If you’re like me you like to get a good deal on something. Wait, let me rephrase that. Most people like a good deal, but if you’re like me then you want that great deal. But how do you get it? How do you know where to look? Or what do you need to do in order to get these deals? I’ll try to answer these questions and more.
Deal on “anything” ? What is anything?
Yah, so this is a pretty broad subject. As it’s the best deal on “anything”. It could be your phone bill, or your cable bill. It could be a new tv or a new car. It could be getting lawn service or It could even be your lunch. It doesn’t matter because the main idea of what you need to do is the same. Once you understand that you’ll be able to get great deals everywhere. A pre warning though, you do have to put in a bit of effort. If you don’t like putting in some effort to save money then quit reading now. Otherwise, let’s get to it.
Example of how you can get a good deal on food
The best way for me to tell you how to get a great deal on anything is to just give you some examples. After looking at a few examples you should be able to see a similar pattern in each situation even though they are for very different things.
Let’s start with lunch. Everybody needs to eat. If I could afford it I would have food cooked and delivered all the time. Well, maybe not all the time, but a lot more than I do now. However, even if you’re on a budget and you get most of your lunches made from grocery store items there are times when you’ll want to eat out. Maybe you just want some “bad for you” fast food. But you don’t want to pay full price. I hate paying full price too. So how do you go about lowering your meal price short of getting up and leaving and not paying for the meal? It’s really not that hard if you plan beforehand.
That’s the key though, you need to plan ahead. If you plan ahead then you’re not just going somewhere at random without a discount. You can easily do this if you get everything ready beforehand for places that you know you like to eat. Say, for example, you know that you like to eat at Chick-fil-A, Burger king, and that local mexican restaurant near your office. How can you plan ahead?
How to plan ahead and save money on lunch, gift cards
The first thing you should do is search around online for gift cards for these restaurants. Why? Because you can buy them for less than what they are worth. For example, if you did a quick search for “burger king giftcard” you’d find a few places that sell them for 10-20% off the list price. That means you can buy a $50 giftcard for around $40-$45. Just use your credit card and earn points on your purchase towards the gift card purchase and then you can use the giftcard at BK.
I’m not going to get into where and how you can find these gift cards right now, but you should know that you can find them for almost anywhere. Especially big name restaurants and retailers. If you know this one thing and do this alone it should save you some cash, but we’re not done yet.
Use those coupons!
Ok people, you need to use those coupons you get in the mail. Stop throwing them away. (although if you do that people like Kristen Bell might be upset that she can’t find that bed bath and beyond coupon in the recycle bin) But really, if you would take a look, every now and then you’ll get coupons mailed to you from restaurants and retailers in your area.
And if they’re not mailing you any coupons then all you need to do is contact them through email and let them know that you want coupons mailed to your address. Just go to their site, let them know that you love the restaurant, store, or whatever, and that you wish you had coupons sent to your house. They’ll happily send you something. I’ve done this numerous times with all sorts of stores and restaurants. The really good ones with send you really good coupons.
Use the rewards program!
Ok, so you’re saving money with lower cost giftcards, and you’re using coupons. Great! Don’t stop yet though. If they have a rewards program that is free to join then join it! Chick-fil-A has the Chick-fil-A One app program where you can earn points on every purchase which will then earn you free food. Other restaurants and stores will have similar type programs that reward you for eating or shopping there, or even giving you free stuff on your birthday (yes that’s very common and real). Don’t be lazy, use those programs.
How else can you lower your dinner bill?
Put gift cards and coupons in your back pocket and remember to use them whenever you can, but you should also know that you can buy discounted meals from places like restaurant.com and groupon. I just checked restaurant.com for my local area and I found a mexican restaurant that has a $10 gift certificate selling for $4. That’s 60% in savings.
Finding “coupons” like this, or like restaurant.com likes to call them “certificates”, is not uncommon. Groupon will do similar type deals. The catch is that you need to read the fine print. Sometimes they don’t allow you to go eat on weekends. Or they might require that you eat in. Just read thoroughly before you buy.
What if you have that burger king coupon but forgot it at home?
There will be a time that you have a coupon but you forget to bring it with you. When this happens you can either pay full price or you can just ask a manager if you can still get the discount. Sometimes the manager will let it slide and other times not, but you lose nothing when you ask. I’ve gone through the drive thru many times for many different fast food places and I’ve told them that I had a coupon for such and such and they would then give me the discounted price. You’d be surprised at what you can get if you’re just nice and polite. Of Course, this doesn’t always work, but it can be a last resort.
Use the same money saving concepts at retailers
These tips and tricks used to get lunch can also be used to buy things from places like Walmart or Lowes. Find a cheaper giftcard to use, look for coupons, sign up for the rewards program and use them in combination. Doing this will rack up the savings. With retailers though you have a couple more things you can do that you can’t really do, or as easily do, at restaurants.
Buy online with cashback programs and coupons
When I need to buy something from lowes I usually shop online because I can find great coupons to use online that save me more money. I can routinely find 20% off, $10 off $50, and even $15 off $50 coupons for lowes with a quick google search. Some of these coupons are online only so I have to purchase online and then pickup at the store. I don’t mind doing that, and actually prefer it because then I don’t have to search all around the store to find everything.
Sometimes though you’re just out and you want to see the items at Lowes before you make the purchase. In this case I would go to customer service and ask someone there, preferably a manager, if they will let you use the online coupon with a store purchase. I have done this numerous times without issue.
I tell them that I have the coupon at home and that it is for an online purchase but I wanted to come into the store to see the items first, and I was planning to go back home and make the purchase online, but I was hoping to just make the purchase in store today so I can avoid the back and forth. A good manager will take the coupon to get your business now. All they ask for is the numeric code that is attached for your coupon that you would have used online. I’ve used this same strategy at other stores as well and a lot of the time they will want my business and take the online coupon in store.
The other thing you can do with an online purchase that I like is that you can click through cashback sites to earn more cash on your purchase. It’s usually not much, maybe 1-2%, but it’s still something that adds up over time. This can be too much of an extra hassle for some people, but really once you setup your account with one site you can be good to go from then on. Sites like ebates.com and mrrebates.com come to mind, but there’s a host of other options and too much to get into within this post alone. I’ll have to fill you in on more specifics in the future, but just know that it is an options to save some more money.
Haggle for the best price
If haggling isn’t in your DNA then skip this part, but if you’re a savvy shopper you can bargain prices down for almost anything. There is nothing wrong with trying, and the worst they can do is say no.
The easiest things to haggle on will be items that are slightly damaged or if they’re the last items of older inventory that a store is trying to get rid of. I’ve just recently seen my mother do this, also at Lowes, and it was for some patio chairs that were on clearance.
My mother asked for a manager to speak with about the patio chairs and when he got out there she told him that she wanted to buy the rest of them, which was 3 of them, but she wanted to get them for a lower price. She made him an offer and he accepted. She ended up getting them about 75% off of list price. They were advertised for 50% off when she made the offer. The key is to be nice and polite. The manager has discretion here, and they don’t have to sell you whatever it is for whatever price if they don’t want to. If you’re a good negotiator though you may really come out ahead.
Best deals Part 2 to come
That should about cover restaurants and retailers, but tune in next time where I talk more about things like cable bills, phone bills, or even getting tree service for a discount.