Buying Cell Phone Accessories From Your Carrier?

So you're buying a new phone, and none of the accessories from your old phone are not compatible with the phone you're buying (what were the odds?!).  If you're buying in a store, you may be dealing with a helpful associate who is working on commission.

Phones need accessories.  Phone stores sell accessories, and who better to target than someone who is buying a new phone?  Car charger, spare wall charger, case, bluetooth, screen covers, maybe some sort of stylus. 

The sales person may throw out the term "bundling."  By you buying a bunch of stuff for your phone all at one time, "you're saving money."  If you go to the movies and buy a "bundle" consisting of a $7 Coke, a $9 Popcorn, and a $4 box of M&M's, they may tell you that you're saving $2, but you've just spent $18 for $3 worth of junk food.  Same goes for phone accessories.

As an example, I pulled some typical phone accessories (chargers, protective cases, headphones, bluetooth, screen protectors) from the AT&T website, and compared the exact same items on Amazon.  You may even find cheaper prices somewhere else.  The results are below.

You spend twice as much at the AT&T Store.

Sincerely,

The Frugal Maestro

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Batteries - Where to Buy

Every year, we run into the problem of toys that need batteries.  Some toys need a lot of batteries.  It's been my experience that the smaller your kid, the bigger the batteries.  I remember with toddlers, everything took those enormous D batteries.  Once the kids get older, their Wii remotes, RC cars, etc. take AA batteries, and plenty of them.

I hate buying batteries because I always feel like I'm getting ripped off.  I find that the generic batteries, while much cheaper, don't last nearly as long. 

First tip: Buy the big (20 battery) pack instead of the small (4 battery) pack.  They tend to charge about $1/battery in the small pack.  $0.50/battery seems to be the going rate for a AA Duracell or Energizer in a 20 pack.

Second tip:  I find, places like Home Depot and Lowes generally have better deals on batteries than would a store like Toys R Us (unless there's some kind of sale).

There are a number of online sites that have Duracell and Energizer batteries in bulk for cheaper.  The problem is, unless you go together with your neighbors and cousins, that's a lot of batteries.  http://www.medicbatteries.com/wholesale-aa-aa-battery-wholesale-aa-battery-duracell has 48 batteries Duracell for $0.30/battery.

At times, Amazon has sales going, with free shipping if you buy $25 or more in qualifying merchandise.  You can get them for as little as $0.46 a battery, sometimes better. 

You just saved as much as $14.00.

Sincerely,

The Frugal Maestro

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