Don’t buy the wrong dong, and other money-saving lessons

Every dollar saved is money that can be better spent on enjoying life, so follow these shopping tips to get a much bigger bang for your buck.

The Vietnamese dong has got to be the world’s best-named currency.

In a world of dollars, francs and pesos, the dong stands out — perhaps rivalled only by the Polish zloty and the Tongan pa’anga.

I recently had reason to buy some dong, and it delivered me a valuable lesson in shopping around before you hand over money.

• One big thing you should check at supermarkets

• How to beat crazy rental car insurance fees

The small currency exchange shop just down the road from my office is little more than a storefront window and a couple of counters.

It offered me 15,600 Vietnamese dong for every Aussie dollar (yes, you get a lot of dong for your buck).

Fifty metres away from that store was a large foreign exchange business. Their rate was 13,700 dong — nearly 15 per cent more expensive.

For someone wanting $1000 of foreign money, the penalty for not shopping around is almost $150.

Some simple calculations and comparisons can save you a pile of money.

But you don’t have to be buy currency to save this way. Often you don’t need to leave home to get a better deal. Here’s how.

USE OTHER PEOPLE’S STUFF

Airbnb and Uber are the biggest names in the sharing economy, but there are dozens of other online platforms to share stuff for discount prices.

These include caravans and campervans, designer dresses and fashion accessories, carparking spaces and, of course, private jets.

GET COUPON CODES

I never buy pizza without checking the store’s latest discount coupons, usually saving myself at least 30 per cent on an order. There are several websites that will show you discount codes for things such as food, clothing, rental cars and even Lego, or you can do an online search for the product you want and type “discount code” next to it.

MAKE BUSINESSES BID FOR YOUR BUSINESS

There’s a growing breed of websites that put consumers in the position of power and force businesses to battle each other with the best price for their products or services. New cars and home loans were the start and you can expect this sector to grow.

SURF RETAILER WEBSITES

I don’t buy any items worth more than fifty bucks without spending a couple of minutes checking rival retailers’ prices online. If you’re armed with that information — and a screenshot of the rival deal on your smartphone — most businesses will match or beat the price.

SEEK FINANCIAL COMPARISONS

The biggest savings from shopping around arguably come from the most boring stuff: financial products. Rather than $50 or $100 we can save thousands of dollars a year by getting the best prices for things such as health insurance, home and car insurance, mortgages and other loans, super fund fees and investment costs.

Financial comparison websites are a good starting point but they may only show a selection of products, not the whole range. It’s wise to visit a few of these sites, plus direct sites of individual financial service providers.

Just like it’s unwise for travellers to buy the wrong dong, failing to do a quick search for a better price is going to waste your money that could be better spent on fun stuff.

@keanemoney