How to Save Money While Shopping

1. Almost never buy the extended warranty on an electronic device for these reasons.
2. Throw catalogs out the second you receive them. Make it a rule.  Don’t open them… ever.
3. Buy online instead of in stores. If you see something you love in a store, copy important details about the product and see if you can find it for less online later.  In addition to allowing you to comparison shop, shopping online will let you view product reviews and search for coupon codes, both of which are covered in this list.
4. Buy gifts from the “Bargain Books” sections of Borders and Barnes and Noble. These sections often contain coffee table books, photo books, book gift sets and cookbooks.  You can get brand new hardcover photo books for $3-$10, marked down from $50 in many cases.
5. Buy irregular or overstocked items from TJ Maxx and Marshalls.
6. Join a number of group buying websites. Sites like GroupOn.com and LivingSocial.com send one daily deal to your email.  This is one of the best ways to save money and learn about new businesses in your area. If over a certain amount of people buy the deal, then the deal is active and can be used (i.e. you can buy $30 worth of cookies at a local bakery if 100 people purchase the deal for $15 — a 50% discount — as long as at least 99 other people buy the deal as well).  If not enough people buy the deal, then your money is refunded.  Here is a list of over 115 group buying sites, but GroupOn.com and LivingSocial.com are by far the most popular.
7. Buy group buying coupons from aftermarket sites. Groupon coupons and other coupons from group buying sites help you save money, but you can get these coupons even cheaper than you can from the websites themselves.  There are two group buying coupon aftermarkets that allow you to buy group buying coupons from other people, often at a steep discount.  They are: CoupRecoup.com and DealsGoRound.com.
8. Coordinate with friends to make bulk purchases. Do you have a small family?  Don’t miss out on being able to make bulk purchases; just do so with friends or neighbors.  If there’s a great deal at your local wholesale store on packages of 40 rolls of paper towels, buy the paper towels, take 20 rolls each and split the costs.
9. Use your partial gift cards on retailers’ websites. A lot of stores will only let you use one payment method, but websites often let you use a gift card and then a credit card for the balance that the gift card cannot cover.
10. Buy cheap pet food. I find it shocking how much people will spend on “organic pet food,” etc.  Not only is there no conclusive evidence to support the belief that more expensive pet food is healthier for your animals, but at the end of the day, your dog is a dog.  It might be wonderful, but it drinks from the toilet; it doesn’t care how much its food costs.
11. Make your own gifts. If you want to give a gift that will really be remembered, this is one of the best ways to save money. Just be careful to ensure that the cost of your supplies is less than the cost of buying a gift.
12. Always ask for refurbished models when buying electronics. Refurbished models are models that have been sold, returned (sometimes because of a defect, sometimes because of a change in preference), restored to the quality of a regular model and offered at a steep discount.  They are often sold with warranties that resemble those of their brand new counterparts.
13. Visit Woot.com. Woot.com offers one daily deal, often at a really steep discount.
14. Reframe purchasing decisions for luxury goods in terms of expensive necessary goods. How many diapers is that new pair of designer shoes?  How many school lunches for your kids is that new set of golf clubs?
15. Before you go into a store to buy an appliance, an electronic device, etc., make a list of the features you need. Much like sticking to your grocery list (covered elsewhere on this page), stick to your list of features.  Don’t let the salesperson convince you that you need other features.  If you’ve made a list of features ahead of time and you’re very honest with yourself about what you really need, you’re bound to save money.
16. Always ask to see last year’s appliance models. Though you might only see this year’s washers and dryers on the display floor, there are sometimes older but still 100% functional models in the back.
17. Get coupons for free from Coupons.com or CouponCabin.com.
18. Visit FreeStuff.com for, just as the name suggests, free stuff.
19. Join a FreeCycle.org group (there are +4,000) and get free stuff from people in your city or town.  As the site says, “It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills.”  There’s no cost to be a member.
