What was your best deal from last year and where did you find it? Where do all these good deals come from? Anyone can find them. Of course, it’s probably a lot easier just to check the Deals Blog, but it’s a pretty satisfying feeling to find one yourself, too! I know that I have learned a lot visiting the Deals Forum here on Families.com. There are some pretty savvy savers over there! If you haven’t been there yet, it’s probably the first step.
One way I find good deals is that I keep an eye open when I’m shopping. Since I mystery shop, I’m out and about a lot. I keep track of store promotions so I can come back later, or if the shop permits, buy the good deal then. When I come upon a good deal, I’ve learned that inaction means it’s usually gone. Yes, I occasionally buy something that I find out I could’ve gotten a better deal, but I shop enough that I’m usually on target.
Another way is to always check the website of a company before you shop. For instance, I love the Magic Erasers. They really work well. But I’m cheap… er, frugal. I don’t think I could bring myself to pay full price for what is, essentially, an extra. Before I do my big monthly shop, I log on, search for products, and print out coupons. Right now, the Magic Eraser coupons are coming in a booklet rather than printable, so I’ll wait for next month’s shop when I have coupon in hand.
I sign up for all of their newsletters. Spam city, right? Sometimes. So I use an email address that is just for deals. It gets a lot of mail. 90% of it isn’t very useful, but the other 10% makes it all worthwhile. You learn pretty quickly what gets deleted without reading. Most companies have figured this out, though, and only send mail when there’s a sale or special promotion. I don’t have a problem with giving out my home address, either. Yes, we get junk mail. Makes great scratch paper. And I love it when I find an unexpected coupon in the mailbox.
Lastly, I check deal websites. In truth, the other methods yield better results for me, but websites are faster. Sometimes ethics are questionable and the language can be a little salty, but there are other people out there looking for and finding deals.
My best deal last year happened by accident. I was mystery shopping Staples and needed to make a small purchase. Foohy markers were on clearance for $2. Very cute stuff. The front of the package had this cute monkey with “5 points” on him. I read the back and found that I could earn great stuff for collecting the points – including an iPod. Quick calculations. I needed 200 points or 40 packages. That meant $80 worth of markers for a free iPod Nano. Great deal, right? I realized that I had a lot of empty ink cartridges and coupons. So I bought them in groups of five for $10 – less the three ink coupon maximum per transaction for a total of $1. We called and drove around all of western Washington looking for Foohy markers and found the exact amount! Eight groups of 5 for $1 each plus ink cartridges. $8 for an iPod (plus gas, of course). It was my son David’s big Christmas present this year.
I didn’t see this on any deal website and would probably have missed it if I wasn’t actively paying attention. The deals are out there. We just have to keep our eyes open.