Negotiating -

I love to get a good deal. And sometimes negotiating is involved.  Joe and I are not the most hardcore when it comes to this stuff. We plan big, but then "negotiate" a good $2 off and then play hardball by declining free delivery and lugging the item out to our own car instead, and inviting the salesmen over for a steak dinner to say thank you. It's actually not as bad as all that, but sometimes it feels like that.  

Tired Girls can negotiate though, without much effort or awkward-ness or drama or poker faces or tough talk or whatever. I am not delivering new insight here - to be clear - just being a normal human that wants to get more for my money all the time, and so here are my Tired Girl tips for negotiating purchases in your life:

- It is usually more productive to ask for "stuff" thrown in rather than to get the price down (tinted windows on the car you want, or a flooring allowance on the house, or all the premium channels thrown in your cable package).

- Or offer less, but throw in your "stuff." (Nothing kinky here people) - We will pay in cash or we will pay three months in advance, that kind of thing.

 - My favorite is to ask for several things - like less money and two things/services thrown in,  chances are some of the requests will be turned down, but one or two will get through. 

- Decide before hand if you want the item no matter what and just want to see if you can get a better deal or if you will only buy it if the price and services are right. Then you won't feel bad either way - you have a plan. You tried, and it either worked or didn't, and you know what you will do, and won't have to stand there and think on the fly.

- My last tip is also a favorite of mine - once I have shopped around for an item or service and I am ready to pick, I tell the person that I would rather work with them, but would they match the lower prices that I got from someone else. I have tried this with housepainters, movers, and a gym that I can think of. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

It seems possible to negotiate in a lot of different arenas - especially big ticket items and in places where people work on commission.  Contracts and services can be negotiated as well - movers, cell phone contracts, gym memberships, cable companies, yard maintenance, etc. 

For what it's worth I am friendly and easy going about negotiating. If they don't accept my offer or counter with something i don't like, I don't turn serious and make it weird, just keeping on keeping being friendly and honest about what the situation is. "I really only budgeted to spend $120, so thank you so much anyway for trying to work with me." 
Or, "Thank you for working with us. We need to think about it. Do you have a card we can take with us?" A good opener is "Would  you be able to work with us on the price at all?" 

I think this was boring.  Any one else have some negotiating tips for us Tired Girls?