Are you a lazy shopper? I gotta say that I'm an extremely lazy shopper because I'm trying to pair down the things I own. When I do go shopping the experience is sometimes so cumbersome I often just give up and don't buy anything. That said, when there's a deal, oh how great the temptation it is to buy.
Whenever I think about coupons, I think of old folks sitting around their round breakfast tables on a Sunday morning going Edward Scissorhands on the paper. With their stacks of nicely cutout coupons in hand, they go to the local grocery store and bargain hunt away. If only there were an easier way, which bring us to a guest post by Kyle, the Director of Marketing at CouponCactus.com.
No matter how diligent we are about budgeting, and disciplined about spending, we all end up buying things one way or another. The key to keeping your budget intact is to make sure that when you do have to buy something, whether it’s a gift or whatever else, you make sure you’re getting the best deal. Many times the best deals are to be had by shopping online, and checking around to figure out who has the best prices.
Keep in mind that you need to pay attention to things like shipping prices, return policies, and the like. The next step, and the one that many people overlook, is to look to see if the store or stores you’re looking at offer any coupons. CouponCactus.com not only has coupons and coupon codes for thousands of online retailers, but offers its members cash back as well!
Using coupons from CouponCactus.com is so easy it almost seems like cheating – you literally click one button and you’re shopping on the merchant’s site, but with a discount that is often significant. With regular coupons, the discount is activated by just clicking through from Coupon Cactus, and with coupon codes, they provide an easy pop-up window from which you can copy the code to enter at checkout. The whole process seems weird at first, but sure enough the total on the checkout page reflects the coupon discount, and within a week or so your account screen on Coupon Cactus shows that you’ve been awarded cash back.
Signing up to become a member on Coupon Cactus is free and easy. You just fill in your name, email, and address (so they know where to send your check) and you’re ready to sign in and start saving. On top of the coupons they have for almost every merchant (which sometimes exceed 20% off), they will often have bundled free shipping on their offers, or great deals on specific products.
Regardless of how often you shop online, using this site can only save you money; it costs nothing, is easy to use, and can help you reduce the impact of some of your purchases on your pocket book. For those who haven’t started taking advantage of online shopping in general, doing so, coupled with the coupon savings, should really open your eyes to why so many people are shopping almost exclusively online these days.
Go through your last three months of purchases from retailers and seeing how much you could have saved with the coupons + cash back from Coupon Cactus and shopping online. Chances are you could have saved a nice chunk of change!
MY THOUGHTS
The really neat thing about CouponCactus.com is that you get to search for the good you want FIRST, and if you find it on their site a corresponding coupon will be attached with it to get a deal. The old way of cutting coupons for coupon's sake and then going out and buying what you may or may not need, just so you feel like you're getting a deal is backwards.
Imagine running a half marathon and going to the grocery store. Your rabid self would probably buy enough to feed a village! More often than not, if you go to the mall, grocery store, or online store with the exact things you want to buy, you'll come out ahead because you've already made your budget. The same concept goes with CouponCactus.com.
Go visit them if you have something in mind and see if they have inventory. CouponCactus.com's challenge is therefore to get as many merchants as possible to sign up with them so that customers can find what they're looking for at a discount.
Readers, have you ever gone out and bought something you didn't intend on buying just because there was a coupon discount? If so, why? What are your experiences with coupons? Any tips for Kyle and his company?
Regards,
Sam @ Financial Samurai – “Slicing Through Money’s Mysteries”
Couponing is my weakest frugal weapon on my pursuit of becoming financial independent some future day…
I think I’ve used coupons for Pizza and a few other items, but not with vigor…
The CouponCactus.com’s idea sounds great! I’ll have to give it a spin! Who know, perhaps that will complete my frugal arsenal. :)
I “used” to do a lot of couponing. Recently not so much. I still use coupons for toiletries and for free items (after rebate or out right free), I buy them even if I don’t need them/use them. The local women’s shelter and food bank is always looking for items. We buy the newspaper anyways so why not use them if they are free…
The reason I stopped using coupons is I don’t find coupons for anything I actually need. If I could have a system in place for combining coupons and buy somethings I don’t need and use the surplus to buy things I need then it will be good (I always see those huge grocery bill coming down to <$1). I don't think I will be mastering that anytime soon…
nice. I love shopping online although it seems to end up taking me way more time than if I was shopping in an actual store. The possibilities online are endless and that can be really overwhelming and time consuming unless you know exactly what you want. I like this idea of online coupons routed in one location. Sounds easy enough to use, thanks for the tip.
Online is overwhelming I agree. I try and always have a list of what i want to buy, and stick to it. If the online shops can highlight other things that I may/should buy, fine. If not, that’s cool.
I’m a very lazy shopper as well, but I love using coupons. However, I use a coupon database on my site to do a search and take advantage of sales. So, I’m not sitting around a table cutting coupons (ok, maybe for about 5 or 10 minutes :)).
I love finding online deal/coupon sites as well, so thanks for the tip about coupon cactus!
Nice coupon pull. I went playing around through the website and I was pretty impressed. I would consider myself a pretty lazy shopper too :) Nice way to make coupon-ing seem less like memories of mom sitting with the sunday paper clipping them and more like a cool trendy -tech savvy way to save money.
Thanks Nunzio. Yeah, pretty neat site. All they have to do is load up more and more merchants, and it becomes a good self-fulfilling prophecy of getting great deals.
I think I am a coupon/sale addict. I like using coupons. At first I was embarassed.. I remember I thought my mom was being so “cheap” for using coupons when I was my rebellious self in high school. Now I love them and have thrown my reservations to the wind!
I often buy things just because they are sale and try something new. I’m not very good at clipping coupons from the newspaper though, but I like printing out coupons online.
Even your mom called you cheap? What’s up with that? Your mom and your BF joining forces on you or something? :)
It really makes sense to hunt for deals with online coupons now. One just needs to know where to look.
No, I called my mom cheap! She really is cheaper than me. =)
Exactly- re: online coupons. Just print and save, easy peasy!
Ah yes, sorry. I misunderstood!
Being cheap is good, unless they say it in a mean way!
I looooove my coupons. However, my breakfast table is oval, not round that I sit around to clip my coupons each Sunday morning…
The only time I buy something that I don’t need with my coupons is if it is free, or if it is a product I have been wanting to try. I save tons when I combine store sales with coupons. It really isn’t that time consuming once you have a system.
I will have to check out the coupon cactus!
Lol, nice. So my imagery isn’t too far off!
Ahhh, the coupon system. You’ll have to tell me more, b/c then that means more work for me, and like I said, i’m pretty lazy.
I want to go to a site that has what i want, and have that discount immediately.