I’m on my phone posting this, actually.

I was looking for a barcode scanner application and found pricepad instead. It is a free app that allows you to save information about items you want to buy to your phone.
You can save name, price, barcode number, genre of item, and personal notes. Then when you are looking at the same item later, you can search through your saved items.

I am going to give it a try for grocery shopping, starting by putting the items from the circulars in first.

I have been told in the past to not spend the extra money for the warranty, because it isnt worth it.  But, I have learned in the real world, it is.

I live with the philosophy that Murphy’s Law is just waiting to raise some hell. So, I do my best to try to keep him at bay by preparing for the worst.  This means warranties.

Ok, here’s what I have learned:

1. If I buy something and a warranty is offered, I will wish I had the warranty as I throw the item away and go to buy a new one
2. If I buy the warranty, I usually end up wondering why I bought it because I didnt need it.  The item worked the way it should, and I end up replacing it when I am sick of it, not when it breaks.

I admit, there are special cases here.  But, if you go with #2, the special cases are not an issue. Case in point: you have to cash in on the warranty.  Problem solved, you get a new gadget.

A story (some names have been changed):

My dad and step mom are the thriftiest people I know. They do everything possibly to save money, and well…who can blame them.  However, when they bought their Gigantitron Projection TV for their living room, they spent the extra money on a warranty.  When the TV stopped working, they took it in, and the repair man couldn’t get the part they needed.  So, Huge Mart replaced the TV with an equivalent sized, same brand, Plasma for free.

This is a true story. If you dont get the warranty after that, I dont know what is wrong with you.

The last story, also true, happened to me.  Twice.

I have an iPhone, because I am a closet (OK not so much), technophile and I had the opportunity to get one (long story, I will post about this later).  I had the phone for about 7 months when the phone locked up and wouldnt do anything but give me the little white apple image.  So I took it in, and the apple store handed me a new phone.

Then I lost my iPhone headphones (made by apple), the ones with the mic, and bought new ones on ebay.  They were knock offs and didn’t work.  There was no return policy and it was not even worth trying to contact the seller.  So, I bought official Apple iPhone headphones from an AT&T store.  7 days later, the mic stopped working. So, I walked back into the AT&T store, and was given new ones with no problems or questions.

The point of the story is, Apple ensures their products (this is like a warranty – but not as good as AppleCare), so long as it is something they did wrong in manufacturing or design and  if you take care of what you bought from them, they will replace it for free.

If you buy smart, and get warranties where you can, you will be much better off by avoiding Murphy and handling the exceptions to the rule.  Sometimes, planning ahead pays off.