Britain has a free economy and research has shown that a saving of £1,200 is made by adults ever year by making use of freebies, special deals and money-off vouchers.
A study conducted by Halifax Home insurance has shown how the downturn in the economy has turned us into a country that is always looking for bargains, with twenty percent of the people claiming that they never buy anything at its full price. The top targets for discounts are deals that you get on meals, with 53% of the people saving on fast food, takeaways and restaurants, while the percentage of people saving on flights and holidays number almost as much.
The national stereotype never bargains, but 12% of people do haggle to get the right price, and just 1% of people find using discounts, embarrassing. This survey says that availing of a good deal is considered a social activity, with a large 44% of people roping in friends to share the discount with.
The result of this has led to twenty five percent of the people finding they can spend as never before, because of vouchers and money-off codes, which makes it cheaper to buy presents for friends and family.
Here are some tips that can help you to get on the bargain hunting bandwagon:
Discount code sites
There are dozens of sites such as voucherseeker.co.uk, moneysavingsexpert.com, vouchercodes.com, everydaysale.co.uk, vouchercodes.co.uk and myvouchercodes.co.uk, as well as the codes sites you will find on this website. All of them offer discounted prices on services and products that are offered by retailers online who sell financial services, fashion, books, gadget, gifts. DVDs, CDs, eating out, travel and hotels.
The offers will include free delivery besides percentage reductions(scaled) or a specific price. You will an explanation on each of the sites, as to how the codes can be redeemed. Generally, once you have arrived at the site of the retailer you have chosen, you then select the services or goods that you want and checkout, where you will be asked for the promotional code which then you have to update. These sites will have vouchers that can be printed and be used to get two-for-one meals or discounts in various high street outlets. Most sites will advice you off codes that are out of date, and will encourage you to register free with them, so that they can send you the latest offers through E mails. People looking for discounts register at a number of sites, as each has its own discounts that can be negotiated.
When you go shopping online, and are asked to input a code when you have to pay for the items,you can open a new tab on your browser and search for this code on the websites that offer discounts. You may not be successful in this effort, if it is a discount that the retailer that the merchant site offers to specific customers. These codes are at times available on sites like hotukdeal.com and are then available to the general public.
Recycle/giveaway sites
One of the sites that is most famous for recycling is the Freecycle network, that allows you to pickup items that others do not want, and even give away things you have no use for, and the site matches people who can use items that others want to get rid of.
This is an effort that saves landfill, and is an ideal place, where people looking for bargains can pick up things that do not cost them anything. This is a network run by moderators who are local volunteers, and the first such Freecycle group was set up in 2003 in London, and now the membership is almost 2.5 million members distributed in 540 groups all over the country. You can sign up with the group in your area and then post messages which indicate what items you want or can offer, and email is the way you can respond to the postings of other members. The person who has the original item makes the decision about whom the item will go to and sets up a time for its collection, and then one this process is completed, posts a message of “taken” again on the website.
The system works quite well as per experiences listed in the office of Guardian Money. Items offered on the group that I belong too included a bag of paperback thrillers, a sink and toilet that was unused, two sofas, a cage for a dog, TVs, and fridge freezers in working condition.
Freegle is a rival site that operates in the same way and has more than 1.2 million members in 313 groups. There is also a community advertising site for classifieds that lists items for sale, called gumtree.com, which also has a free section and this site has locations all over the United Kingdom. This week the free offers listed included house plants, a piano, free haircuts, and a large trampoline.
Free sample sites
You can get tips on saving money, enter competitions and freebie samples through links on sites that offer free samples of products. The disadvantage here is that you are required to register with these websites, if you want the freebie, and this can result in your inbox being flooded with newsletters. This problem can be solved, by having a separate email account just for sample sites and the newsletters that they will send.
Fantastic freebie sites: latest free stuff, freestuff.co.uk and www.wowfreestuff.co.uk/.
