The Best of 2023
Welcome to Saving Money with Andrew!
Some of my favorite posts this year:
Interviews
I really enjoyed interviewing several readers and friends of SMwA this year. I would love to get to know more readers better—if you’re ever interested in being interviewed, just reply to this email!
Alyssa Explains It All (and Alyssa's Lessons in Links) - Great tips on living a frugal but fun life.
Rockin' the Suburbs with Sarah - A great homeowners insurance savings win.
From New York to Arkansas: Dan's Story - Moving from a very high cost-of-living area to Arkansas.
Janice's Native Plant Adventure - Saving money on landscaping!
Sherry and Paul's Transatlantic Ordeal - A Successful Fight for Refunds and Lost Luggage - Sherry and Paul’s quest to recover their lost luggage.
Tales From Black Friday - Elyse's Triumph! - Somehow, Elyse managed to get all her holiday cards printed for $10!
The Power of the Polite Request
One of life’s fundamental truths is that you usually won’t get something unless you ask for it. And so asking politely but firmly for a discount was a winner this year, including in Ask Nicely And Ye Shall (Sometimes) Receive - Two Small Reader Wins, Surprise Credit Card Fees? The Power Of Asking Nicely and Andrew’s Blazer Battle - How a $450 J.Crew Blazer Became $225
Learn From My Car Leasing Mistakes
We leased a car for the first time this year, and despite doing a lot of research on the process, I managed to make nearly every rookie mistake. When Leasing A New Car - Don't Make The Same Mistakes We Did!
Finally, I hope every who celebrates has a Merry Christmas (today!) and a Happy New Year! See you in 2024.
And now, Andrew’s pick(s) of the week:
The China-Backed Retailers Shipping Millions of U.S. Packages a Day is a fascinating story of how two Chinese retailers I’ve barely heard of (Temu and Shein) are already almost one-tenth the size of Amazon (by number of packages shipped daily), and account for approximately 1/40th of all packages delivered in the US this holiday season.
Swimming Pools and Granite Countertops: How College Dorms Got So Expensive
How ‘Elf’ Became a Modern Holiday Classic
I hope this has been helpful. If you liked it, please share it on social media! Also, please send me your feedback, requests, and success stories.