20. Use FreeShipping.org. This is one of the easiest ways to save money. Before you buy anything online, search FreeShipping.org for a coupon code that will get you free shipping.
21. Don’t buy designer clothing. Is the difference in quality between a $300 pair of Gucci sunglasses and the $15 pair you pick up on vacation really worth the $285 between them?  I didn’t think so.
22. Don’t buy designer sunglasses. It turns out 70% of designer sunglasses brands (i.e. Ray-Ban, Oakley, Bulgari, Dolce and Gabbana, Prada and a lot more) are actually manufactured by the same Italian company.
23. Use coupon codes and promo codes when shopping online. Before you buy anything online, search the retailer’s name and the phrase “coupon code” or “promo code.”  Many online retailers have discount codes for various promotions (like Free Shipping Fridays) and there are websites that aggregate these codes so you can take advantage of them even if you didn’t see the original promotional materials.  You can go straight to the biggest coupon code aggregator — RetailMeNot.com — but I recommend just searching in Google as I described here, as often RetailMeNot.com will come up in the Google results anyway.
24. When shopping for furniture or appliances, buy the display model. If shopping for an in-demand appliance or piece of furniture, see if you can buy the display model.  Sometimes salespeople will sell it to you at a discount.
25. Don’t buy a calculator. Save money by using this web-based scientific one or this web-based basic one.
26. Do your holiday shopping early. If you wait, you could be left paying full price and/or paying for very expensive overnight shipping.  If you’re naturally a procrastinator, try Stickk.com, an anti-procrastination tool.
27. If you buy an item that has a mail-in rebate form, fill it out and send it immediately. Manufacturers that provide mail-in rebate options do so to put obstacles between you and the low advertised price.  Many people don’t fill these forms in and send them at all, which is what manufacturers count on.
28. When shopping online, sort search results so that the top-rated products are displayed first. By sorting product search results by the quality of reviews, you can be sure you’re not going to buy junk.  Without product reviews from other customers, your assessment of quality isn’t really based on much.
29. Avoid expensive delivery fees for large items. If you’re buying a large item like a piece of furniture, you can avoid furniture/large item delivery fees by ordering the item to your local store (usually free) and having someone from TaskRabbit.com or Craigslist drive the item(s) to your house.
30. Buy clothing at consignment stores. This is one of the most time-honored ways to save money. Shop for clothing, costumes, furniture, etc. at consignment stores.
31. See if you can get a discount if you pay with cash. When buying something from a small retailer, always ask if you can get a discount if you pay cash (because if you pay by credit card, the retailer has to pay fees to the credit card company).
32. Will last year’s gadget suffice? If you’re going to buy electronics, always ask yourself if you could use last year’s model.  Compare the features of this year’s model to last year’s product and compare the prices.  Ask yourself: “Are those new features really worth the difference in price to me?”  Additionally, right after a new model of a gadget is released, you can often find 100% functional older generation models on eBay at huge discounts.
33. Research information about major purchases ahead of time; don’t get information at the store. Before buying any major appliance, do your research.  How long will it last?  How much energy will it use?  How much does it cost at other stores?  Don’t get this information from the salesperson; get it from the Internet ahead of time.
34. Buy a book about negotiating strategies. It’ll pay for itself on your first negotiation victory.
35. Buy used DVDs. If you’re going to buy a DVD, save money and always buy it used.  There is absolutely no difference between a used DVD and a new DVD unless you’re giving it to someone as a gift.
36. Comparison shop using ComparisonShop.com. You could use comparison shopping sites like Shopping.com, Google Product Search, Shopzilla.com, NexTag.com, PriceGrabber.com and others.  Or, you could use ComparisonShop.com, which searches 10 different comparison shopping sites at the same time.
37. Don’t buy thank you cards one at a time; buy a whole pack. To the extent you can do this with other types of cards (like birthday cards), do so.  The average price of a card if you buy it individually at a pharmacy is around $3.  For about $5, you can sometimes find up to 25 cards of the same type.
