I can’t pay full-price for anything. It’s some type of genetic mutation that definitely came from my mom’s side of the family. My grandma was a yard-sale warrior and would buy things for a nickel on the dollar. My mom hasn’t bought a non-sale item since 1976. We’re freaks.
I like finding deals. I’m not much for yard sales because I can’t stand sifting through piles of garbage to find a rare gem, but I’ll gladly sift through the interwebs to find a good deal (yes, I see the irony). Here’s my precursor to what I won’t do to save a buck:
- Sign up for a ton of services where I get a penny back for every thousand dollars I spend. I know that works for some people, but it’s just not worth my time.
- Buy crap I don’t need. This defeats the purpose of saving money buying things online. If I wasn’t going to buy something in the first place, I’m not going to buy it just because it’s on sale. You didn’t save any money if you bought something you didn’t need. So if you were hoping for a post with pictures of me holding a coupon purse with an online shopping cart full of 300 packages of toilet paper and 10 cases of Heinz ketchup, I’m sorry to disappoint you.
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With those disclaimers out of the way, here’s where I turn and how I work when it comes to finding a good deal.
Automated
PriceBlink plugin for Chrome and Firefox
This plugin automatically tells you if there’s a better deal on another site online when you’re shopping anywhere. You can also set up automatic alerts for purchases. When PriceBlink finds a certain item for a price below what you’ve chosen, you’ll get an email with a link of where to purchase it. This is awesome for items you buy regularly (like razor blades and whey protein [flexing] for me).
Sign up for store newsletters but don’t let them clog your inbox.
I hate getting a ton of deals emails that I have to sift through. So, I use Gmail filters to automatically archive those newsletters, put them all under a “Newsletters” label, and leave them unread until I have time to get through them. This means I can still get good deals without sacrificing productivity and I just look when I have time. More details on what filters I use exactly are coming in a post soon.
Use IFTTT to generate deal-specific emails
IFTTT is a site that automatically completes a task when it is triggered. (Hence, If this, then that)
I use this specifically to generate an email from an RSS feed. Basically, if there’s a deal site that I don’t want to check regularly but I want to get notified immediately of certain deals (like Amazon gift cards sold at a discount, Starbucks deals, etc.) I can have IFTTT send an email when it sees certain terms in a post. Here’s an example I set up for when airlines have a credit card deal for lots of free bonus miles (read: free flights). Here’s the recipe if you want it for yourself.
Everyday products at slickdeals.net
Everyday products (like toilet paper and razor blades), tech stuff, and the occasional speciality item like whey protein (get over the protein, man) are posted with discounts and links on this site. You can make this automated using a similar recipe that I used above, plugging in whatever terms you want (toilet paper, razor blades, a certain brand, etc.) to get emails when that type of item is posted.
Christian books at GospeleBooks.net
There are a lot of books I’m not interested in, but the few a week that I do want that are completely free or on-sale for a deep discount on Kindle. Again, you could automate this with IFTTT by putting in certain author names (like John Piper) and anytime a book is posted by that author on the site you’d receive an email. Delicious book deals in your inbox.
The cheapest flights at Kayak.com
You can adjust when you’re leaving over the span of a few days or a month if you’re really flexible, and check surrounding airports for different prices. A one-stop shop for airfare needs. Also, you can set automatic emails for price drops and price updates to be sent to you daily or weekly.
Discounted gift cards at PlasticJungle.com
Just because your favorite store or restaurant isn’t having a sale doesn’t mean you can’t still get a discount. Pick up gift cards for 5% – 20% off at Plastic Jungle and purchase them in varying amounts. If you’re looking to dump some gift cards you’ll never use, sell them on Plastic Jungle and get cash or an extra bonus if you take it in the form of an Amazon gift card. I’ve sold and bought cards on Plastic Jungle, and it works great. You can also have automatic alerts set up so you receive an email notification when new gift cards from your favorite stores appear.
Not-So-Automated
Follow deal finders on Twitter
I always know when Amazon has sales or MP3s or books because my friends sell their soul for a buck, err, send a tiny tweet for free Amazon credit. A couple of my favorite are AmazonMP3, Gospel eBooks and Christian Digital Deals.
Like your favorite brands’ Facebook Pages
InCase is one of my favorite designers of backpacks and gear for tech items. Their stuff is completely overpriced normally, but when their Facebook page hit 40K likes, they had a 40% off sale with free shipping. We cashed in on that.
Find coupons and discount codes
Retail Me Not has saved me a few dollars here and there. Not every site has coupon codes active, but if they do and there is a current code, this site will definitely have those coups listed.
Amazon Subscribe & Save
With certain products on Amazon, you can “Subscribe” and you get a 15% discount for setting up automatic future shipments. However, you can cancel your subscription even after your first order and still receive the discount. Look for the option on the right side of the page, normally somewhere under the quantity. Here’s the main page for subscribe and save, and you can search items from there. Pilot G2s for subscribe and save? Yes, please.
Google like a madman
This is huge. Before you buy anything online search for coupon codes for X, discounts for X, sales on X. If there are any coupon codes or discounts on the Internet anywhere, you’ll find them this way.
Buy Older generations of electronics.
No, you won’t have the best, coolest, most impressive version of something, but that’s not always possible when you’re trying to save cash. We saved a ton by purchasing Niki’s laptop from Macmall.com and getting a generation older that still had great specs.
Download paid apps for free
There are lots of apps that tell you when apps drop in price or are offered for free for a day (like AppShopper and App Gratis). I don’t check these too regularly because they normally list game apps I don’t care about, but if you’re an app hound, definitely check these out.