This coming Fall it looks like prices for LCDs will once again plummet as consumer demand has tapered off leaving excess stock in the retail channels. It seems that early in 2008 manufacturers of LCD displays shipped a record number of LCDs especially large ones, which coupled with a faltering economy has turned the HDTV and display business into a "buyer's market". This price drop comes on the heels of a spat of price cuts in May of this year as Sony began to drop prices on its Bravia line.

The price drop is coming because of simple economics, and consumers should hold off at least until September to pick up any large LCD displays. If you are hanging on for another month or two before making the purchase it would be a good time to sock away more money towards your new TV rather than putting it on your credit card. If you can hold off until November, I wouldn't be surprised to see rock bottom prices on name brand LCDs. If prices drop enough you can toss a 42' LCD into that house you're still trying to unload and throw it in with the purchase. In this market you gotta try something!

Let's face it, frugal shopping can be difficult but it's not because the retailers are out to rob you of your money. Stores of all types operate on one simple premise; It's their job to convert product display space into profit. Store layouts, merchandise displays and product placement are all used in well researched configurations to make the most from limited retail space. As frugal shoppers, it's our individual responsibility to see through the merchandise promotion blitz and to guard our own spending by fending off the impulse purchase of items we never intended to buy when we first entered the store.

The expertise of retailers in moving product is the major cause for my "shopping with an attitude" theory. I realize that stores are providing me a service by offering products for sale, but that doesn't mean that I should be surrendering my wallet to them at the door. My shopping attitude theory is summed up in the following words: "It's my money and I'll decide how much of it you get." It's a simple condition of mental focus which should be taken along with you into every store you enter and it's partially rooted in the following frugal shopping principles: