#2 Use Coupons More
For many things in life a coupon can be a great way to save a lot of money. Grocery store coupons are usually small and not really worth it but there are plenty of big ticket coupons that save huge amounts of money, and these coupons can often be used with price matching to make for stellar results. In this economy many businesses offer coupons and many of these coupons are just begging for you to come in the door.
My favorite coupons are the ones where you spend a set amount at a store and then receive a dollar amount off. Even better is when you can simply print these as you like. For example the other day Cabela’s sent me a coupon for $20 off of a $100 purchase. It was a coupon that could basically be printed as many times as you like. The key to these coupons is to first price match, to get the best deal, or buy the things that are really on sale to start out with. I bought Ammo, they had a great deal on it and they had it in stock which is rare, add that with $20 off makes the best ammo deal. Staples, and OfficeMax also send them out via email, sometimes even $20 off a $50 purchase. I also get them in the mail from time to time. And when you don’t have one you can often use Google to find a valid one online. I often thought about how easy it would be to print out 100 of these and sell them to people who are ready to check out for half of the face value, what an easy way to make money. The key to the best deals is to always sign up for their free email newsletters. GoDaddy has so many good coupons that I never buy from them unless I use one.
The next coupons that I love are the restaurant ones. Many restaurants want you to visit them, at least once, so they give away coupons. Many are buy-one-get-one-free. You simply go there, order two entries and only pay for one. My favorite of these is a small burrito restaurant near my house called Moe’s. It is nice and upscale, and they send me at least 4 coupons each month in various publications, on top of that the food and environment is awesome. It gets even better, I can go online to the Az Clipper website, find their coupon and print as many out as I like, and they NEVER expire. So awesome!
I receive a ton of great coupons in the mail, this is where I get most of the good restaurant deals. But there is much more than just restaurants that do this, there are dentists, auto repair shops, car washes and much much more that will let you bring a coupon and get a huge discount.
Almost every publication that sends out print coupons also has a website where you can download and print unlimited coupons for free. Az Clipper is one of the best, but it is only in Arizona. SavvyShopper is another good publication with national reach, their coupons are located at couponclipper.com. Money Mailer and ValPak are national companies that send out lots of coupons in one envelope, and you can search and print all the coupons. You can even do this for areas you don’t live in, great for traveling!
Another interesting site that I like is called 8coupons. Basically they gather up all the deals they can find, including online circulars and post them in one place. You video a map of your location and click on the deals to see what is there. It does not have all of the best local deals but has many of the national chain and online deals. It also has ton’s of really dumb things like listing dollar menu items from McDonalds or Burger King as a deal alert, those are the prices everyday with no coupon needed.
For the person who eats out a lot these links and ideas can really save you a ton of money. I know more than one person who does not even buy much food for their home, they eat out almost every meal because it just is cheaper. It also saves me money on oil changes, car washes, bowling and much more.
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