We do a lot of traveling and tend to buy new luggage every 4-5 years. If you’ve ever shopped for luggage, you know it’s not cheap! You can buy $100 to $1,000 for just one piece depending on the brand that you buy. Yes, that’s for one piece! Add-on the additional pieces that you need to form a set and you can be spending an entire paycheck or more for it.
When is the best time to buy? Well…I’ve personally found that “off peak” travel season is the best time. Around here…that would be October through February. However, you can find deals on it year-round if you spend the time looking!
Don’t buy just on the brand or appearance. Just because something is a NAME BRAND or pretty to look at doesn’t mean it’s better! Take the time to look up reviews on line and see what others are saying about a particular brand or model that you’re interested in. Price doesn’t always mean quality either! I once paid $750 for a 3-piece set of luggage that only lasted us 2 years…and that was pushing it!
To save money I like to look for the previous year’s models and discontinued luggage sets. If though they’re discontinued…the majority of them still come with a warranty. The set we just purchased has a 5-year warranty and was discontinued from the previous year. Keep all receipts, tags and paperwork that comes with it just in case you need to use that warranty that came along with it.
Bigger doesn’t always mean better! We avoid the larger 30″ pieces which tend to be heavy and can cost more when checking baggage for a flight. On top of that…they swallow up most of the available space in your trunk if you’re taking a road trip. In my honest opinion…go for medium-sized luggage pieces.
You can mix-n-match single pieces if you prefer a specific size. We purchased our newest luggage in single pieces instead of a set. Why? Because we didn’t want the large 30″ piece and we found that by buying 2 individual pieces in the size that we did want was cheaper than purchasing a matching 2-piece or 3-piece set. Our 2 pieces coordinate nicely together, so they don’t look mis-matched.
Take a look at single piece floor models if available. The 2-pieces you see in my photograph were floor models. Nothing wrong with them at all. Each one had a retail price of $159.99. We purchased each one for $45.99 because they were single pieces, discontinued design and floor models. We got 2 pieces that coordinate together for less than the price of 1 large piece!!!
If you’re getting married, graduating, celebrating an anniversary, birthday or a Christmas holiday…don’t be afraid to ask for new luggage as a gift or to give it as a gift! It’s always a gift that is well received and appreciated.
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