Look out For Daily Deals!

It’s been a hard year for many, with unemployment at an all time high and the £ not worth as much as it once was it can be even harder at Christmas. Many people will be trying to cut down this Christmas and spend as little as possible and get the most for their money. Therefore I have tried to come up with some tips on getting the best value for money and some great presents for unbelievable prices. Using these tips you can save quite a bit of “dosh” which either means this can still be a great Christmas but with smaller expense or you can get lots more for your usual budget!

This year retailers are out to make as much money as possible. Don’t forget they are struggling in this economic climate like we are, so they are doing anything to draw you in and spend that hard earned money!

Make a Budget and Stick to it!

So many people spend far too much at Christmas that makes them feel good for 1 day, Christmas Day, but then start to worry about their finances for the rest of the new year. Therefore set yourself a budget that you know you can afford. If its £50 stick to £50 if it’s £300 stick to £300! You can get some great stuff no matter what your budget is! The last thing you want to do is spend £300 when you only have £50! Along with setting a budget make sure you are adding up what your spending as you go along.

Don’t buy on Impulse – Shop Around!

The last thing you should ever do is walk into a shop or go on the first website you see and buy something. Firstly decide wether this is an ideal gift and be sure this is what you want. Next Shop Around! Remember High Street stores are usually more expensive than online. Use price comparison websites in order to find the cheapest price, just remember if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. The following sites are great to help you find the cheapest price.

• Google Product Search – Great for all types of products but doesn’t search everywhere.
• Price Runner – Again great for all types of products just not everywhere is listed.
• Games Tracker – Best website I have found for finding the cheapest video game prices. Cloud Bite Blog Post: How to Find the Cheapest Priced Video Games
• Red Laser – This is an iPhone/iTouch app. Scan the Barcode on the back of a product and it will search online for the cheapest. Great when your in a shop and not sure if its cheaper online!

Get Cashback!

I know it might sound crazy but logging into a website before making those purchases can get you cashback! Simply sign up find the store you wish to buy from click the link and make your purchase. Usually within a few days the product will track and in around a month you will be paid. So far I have got £140 cashback using this scheme! Anything from Home insurance, to a mobile phone to DVDs and even broadband can all give you cashback. Also remember to firstly use a product search to find the cheapest price of a product, then look on the cashback sites to see how much they give. Also make sure a product shown at a higher price in product search doesn’t give more cashback than the cheapest. For example the cheapest on product search may give 2% cashback but the £5 more one on product search may give 15% cashback which could work out cheaper! Make sure you check this!

• TopCashBack – All the cashback you make is yours i.e. they don’t take any money from you. (This is the one I use and have got £140 so far back)
• Quidco – Quidco takes your first £5 cashback in order to cover their costs the rest is yours.

Daily / Weekly Deals!

Around Christmas time online Stores like to do daily deals. Why? Well they hope that it means every single day you will take a look at their website and spot something you like! Remember though often the best deals have limited stock and only last a day or until that stock is all gone so try and check on the sites nice and early. I find setting your browser to automatically open tabs to the following sites is the best way to remember!

• Play.com – Currently have Weekly and Daily Deals. Seen some great offers on here.
• Ebay – Currently have Weekly and Daily Deals. Ebay are listing their most trusted sellers and listing weekly and daily deals they have. The Sellers have all be checked so you are safe to buy from them. They had iPod Nanos with £30 off a few days ago. Somewhat better than Apples £7 off for one day promotion!
• Asda – Currently have Weekly and Daily Deals. Asda have some great deals from Christmas Trees to Mobile Phones.
• Ebuyer – Currently running Deals of the Day a few days a week. Used Ebuyer many times great store great prices.

Other Sites with Deals/Sales!

Some other websites, infact most, either have Christmas Deals or Sales on. Here are a few worth checking out…

• Argos – Big Winter Sale – Lots of products on offer.
• HMV – Deals for Christmas. Some really cheap DVD boxsets available.
• Amazon – Deals for Christmas. Lots of products with competitive prices.
• FireBox – Deals For Christmas. Big Gadget store. Sells lots of cool stuff from wacky gizmo’s to useful gadgets oh and sweeties too!

Twitter!

Daily Deals / Weekly Deals and All around Yearly Deals are often Tweeted out as soon as they are available. This therefore is a great way to stay on top of those deals epically when they are limited stock. A tip when using this is to create an alternative twitter account that just follows stores who do the deals. This way your personal Twitter account doesn’t get too clogged up which could mean you miss these great deals. Tweetdeck for Mac, Linux and Windows allows you to get updates from multiple accounts as does Tweetie for the iPhone/iTouch. Below I have listed some stores that give out deals over Twitter…

• @ebuyerdotcom – Ebuyer
• @firebox – Firebox
• @maplintweet – Maplin Electronics
• @ebay_uk – Ebay UK
• @UKShoppingDeals – UK Shopping Deal
• @Gamedigital – Game, Video Game Store.
• @PlayCom – Play.com
• @MobileFun – Mobile Phone Accessory Retailer

Be Smart!

Being smart and using the tips above will hopefully save you some money and help make this a great Christmas! All the links above are included as I have personally used these companies and feel they all offer great value and give a good experience. I have not received any sort of reward for providing any of these links other than the TopCashBack link which uses my referral ID. However you can omit this from the link if you wish.

I hope this has helped you somewhat and if you have any comments regarding the post or any other money saving tips then feel free to provide the info in the comments.

Merry Christmas

By: Mark