Throughout the year, new models/versions of merchandise are released. Before the new merchandise is sold in stores, the stores need to reduce their inventory of the old items. Offering deep discounts in the form of sales and/or rebates to reduce the inventory. Watch for the advertisements indicating a big price reduction on electronics, computer hardware and software, cars, furniture, appliances, and many more items. The advertisements give you the opportunity of saving money by purchasing the item whose price is reduced or by giving you advance notice that a newer item, which may be of more interest to you, will be on sale.
Take advantage of a company's frequent business discount card program. Every time you purchase an item, present your card to be stamped or punched. After a certain number of purchases, you will receive a free gift. Other cards are scanned each time you make a purchase to maintain a record of your spending history for demographic and marketing purposes, record your purchases to offer a future discount, and/or to receive discounts at the time of purchase. Some cards require an application to be filled out so they can inform you of future discounts and advertisements and to obtain your demographic information. Answering all the questions are not required to receive the card, therefore answer only what you want to reveal. You may be notified when you've reached a certain total spending amount to receive a discount coupon on an additional purchase. The intention is to entice you to spend more money at their store on an item(s) you don't really need. Don't spend more money at the store for the sake of spending money; simply purchase what you need to take advantage of the offer.
A disadvantage with the discount cards is that they must be presented at the time of purchase to receive the discount. Also, keeping track of all the discount cards can be a cumbersome effort. No one said you would always receive something for free without first putting forth some kind of effort. Take advantage of the discount opportunities offered to you!
Many people are stuck in a routine of only shopping at specific stores. Get out of that routine and look around for better opportunities at other stores. Watch for advertisements offering price reductions and coupons. Look for ways to make your money work for you, not against you.
Many stores, particularly the ones in a competitive market, provide discount coupons in the mail and in the local newspaper(s). The coupons will provide a monetary discount for each item purchased, a monetary discount if a certain amount of merchandise is purchased, or even a percentage discount off your total bill. The store coupon can be combined with a manufacturers discount to reduce the price even further. Utilize the coupons to your advantage by purchasing the minimum required to obtain the maximum discount.
Many companies on the Internet offer discount opportunities and several companies organize that information for you to access quickly and easily. Some of the discounts are offered as a means to entice the consumer to try their product or service with the intention of the consumer returning if they like that product or service. http://www.weeklyfreebie.com, http://www.coolsavings.com, http://www.mycoupons.com, and http://www.freeshop.com offer free products, trail offers, coupons, and/or discounts at their web site and through regularly emailed newsletters. http://www.salesmountain.com and http://www.shoppinglist.com provides the opportunity to view the current sales for many stores in your area along with providing links for manufacturer rebates.
An Internet site for online shopping is http://www.mysimon.com. Simply enter the item you are searching, then any stores offering that item will be displayed along with the price. Simply pick the one with the lowest price (also consider the shipping charges). You'll find many items at a discount (typically no sales tax) even after the shipping charges compared to the stores you usually shop and pay sales tax. If you have a problem with the item, simply return it to the site or to the manufacturer. If you made your purchase around a holiday season, you can typically return your "gift" to a store you didn't purchase from to receive a replacement. You won't be able to get your money back without a receipt, but you will typically be provided store credit instead. Another option is to purchase the item either via http://www.eBay.com or http://www.half.com. half.com is an eBay.com site selling items at a set price (not an auction) on behalf of other consumers. You can also sell many items of your own on that site. Check them out to understand them better.
Look at the advertisements in the Sunday paper for drug, office supply, computer, or electronic stores offering partial or full rebates for many products. Simply purchase the item plus tax, mail the rebate form, then wait for a check reimbursing you for the purchase price. If available, use coupons or discounts offered to purchase the item at a discount, but receive reimbursement for the purchase price before the discount resulting in the company paying you to purchase the item. Also consider purchasing items you will not use and then donate them to charity. You will receive reimbursement for the rebate along with receiving payment from the IRS due to the tax write-off along with providing someone the opportunity to use an item they would otherwise not be able to purchase. You can even sell the rebate items on eBay.com or half.com for a profit.
Reduce your costs for batteries by purchasing rechargeable batteries for high use items such as digital cameras, beepers, PDA's, and electronic games. The batteries are about five times the cost of regular batteries, but will last hundreds of times longer. Don't use them for low use items such as clocks because you will probably wear out the batteries before you can recoup the expense.
Shop at garage or yard sales. Many people get rid of very good and slightly used merchandise for a much lower price than can be found in stores. You could even sell the items found at a garage sale on eBay for a huge profit in many cases. A great idea for people who are purchasing new homes to save money purchasing items necessary to care for that new home. If you have items you want to get rid of, consider donating to a charity. Many instances will result in receiving more money due to the tax refund than can be received if you try to sell the item yourself.
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