19 May 08 Shopping For Saving More
Introduction:
I was recently reading a news story at CNN.com where it was told that a lady, mother of 15-month old son, has to consider working few extra hours besides her forty hours a week day job to combat with the rising prices, and in particular, sky-high gas prices. It has been the case with many others, who are either reducing fuel consumption, or trying to earn some extra cash in order to cope up with this situation. But actually with little bit of extra effort anybody can save a decent amount from his/her total monthly shopping bills. Today I would like to share some tips on how to save more money while shopping.
Refurbs, Replicas, and Used Goods
If you are not too much inclined to buying brand new goods why not consider refurbished goods, replicas, or even take a look at those used stuff! You can really save a big amount on your furniture, gadgets, and appliances purchases from stores listing refurbished items. There are a lot of refurbished products available, which do not lag far behind than their OEM counterparts, and often supported by adequate Warranty. On the other hand replicas will allow you to save handsome amount on your purchases like designer handbags, brand name sunglasses, belts, jewelry, wrist watches and similar other accessories. And for purchase of Textbooks, CD/DVD, or Music Videos always try to find used one instead of brand new item. There are a lot of online stores where you can find used items, which are as good as new ones but at a fraction price.
Auctions
Obviously, you can try your luck with auction, and if you are fortunate you can get any item at incredibly low price. Although, I must appreciate that there is no guarantee that yours will be the winning bid.
Paper Coupons - Learn how to organize these precious collectibles
My next advice is to collect coupons. When you are reading your daily newspaper, or visiting a restaurant just do not ignore the paper coupons that are available. Simply collect them and store them in a separate folder. You can organize your coupons by storing them in different compartments of that folder, like Groceries, Gifts, Food and beverages, Restaurant or Travel coupons. If you have a big wall calendar with organizer, most likely there must be a compartment for keeping your coupons when you are in a rush. Instead of filling that place with waste papers, store these precious collectibles there. Now while going on for shopping, or for an outing, just do not forget to take them with you. For those who are rather forgetful, I would advise you to store these money savers in a compartment inside your own handbag that you carry with you for most of the time.
Digital Coupon Codes - Free & Friendly
On the other hand use of digital coupons do not cost you any extra time to organize, and you can make full use of it at the right time. There are a lot of websites where you can find bunch of coupons, either allowing storewide discount, or special discount offers on select products. Usually, all you need to do is to copy the code, and paste the same at the check out after making a purchase from the same store. These digital coupons are great but often very short-lived! They are active only within a stipulated time. If you find a coupon that does not work, check its expiry date at the first instance. Also check whether its activation time has actually arrived or not.
Promotional Links - Click & Save
Moreover, you can save more money by using promotional links. These links will direct you to a store, or a product where you can get the item at a discount price. Such links are available in a lot of websites for free.
Credit Cards - Choose the right company
You can really save more money by using your credit cards for nearly every purchase. Companies offering discounts on purchases for using their credit cards are not very difficult to find.
Free Shipping - No more shipping bills
If you shop online, you can even save your shipping charges by looking for websites that offer free shipping. Usually you need to purchase over a specific amount to avail this offer. Do not forget to prepare your shopping list accordingly. This offer is great particularly for heavyweight items like furniture, home appliances, computer, printers etc.
Communities - Let your friends help you
Above all, lots of social shopping projects have recently come onto surface, where members suggest, discuss, and share information on money saving deals. If you can be a part of such a community, you are most likely to find nearly any item at a discount price. Also, peep into the blogosphere, where people like you and me, stay-at-home Moms, College Students, or University Professors are sharing their invaluable tips based on their personal experience, which are very useful to give a check to expanding expenses.
Last Word
To conclude, I must say that there is no shortage of information available in the Internet on price saving deals, but the only problem is that you need to get access to the information before a deal has expired. Performance of generic search engines in this regard may not be that much reliable as most of the great deals expire so soon, even before being crawled, and indexed by a search engine crawler. Therefore, it is always advisable to bookmark websites, which you can rely upon for information on rebates, discounts and other offers. You can obviously subscribe to rss feeds, or free email newsletter services available in those websites so as to get the alerts of a new deal as soon as it arrives.
For a list of ongoing deals on products from hundreds of stores indexed under over five hundred categories, please visit: fancy-shoppe.com - e-Shopping Magazine for daily listing of lowest price deals, coupons, free shipping, cash back and more offers suggested by a community of active members.
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