As with many financial-related advice we give you here at The Bargain Radar, planning and organizing yourself and your financial decisions is always close to the top of the list. The best way to think about using cashback, rebate and coupon sites, plus some choice browser extensions when you are looking for deals, is not as ‘additional’ purchases but where you can use them to lower the cost of what you would be buying anyway.
CASHBACK!
Christmas is coming and there is a huge range of cashback sites that you can use to lower the cost of exactly what you would have spent, just by buying through your account. Swagbucks has over 1,500 retail partners, EBates has saved its users well over $1 billion since it launched in 1999. MyPoints allows you to build up points across nearly 2,000 partners.
So, if you were going to buy the latest toy for your son or daughter, or some beautiful silk sheets for your Auntie anyway, set up an account on one of these sites, go and buy the items through them and watch the points and cashback $$s rack up.
TopCashBack, ShopAtHome, Trim! There are so many options out there for you to find great deals, save money on your day-to-day life and spending. If you are on a health kick and want to buy only healthy products, BerryCart is a great option, focusing on grocery stores and outlets specializing in Organic, non-GMO, Gluten-Free options.
For more savings on your grocery bill, check out the iBotta app, or Checkout 51! Both will give you cashback from your current grocery bill. Even crazier is the Paribus app. It tracks your purchases for up to a week AFTER you buy them for any subsequent price drops and actually credits you back the difference!
Check out more details about grocery deals here.
A lot of the rebate/cashback sites will offer some printable coupons for big brand stores. RetailMeNot is one of the most established, working with Bed, Bath & Beyond and JC Penney.
COUPONS!
In terms of getting deals on events-based coupons in your area, Groupon is the Daddy and Mummy of all sites. You can find deals on restaurants, vacations around the globe, entertainment events, massages and ‘experiences’ like spa deals. Additionally, Groupon has a huge network of stores in its arsenal where you can find discounted coupons for Amazon, Target, Walmart and many other household names.
Similar to Groupon is Living Social, that also covers many of the areas Groupon does, plus day-to-day activities like cash washes, oil changes and parking services. Both sites claim that you can earn, in many cases, up to 70% off with their coupons.
The Coupons.com site and app is another great option that provides you with printable and paperless coupons and coupon codes across brands like Pampers, Ziploc, Purina, Old Navy – the list is almost endless!
If you want to gather all your potential deals in one place and even set up alerts based on your specific interests and need, there are a few great ‘Deal Community’ sites that will do this for you. Slickdeals is the best-known. Once you sign up and set your preferences, the site will deliver you alerts when deals or coupons come available. They have a huge range, including the areas we have already mentioned, plus Credit Cards, Tech, Video Games and TV deals. There is a very useful blog and you can start planning for your Black Friday savings! Other sites that also provide a similar service are Brad’s Deals, Gotta Deal and DealNews.com! You are never going to miss any amazing bargains and deals!
BROWSER EXTENSIONS!
If you don’t even want to have to open an alert or go to your saved sites to find your deals, there are also several great products called Browser Extensions. The market leaders here are Honey and Wikibuy! What you do is give the product permission to download onto your browser – be that Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, or whatever you use. Once they are installed, they will recognize what website you are currently on and pop up coupon code, deals and savings directly to you and even add apply the code into the Promo Code section of your shopping cart. It’s an amazing device and makes saving and finding deals as simple as it can be.
