This is a collaborative post.
When you’re trying to live frugally, the prospect of making new purchases is almost scary. You hate the idea of parting with more money, yet it’s something you can’t always avoid. So, instead of worrying about spending money, why don’t you focus on saving it? Here are some of my favourite tips to help you save money whenever you buy something new.
Always compare prices
Price comparison is very easy in modern times. For general purchases, you can visit loads of websites that let you type in a product and see comparisons across the board. You’ll instantly find the cheapest option, helping you save a lot of money.
The same goes for bigger and less frequent purchases as well. When buying car insurance, use a specific car insurance comparison website. Thinking about buying a house? Well, using a mortgage broker will allow you to easily compare different rates and deals. It’s such an effortless way of ensuring you don’t make a big mistake and spend more money than you should.
Shop during sales seasons
Naturally, different businesses have sales throughout the year. In the case of some furniture stores, sales can happen all-year-round!
Generally, all businesses will have sales at specific points in the year. The most obvious one is Black Friday, but you also have Christmas sales, January sales, and some Spring sales around Easter as well. If you shop during the sales seasons, you will always save money. It’s a clever and easy way of acquiring goods without paying full price for them.
Look for special deals
Similarly, be on the search for any unique deals before you buy something. There are lots of websites that will help you spot the best deals around. Places like HotUKDeals are a great place to begin as you can search for products and see all the latest offers.
It’s basically a forum where other people post about any specific deals they’ve found. This is a niche way of unearthing some hidden gems and saving lots of money.
Get cashback
Hardly anyone takes advantage of cashback when making online purchases. Places like Quidco and Topcashback will literally give you money back on your purchases. People think there’s some hidden catch, but there isn’t. Before you buy anything, use either of these sites to search for the retailer and see if they have a cashback offer. It may only be as little as 1%, but the rates vary from place to place.
If you click on the site via the cashback provider, it logs your visit. Then, you pay for your goods and get an email saying that your cashback has been tracked. It can take some time before the money is available, but you will regain some of what you spent. Effectively, you get a discount on your purchase, but the money is given to you instead of being taken off the total price.
The next time you have to buy something, try any of these money-saving ideas. Believe me, they’ll help you save a lot of cash and keep your finances in great shape.
Julia says
When using a cashback site you might need to check your settings are set to allow tracking . It may be the default setting on devices anyway – but always worth checking.
Using ad-blockers might also cause problems for such sites too.