and then

made a purchase? No, but you're the first person that told me about it, and I have really done some perusing back in the day. I've never bought anything on there. I need to go give it another shot. So it's been a couple of years actually since I've been on there, and I will say I was checking them out today in preparation for this episode. They've totally made their platform look more like eBay. Like basically, I think when they sat down with their code guys that's what they're called, right,

code guys, the technical term the code ladies. It's like, hey, code ladies, can you make this site look exactly like eBay. But it really does feel a lot like eBay, And I say that as good thing, because before it was really tough to navigate those really jankie Now it makes a lot more sense and it's easy to use, So I might have to hop on there and purchase another pair of Sperry topsiders, which was the very first thing I ever purchased on a shop goodwill dot com. Do

you remember how much you paid for him? I want to say, like nine bucks? Nine bucks. They're brand new. They're obviously exactly my size, which is nine and a half. By the way, not weirdoh size twell feet like you've got. I guess I got clown feet, But be sure to check them out. They've got some awesome stuff. I just take Shaquille O'Neil's hand me down shoes, So yeah, size matches perfectly there, all right, Matt. So let's get back to the beer that we had on the show today.

We had a beer called fort by dog fish Head. I feel like it was quite unique in its presentation. I don't think I've ever had a beer that tasted like this before. I think I said that weird, but I didn't mean I like it Okay, all right. It tasted to me like a barley wine, which is the style I really like, and it had raspberry juice in it, which gave it just a little bit of brightness, which you really don't get typically in a barley wine. Usually

there's zero brightness in a barley wine. And so yeah, I thought the raspberry juice actually kind of cut through nicely and it made this beer feel nice and well rounded. And I can really appreciate this beer for what it is and the unique qualities that it brings. It's a one of a kind beer that I really enjoyed. Yeah, I wouldn't mind have one of these again, but only if Tyler is going to provide them for us, right, Thanks again to Tyler for donating this one to the show.

But man, I'm completely with you. You're talking about how it tasted bright. I don't know what it was about this beer, but a lot of times I talk about like fresh, hot beers tasting bright or I'll say they taste alive to me. And something about this beer and this is aged Tyler. He sellers his beers, and so I know this one was at least three years old, and with my first sip Man, it tasted alive and bright, which you normally don't get from a darker beer like this.

I can get behind the raspberries in this beer because it wasn't a really sour tart raspberry, but it was an oak aged kind of chocolate covered raspberry right like. It had these bigger, thicker flavors with the fruit that made it really easy and delicious to drink. It very much felt like a sort of like a decadent dessert, but at the same time pretty bright and alive. Yeah. I don't know how they did it, but I'm really

impressed with this beer. Man. I feel like dog fish Head on their kind of more extreme beers like this, they just crush it. I'm not really prone to pick up a six pack of dog fish Head, but they're one off like this. Like Doc, fish Head has always been a little extreme and how they brew beers. I've always appreciated that because they always come out with something unique because of it, and this beer is no exception.

All right, Joe, Before we wrap this one up, let's go ahead and give our quick final thoughts on this episode. All right, Matt, let's do it. I think what I want to leave people with I hope we weren't too negative about online shopping, because it is really incredible how quickly and easily we can get things shipped to our doors. And I know, especially with folks that have busy lives, big families, kids to take care of, two parents working, whatever.

There's so many reasons that online shopping has proliferated, has become such a beast, and so there are a lot of reasons, a lot of positive benefits to shopping online. I just think it's important to reiterate here that we think about shopping local and when it might actually be a superior route for us, even if it ends up

costing a bit more. You might miss out on some of those intangibles like the expertise of someone who works there, the community vibe, and the opportunity to support local businesses to your neighborhood if you only think about shopping online, Yeah, don't forget those local brick and mortar benefits. However, if you are going to shop online, make sure that you're checking out the different deal websites, specifically slick deals dot com.

They're they're pretty much the best. They're really good. Will link to the others in the notes as well. Also, if you're not already using Google Chrome, it's way better than Internet Explore, way better than Safari. You want to use that anyway. But while you're at it, go ahead and download the Honey extension. There's a really good chance that it will save you money every single time you make a purchase online by automatically applying discount codes as

well as showing you the pricing history. That way you know if you're getting a deal or not. Joel, I think that's gonna be it for this episode, man, say it ain't so bunny. This is fun. Let's wrap it up. Show notes can be found at how its money dot com and there will be sure to link to all these different websites and extensions that you can check out on your own. Yeah, and thanks to everybody for listening. If you found this episode helpful or our podcast in general,

we would really appreciate it. If you'd consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. It means a lot to us and it helps new potential listeners understand what the show is all about. That's right, Joel. So until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.