There are so many “deals” available when shopping, it becomes confusing as to what is actually a good deal to grab! People will get caught up in the moment and the power of marketing that they could get caught up in an impulse buy as a result. This actually could be a pretty expensive outgoing on things that may not even be needed. The power of marketing can be really high, and people are sometimes convinced that they are missing out on a once in a lifetime opportunity to make the purchase so jump on it. It is important to take a step back and think of the marketing techniques these companies are making to make you think this. There are a lot of good ways to get shopping deals and we have tried to list some below.
Voucher Codes / Cashback
If you are purchasing things online, then you are in a powerful position as you are not confined to checking out one site at a time. If you do become loyal to a specific store though then it is important to check online if there are any voucher codes available that will give you discount either specific product you purchase from that store or even from the overall bill. These vouchers are pretty common and there are specific voucher code websites that will give you lots of different codes for different sites.
In addition to this, there are cashback sites available where you can get money back for what you spend. These are usually free to join and have a large range of shopping sites you can use. How this would normally work is that you log into your cashback site and then you would click on the link from here to take you to the specific shopping site to make your purchase. The tracking from the link is crucial in order have complete traceability of the purchase. If you don’t do this then you will not be able to get the cashback. The cashback site will then probably take a few weeks (or sometimes months) to completely finish the transactional part and will then credit your money to the account. This could be a couple of percent cashback or something far greater. Leave it there for a while or withdraw it to your bank account. This is easy money for nothing that not many people take full advantage of!
Mobile Phones
When shopping for a mobile phone it is really important to shop around. Getting stuck into a contract for a period of 18 to 24 months could be a costly outgoing and something that may seem right at the time, but your circumstances may change in a month or two. A great alternative to this is to Compare SIM only deals where you are not stuck into any complicated contract. If you Compare SIM only deals online, then you are likely to see that you can get ones from as little as £5. Depending on your mobile phone use in terms of data and minutes will determine how much this will cost but for most people this is suffice. This compares to paying £30, £40 or even £50 a month for a mobile phone contract!
For the SIM deals, you will need to have your own phone as this does not come part of the deal (although on their sites they will no doubt have phones for sale). If you are ok with not keeping up with the latest and greatest trends and getting a phone that is maybe a year or two old, you can get really good prices on these. Generally, all these phones will do everything you need them to do (which nowadays is a lot more than just call and text people) therefore make sure you have a good shop around.
Bulk Buying
When you buy an individual item that costs say £10, you are far more likely to get a better deal if you were to purchase 10 of those items. Discounts on bulk buys are pretty common and trade stores are also a great way to get some of these discounts. It is hard to try and get this sort of discount on food as it will only have a certain shelf product, but this could be applicable on things such as toilet roll, paper towels and bath products.
If the store is not offering the discounts on this then you could look to haggle slightly. This may seem embarrassing and uncomfortable at first but at the end of the day, the store is wanting your custom and most will be happy to give a small discount for a big purchase buy. Give it a go!
Branded Items
When it comes to food shopping, people are usually stuck with their own specific brands that they like and are more likely to not move from this. This is also a result of some of the marketing techniques from the products where you will see them plastered all over the TV and internet. It is not always the case though that the more you spend on a specific food item that it will be of better quality. In fact, some of the studies have shown that for some of the items that are store branded, are manufactured from the exact same place as the high priced more “quality” brands. As such, you are sometimes just really paying for the packaging. This is not always the case though and for things such as meat, it could be poorer quality, but it is worth investigating and do not automatically go to the top shelf to purchase your food, maybe look at the supermarket brands nearer the bottom shelves.
Bargain Shops
Supermarkets like Aldi and Lidl are now far more popular in the UK than every before. When these first came to the UK, it took some time for people to get used to them but now, they are everywhere and are continuing to grow in size. It is good to see that these companies are getting a much larger share of the market growth where they will offer food and drink generally at much cheaper prices than conventional supermarkets.
There are also other bargain shops such as Poundland that has a certain stigma attached to it where people may be “embarrassed” to go into them, however, if you manage to get over yourself and swallow your pride, you may find that you could save a lot of money. These stores are specifically good for cheaper household items such as bath soaps, candles and some food items.
Summary
Hopefully these points will allow you to think about some of the potential savings that you could make. Some of these are life choices that may affect your lifestyle whilst others are simply just making different, sensible choices that give benefits. The internet is a very powerful source of information and will be able to give you great ways to save cash if you take a browse. Do not be drawn into the marketing power and making the incorrect choices via impulse buys.
