The 10 TIPS I Use to Save Money on Tech: Stop Spending So Much!

Tech is expensive. It really is. So today, we're going to talk about 10 different ways to help save you money on Tech. Whether that be a new TV for your living room, or a computer for school, or the latest smartphone, I'm sure you'll find something here.

0:00 Introduction
1:23 Tip #0: Almost Everything Will Go On Sale
2:37 Tip #1: The Cost of a Product is NOT the ACTUAL Cost of a Product
3:24 Tip #2: Finding the Value Purchase instead of the Highest-End Product
5:54 Tip #3: Price Trends Throughout the Year
6:16 Tip #4: Occupation and Student Discounts
7:02 Tip #5: Discounted Gift Cards
7:43 Tip #6: Credit Card Points and Offers
8:33 Tip #7: Cash back Websites
9:23 Tip #8: Store Memberships
9:54 Tip #9: The Price Match Stack
10:46 Tip #10: Mix and Match Money-Saving Tips
11:25 Conclusion

Amazon Affiliate Links to Gear I use:
Sony A7S III: https://amzn.to/3jD0fxC
Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB Tripod: https://amzn.to/2O7V8Yn
M1 Macbook Air: https://amzn.to/3rV5Zru
Philips Hue Light Strip: https://amzn.to/2VZq2EV
Godox SL-60W: https://amzn.to/37LsdT0
Rode VideoMic NTG:https://amzn.to/2RKHVrL
Shure SM7B: https://amzn.to/30Dxji7
Logitech MX Master 3: https://amzn.to/30G1GV2
Logitech MX keys: https://amzn.to/3bHytQ8yo

So, tip 1: Shift your mentality. If it's not on sale it's a bad price. Basically, almost all consumer electronics go on sale, all the way from the 20 dollar earbuds to $2,000 laptops. And at some point or another, stuff will go on sale. It's even possible to find sales on products on the day of release. Apple computers are always on sale, especially if you're a student because they provide student discounts on their website for laptops and ipads.

The next tip is Cost of a Product. For example, A Go-Pro. It's not a one time cost, you have to buy accessories for it to use the Go-pro the way you wanted. Maybe you want to mount it to your bike, maybe as a driver reaction camera, or even as a webcam. that requires you buy accessories for the Go-Pro to make it function as intended. It's important to take those numbers into account into the cost of the product because they're items you're likely to buy anyway.

Most people don't need the highest end items. As you pay more and more for an item, it tends to get a lot better the more you pay, but after a certain point the extra money you're paying gets you less and less value. This is called. Diminishing returns. For example, Apple's iPad lineup. The cheapest iPad only costs $329. But the spec differences between that and the iPad Air which costs $600 is significant. If you try to go from the iPad air to the iPad pro 11in, the differences are less significant than the bump from base model to air. That's because the middle model usually covers all the weaknesses of the cheapest model, while adding some nice features of the highest end models.

Next tip the Life Cycle of a Product. For example, Sony's fantastic wh-1000xm series of headphones. Sony releases a new version pretty often, like every year and a half and in the past it would go like this. New release, no discount the first few months, small discounts throughout the year, new version gets released, and the discounts slowly gets steeper and steeper moving forward. So, if you know a new version is going to be released, then you could be better off buying last year's version at a significant discount.

Now, let's move onto some less utilized methods of saving money. This one is, Occupation Discounts. Periodically, if you're a full time employee, or student, you get access to some sort of discounts. Some corporate employers get you access to discount sites like Perks At Work. First Responders, Military, Teachers, and students can utilize Id.me for discounts, and students can get additional student discounts from places like Unidays. If you're employed, or a student, do some digging around, you'll find a site or discount you qualify for.

Another tip is Cash Back Websites. They can save you a few percent off of your purchase as well as mention specific coupons they might think are applicable, like Rakuten. Of course there's other options. If you have the Honey extension you can earn honey gold but your credit card's reward site has ways to earn cash back or credit card points, and even airlines like United have ways for you to earn airline miles through their online portals.
Some stores themselves have their own Membership programs that could save you a few extra dollars.

Next up: the Price Match Stack. Imagine two stores for a second. Store A and Store B. Store A has a promotion where if you buy something, you get either a gift card or a free item. Store B has a straight up sale, $50 off retail price. You could then go to Store A, request a price match of store B, and get that free gift card or item and $50 off on that purchase.

And finally, Mix and Match any of the tips mentioned above. When you stack a couple of these together that's where the real savings are.

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