#1 – Buy at the best time
For example – Christmas items are always best
bought in january, holiday stuff in the autumn etc. So if you can plan your
shopping for the right time rather than buying at peak when prices are their
highest, you’ll be saving a lot without doing much at all!
If you know that you buy something regularly, and
it’s on sale, then buy it in bulk and you’ll save loads over the course of
using it up. I do this a lot for non perishable groceries like toilet
rolls, shampoo, drinks etc…
If you find yourself buying the same foods and
toiletries week in/week out, then stop yourself and see if there are cheaper
alternatives to try out. If you make 2-3 swaps for each shopping trip, you can
test things out – and you may be surprised to find that there are cheaper items
that are just as good, if not better.
It’s all too easy to just click ok when it gets to
delivery charges online.
We have spent a long time choosing what we want to
buy, so we definitely want it delivered – and often don’t give it a second
thought.
But delivery charges can be hefty – so here are
some ways to save on this part of shopping online: –
·
See if the
terms and conditions give you free delivery after spending a certain
amount. If you are just under that amount, or know you’ll need something else
soon – why not add it in now and save the delivery charge?
·
Search
online for “the shop free delivery coupon code” where the shop is of
course the shop you are buying from. There are often delivery codes online that
you can use – and you’ve saved money all for a few clicks!
·
Deliver to a
local store rather than your home. A lot of shops now offer this because it’s
easier for them to deliver in bulk and know that the store will be open to take
delivery. If there is a local collection point for you – save time and hassle
by choosing this option (hassle would be if they tried to deliver and you were
out and had to rearrange or go to your post office to collect anyway!).
#7 – #9 – Get cash back – 3 different ways to try
There are a few ways to earn cash back when you
shop – which is money for nothing really…
- Cash back sites like quidco and topcashback
(ebates in the us) offer cash back deals when you click through their
site to buy anything. Easy to set up and very worthwhile.
- Pay using a cash back credit card. This comes
with a huge warning though. If you can’t pay the credit card back each
month then avoid this method as it will cost you a lot more than you save.
If you can though, this is a great way to earn a little extra (you can
find credit cards that offer cash, or, like us, use a credit card from a
store you use a lot so you get vouchers from them regularly).
- Use loyalty cards. Stores often give you
vouchers for points, or money off – so if you use a store a lot it’s
definitely worth signing up and using your card!
#10 – Get on the mailing list
If you love a store, and don’t mind getting emails
from them, then it’s worth signing up to their mailing list. Subscribers often
get discounts throughout the year, or knowledge of sales etc…
Very cheeky – but very effective
sometimes. You see – when you are online and you visit websites, the
owners of those sites can track what you look at and how you browse. This
helps a business owner to know what is and isn’t working – so they can better
your customer experience and make sure the products they choose are what you
want to look at – but it can work in your favour a lot of the time too.
You often see that when you’ve been browsing an
online shop, ads for that shop appear on other sites a lot. This is because
they’ve seen you are interested in that product and are happy to pay to
advertise it in front of you again.
If you go one step further and add the item to your
basket, when you are logged into that shop, you may find you get a voucher sent
to you soon afterwards…. Just an idea to try!
Some deals are one off – and others are always
there – it’s just knowing where to look!
·
Amazon do a
“subscribe & save” service where
you can sign up to get regular deliveries of certain items (we use it for some
food items that we can’t get at our local store), and you can earn 5-15%
discount depending on what you buy. Definitely worthwhile to take a look at.
·
You can do
a google search for “coupon code your shop” where you change the
words your shop for the shop you are buying from – and often you will find a
code you can use for a discount. This is so easy, and takes a few minutes only!
·
Buy with
cheaper gift cards. There’s a site called zeek that offers unused gift
cards for less than their face value (they buy ones you don’t want/need and
sell them on). This means that if you check there before you buy – and they
have a gift card for that store – you can buy that card for less than it’s
value and save a little by using it for your shopping. Genius!
·
Check
whether you have the best deal by doing a quick search in google for the
product name you are about to buy. When you click on their shopping tab and
search, you will be able to quickly see if anyone is selling at a lower price.
·
Use a deals
site such as groupon or wowcher for your
shopping. These sites are worth checking regularly – along with a list of
things you’re looking to buy (be careful not to spend on things you don’t
really need as that’s too easy!).
#17 – Buy Second hand – or free!
The beauty of being able to search around from the comfort of your own
living room means you can find out whether you can grab a real bargain very
easily. There are places such as ebay, facebook groups etc… that sell second
hand items that may well be perfect for you instead of paying full price (i
have bought a lot of dresses from ebay in the past which were a bargain, as i
had looked for a dress on there that was out of season that i missed in the
shops.
It was there for a fraction of the rrp, and i found a couple of similar ones while i was there as well. All came to under what i would have paid for that one dress in the shop…). Other things i think are sensible to buy second hand often are kids clothes, books and furniture…
You could also check out freecycle to
see if anyone is giving away a similar item to what you need in your local
area.
