Home appliances have become an inseparable part of our everyday lives. Gone are the days when homes survived without having a washing machine or a water purifier and manual tasks like washing your own clothes or boiling water were done to take care of the requirements.
Whether it’s a new home your’re planning to set up or upgrade your existing appliances, one needs to factor in the cost of having essential appliances at home as a part of must – do expense.
Having said that, are there ways we can save money without having to compromise on doing without essential home appliances.
With just little bit of planning and working out smart ways to reduce cost of appliances, one can manage to save money while having the much needed appliance at the same.
Following are some of the tips & tricks you can apply for saving money buying home appliances:
1. Buy at the right time
As the world gets more commercial, one advantage is the many consumer offers & promotions that brands are constantly churning out to attract customers.
If you are an online junkie & comfortable with buying a large appliance online, you can take advantage of the many sales that online stores extend out to customers on a regular basis.
If you insist on buying from the store, festivals are the best time of the year to get the best rates & deals. Eg. In India, Diwali would have some mega sales on appliances, just like Christamas in the U.S.
You can actually plan your purchase and save up for buying during festivals to make sure you get the best deal.
2. Research & Compare Products & Prices
To begin with, research on the category, brands, features, prices & discounts available both online & in retail outlets.
This will give you a good idea of what you need and how much you will need to shell out to get the same.
It will also give you an idea of the best deals in the market & which store you should visit for a further discussion.
3. Look out for zero interest EMI offers
Nowadays many brands have tie ups with multiple banks and offer EMI options for consumer durable purchases.
Check with the store you intend to buy from eg. Croma or Vijay Sales, what are the bank offers they have.
Hopefully you should have credit cards of those banks or you can apply for one & get it in time for your appliance purchase.
Gone are the days when banks used to charge heavy interest for EMI options on consumer purchases.
Today many banks are happy to offer Zero EMI offers on their cards.
Make sure you specifically ask for these offers, so that you get a longer interval to pay back, without burgeoning interest to add to the amount, apart from your principal.
4. Plan your purchase
Instead of wiping off a big chunk of amount from your savings at one time towards your big ticket buy, plan your purchase and work backwards from your intended buying time to set aside a particular amount each month for your appliance purchase.
This will push you to cut down on your regular monthly expenses and divert some funds for the same to bring your new appliance home.
5. Look out for manufacturer offers
Apart from bank offers, specific brands may be offering flat % off, discounts or freebies from their end.
Make sure to check out offers that the top 3 brands are providing to their customers from their end.
If the brand you are deciding to go with is having a lucrative offer, you can avail of it to close your deal at the desired price.
6. Negotiate Hard
Apart from bank & brand offers, there is room for your go to electronics stores to offer you a better price from their side.
This is because they have wide sales margins, part of which they can extend out to their customers, to make sure they buy from their shop instead of elsewhere.
You can first ask your salesman to offer you a good discount and if he is unable to go below a certain price, you can escalate your request to the store manager, who will have the authority to offer you the best price.
You need to follow these steps systematically & negotiate hard to get the best deal.
7. Request for a Price Match
You need to do your research well & check at what price the item is being offered at top online & offline stores.
If you are keen on buying from a particular store, you can tell them the offer another store was giving you & ask him to match up. Eg. Many people may not know, but if you go to Croma & show them a particular model being sold at a lower price on Amazon or Flipkart, they will match the price for you.
8. If buying online, search in incognito mode
When scouting for products and best prices online, try to carry out your searches in incognito mode.
In the regular mode, stores may be able to pick up your keen interest for a product and escalate the price basis the same.
Not only this the browser you choose can also have a bearing on what offers you are presented with.
Hence make it a practice to browse in multiple browsers & search engines to land yourself the best price for your selected item.
9. Finalize you brand & model before your store visit
Remember that the store or salesman may have vested interests in selling a particular brand to you because of higher margins for them or a higher model (with features you may not really use), as it is higher priced.
Hence as a first step, before your store visi, finalize on the brand or model you’d like to buy, so you can have a more focussed discussion around your purchase, instead of one which the salesperson may suggest to suit their side.
10. Be practical with features
Know what you need & stick with buying only that. Your salesman may try to upsell to you a higher model which has more features bundled in, albeit ones you may not need.
This upsell comes with a higher price tag, something you can easily do without by buying the model which has enough to serve your needs.
Don’t get carried away by sales spiel to make the higher featured product seem more attractive, but remain firm on what you want.
11. Choosing the right size
Before finalizing on the model, measure the dimensions of the space you have for the appliance correctly, so that you are not bombarded with any significant refurbishing or renovations expenditure to get your appliance to fit.
Overall, size is an important factor to consider when trying to save money. Larger machines tend to be more expensive than smaller ones, but they may not be necessary for your needs.
By choosing the right size of the appliance, you can save money on the initial purchase as well as energy costs over time.
12. Look out for exchange offers
If you going in for an upgrade, you may have your old appliance lying with you.Tell your salesman about it & ask him if you can get any value in return for it.
As a matter of fact, Croma offers buy backs at decent rates to give you a couple of grands additionally off for exchanging your old appliance.
13. Be smart with warranties
Apart from the regular warranty which covers repairs for a specific time, your salesman may try to sell you extended warranties at an additional cost.
For eg. 3+2 (which is 3 years regular warranty and an additional payment for 2 years extended warranty).
Assess your chances of requiring repairs during the warranty period or your warranty expiring before a repair is required.
If you are pressed for cash at that time, avoid going for additional warranty.
Also if you are in a habit of losing invoices & warranty papers, please avoid paying anything extra for extended warranties.
14. Save on energy
See the energy efficiency rating for your appliance to save monthly on energy bills. Appliances with higher energy efficiency ratings tend to be more expensive, but they can save you money in the long run.
These instruments consume less energy, which can translate into lower utility bills.
Look for machines with the Energy Star rating, which indicates they meet energy efficiency guidelines.
Appliances are a must-have expense in today’s time. In fact instead of expense, we can even see them as an investment to your wellbeing.
They can help make life easy & save you time on mundane & tough chores. Nonetheless, it is important that you are smart in your appliance purchase.
Follow the tips given above to ensure you’re paving the way to saving money on your home appliances.