HOST: We’re going to be thanking our next guest here – our first guest, actually – for saving us big bucks on back to school shopping. Galen
Bargerstock is here with some tips. Galen, welcome to the show.
GALEN BARGERSTOCK, GOVERNMENT & CIVIL EMPLOYEES SERVICES: Thanks for having me.
HOST: So are we going to be thanking you? Because you said we’re going to be cashing in here.
BARGERSTOCK: Cashing in, budgeting, yeah.
HOST: Yes, yes. Well, you’re a money guy, of course, Government & Civil Employees Services. And you are all about saving people money. So
we are ready for the tips. Okay? First off, you have budget, which a lot of people have a tough time doing. You just see stuff and you just want it.
BARGERSTOCK: Everybody. Look, it is human nature to want all kinds of stuff, but you have to reel it back in sometimes and set yourself
a budget. Children grow, you know, like weeds, sometimes four inches through the summer. So you need to really establish how many children you have and what needs they might have and separate it into two different things; clothing, you know, jeans, backpacks, shoes, things like that. And then you have your supplies, your pens, your papers, your pencils, iPads now. Things are getting more and more expensive as time goes on, so it’s really important to budget so you don’t over-extend yourself so you can afford your monthly bills.
HOST: That is a very good point. So we’ve got to keep it in check.
BARGERSTOCK: Yeah.
HOST: Next up is kind of interesting. A lot of people do this – I know I do – is shop online. Why is that a good thing to do? How can it help you?
BARGERSTOCK: Well, when you’re shopping online, let me give you an example. Say you have three children. You know, those three children might not need all kinds of different things that are the same. So if you’re shopping online, you can fill your cart and you can see what you’re spending as you’re spending it and add it up to make sure you don’t go over that total. So by shopping online, you might save yourself from over-extending yourself because you can look at the shopping cart and tweak things as it goes.
HOST: That’s so true because, you know, you put everything in your regular cart at the store. You keep throwing it in and then you forget that
you’ve had all this in there.
BARGERSTOCK: Well, if you have it in your cart you’re going to buy it and then you’re going to over-extend yourself.
HOST: That’s true. Or else you’re like, uh, I don’t need this. I’ll set that over there. That’s not a good tactic. All right, next up, number three is
plan ahead.
BARGERSTOCK: Well, plan ahead. I mean, if you have yourself a fantastic plan and a design to shop, you’re going to be able to accomplish
anything you need. So as long as you have everything ready to go and organized, you’re not going to have any kind of issues. You know,
planning ahead could be as simple as knowing, like I said, what child to buy for. You know, you might have a child that is very, you know, neat and does not require a lot of clothes because they don’t outgrow them. You know, maybe your child has stopped growing. So by planning ahead, you could do that or even, you know, maybe buy stuff at the end of season for the following season. You know, get creative with it.
HOST: That’s a good idea. I like that. A game plan is always a good thing. And, finally, we have sign up for department store credit cards. And
you would normally think maybe a credit card might be a bad thing, but some of them have perks, don’t they?
BARGERSTOCK: This one is my favorite.
HOST: Yeah.
BARGERSTOCK: You know, I personally like department shopping, you know, in department stores. You know, and the reason is because
whenever you have the credit card for the store, they’re going to know that you’re doing business with just them. So you get good deals. You know, one of the deals that I’ve received personally was I went shopping and during that shopping trip I got 12 months interest free. You know?
HOST: Wow!
BARGERSTOCK: So a lot of these department store cards, they’re going to give you not only a discount for signing up for them – maybe
20, 25 percent off – but you’re also going to be able to get yourself a little bit more by, you know, going interest-free for 12 months.
HOST: Yeah. And you never know what else. Lots of coupons and everything.
BARGERSTOCK: I love department stores. Yeah.
HOST: Me, too. So if you would like a recap of all of that information that Galen just told us about, you can visit our website for the tips at
CentralPATV.com. Galen, thank you so much.
BARGERSTOCK: Thanks for having me.
