How To Never Pay Full Price Ever Again

Having probably spent just a little bit too much over the Christmas period you may be thinking about having 'saving money' as one of your New Year's Resolutions. So today I'm sharing some tips on how to save money on the things you need to or want to buy, and with the boxing day sales starting today, what better time to start hunting out those bargains and put a few of these tips into practice.

Key Shopping Dates
While I'm not the biggest fan of conventional sales, bargain bins and last seasons stock, they can be great for getting a good deal. Personally I love key shopping dates such as Black Friday where many retailers will offer a percentage discount off the whole store. Websites like Missguided often run 50% off deals around holidays, and Office always offer 20% off at Halloween or on Black Friday, so if you're thinking of buying something try and hold out for a discount event.

Student Discount

Now I know not everyone reading this will be a student but if you are, or know someone who is, then organisations like NUS or websites like Unidays are an easy way to get money off. NUS cards cost £12(but this is soon made up for in the amount of money you save) and are available to those in college, sixth form and university. While Unidays is a free website and app available to those in university. Failing those a lot of places will give me student discount with just my uni ID card as long as it is dated.   

You may have heard of student discount but did you know that a lot of high-street stores also offer discount to those who work for the military or the NHS? So if you work in either of those professions it's worth googling what stores offer.

O2 Priority

One of the main reasons I like to renew my phone contract with O2 is because of O2 Priority. While many know of O2 priority's benefits when it comes to getting early access to concert tickets but did you know they regularly offer deals such as free hot drinks at Cafe Nero, £1 meal deals and money off at various high street retailers? To make bargain hunting easy I often check the O2 Priority app to see if there are any deals that take my fancy.

Mailing Lists and Brand Websites

Often while online shopping, a pop up may appear on the website you're shopping on saying something like "Sign up to our mailing list to receive 10% off on your first purchase" while my first instinct is often to click off this annoying little pop up, signing up can often lead to a great discount or deal. Then when you've taken advantage of the offer, simply unsubscribe from the mailing list to avoid your inbox being clogged up or tempting you to unnecessary spending. If there are no pop up deals, scroll to the bottom of the page and have a look for potential deals down there. Also chain restaurants like Pizza Express often have an 'Offers' section on their website where you can download vouchers of up to 25% off your meal, so if you know you're going out for a meal always check the restaurants website for deals before you go.

Cash Back Websites

Now cash back websites are something I'm quite new to but they have proven to be a great way to get money back on things I was planning on buying anyway. All you do is sign up to the cash back website, for example the one I use: Top Cash Back, and then shop online as you would normally but by going through the links on their website. Later a percentage of what you spent will be deposited into your account (this isn't always instant but can be a nice surprise a few months later) and then you can either have this transferred into your bank account or turn it into vouchers to use on other websites. I promise it isn't as complicated as it sounds and so far I've earned back £10 for just buying a couple of things.

Haggle

This is probably my least favourite method but in the right place at the right time it can work really well. Just be warned that unless you are talking to a manager or supervisor, your average sales assistant is unlikely to be able to pull any strings. It also probably won't work on a busy day, this is because if the shop are doing well and meeting target they don't need to tempt you with discounts as they're not desperate for the sale. But if you've done your research and have the confidence to ask for a cheeky discount it can really pay off.

Don't Buy It

If all else fails and you simply cannot afford what you want, don't buy it! Unless it is an essential such as food, remind yourself you don't need it and save your pennies until you can afford it. Remember the rich stay rich by being careful in how they spend their hard earned cash, so don't get into debt or go hungry by buying luxuries, no matter how much discount you got. 

I hope you've found these tips helpful but just remember getting a good deal isn't an excuse to buy more because if you buy more than you need or were planning, you haven't saved any money at all. So set yourself a budget (don't know how to budget? Check out this post here) and stick to it.

Also I hope you're all enjoying the holidays!

Eleanor xx