38. Keep a list of all items you need to buy (like a grocery list, but not just for the grocery store). Make sure you put everything on there (everything from cheap pens to an expensive pair of shoes). Not only will seeing the large number of upcoming purchases all in one place naturally cause you to reduce your list, but adding this step between buying impulse and actual purchase will allow you to think about whether or not you actually need this item.  TaDaList.com is a great free online to do list tool that works well for this.
39. Use Swap.com. Trade nearly anything (books, video games, CDs, movies, etc.) on Swap.com.
40. Never be among the first people to buy a new electronic device. This is for two reasons: (1) The price of electronics almost always drops significantly after just a couple of months and (2) the first generation of any electronic device almost always has bugs (you’ll get a much better product and save money if you just wait until the second version comes out).
41. Buy rechargeable batteries. If you insist on using regular batteries, freeze them once they’ve “run out” and they’ll usually work again (although they won’t hold a charge as long as they originally did).  The same freezer trick works for glow sticks, by the way.
42. Don’t buy a cell phone at full price. Either buy a used one off of eBay or get a free or reduced-price one when you sign up for a new cell phone plan (normally, cell phone service providers will give you a new phone for free if you sign up for a two-year plan).
43. Start a “gift drawer.” Do you have little kids?  Chances are they attend a lot of birthday parties and need to bring gifts.  Start a “gift drawer,” which you fill with an assortment of gifts for little kids.  When you find a cheap little kid gift, buy a number of them and put them in the drawer for later.  Not only is this one of the best ways to save money, but it’ll also save you a lot of time and stress, as you won’t have to constantly run out to the store to pick up birthday gifts.
44. Ask salespeople for open-box items. When shopping for items, always ask for open-box items, items that have been returned after being opened for no other reason than a change in preference.  These are normally sold at steep discounts.
45. Check Walmart.com before visiting your local Walmart. Before you buy anything that you could buy at a Walmart (which is nearly everything), search for it on Walmart.com, as Walmart.com often has free or 97 cent shipping.
46. Buy overstocked items from Overstock.com.
47. Sign up for store loyalty cards. Don’t get store credit cards, but always get free store loyalty cards, cards that provide you with discounts (stores offer these discounts because they learn a bit about your consumer habits as you use the cards).  Loyalty cards are very popular at supermarkets.
48. Negotiate all the time, but especially when it comes to prices for mattresses, cars, tires and services. The prices of mattresses, cars, tires and most services (including bills for medical services) are almost always negotiable.  In fact, almost everything is, but these items are particularly known to be negotiable.
49. Don’t buy a printer (or sell yours and stop buying ink). When’s the last time you needed to print something.  Unplug and hide your printer for a month and you’ll be surprised how little you actually need it.
50. Don’t buy an alarm clock (or sell yours). Save money by using your phone’s alarm or OnlineClock.net.
51. Rethink your Christmas shopping. The standard might be for every person in your family to buy a gift for everyone else.  That’s a lot of shopping.  Try a Christmas name raffle instead.  In this scenario, everyone draws another persons’ name out of a hat and each person is only responsible for buying a gift for the person whose name they draw.
52. Before you buy a major item, see if another store will match or beat the coupon you have. If you are going to buy something expensive in a store and you have a competitor’s coupon, see if the store will match or beat the competitor’s coupon.
53. Set price alerts, so that you know when the price of the item you want drops (i.e. you really want a book on Amazon.com, but it’s too expensive, so you set a price alert so you’ll get an email if the book’s price drops by 30%).  There are a number of sites that can help you do this.  Here are three: PricePinx.com, WishPot.com and ShoppingNotes.com.
54. Buy your holiday cards for next year right after this year’s holiday passes. This is one of the easiest ways to save money. Christmas cards, for example, can drop in price by up to 90% in the week following Christmas.
55. Get free stuff from Craigslist. Get free stuff (furniture, etc.) from the Craigslist “Free” section.