SAVE MONEY

Sabine Kurz

10 Ways to

Compare PricesWhile online retailers like

Amazon and Ebay often seem like

the easiest and cheapest option, it

helps to compare prices. Try

Idealo, where you can search for

about 128 million offers from

more than 22,600 shops. Idealo

shows you the total price

including postage, which often

makes all the difference in finding

the cheapest deal. They also have

a mobile app to compare prices

on the go. Other price comparison

sites include Google Shopping

and PriceRunner.

Finding the best deal

I would be absolutely lost without

deal sites such as

HotUKDeals.com (HUKD), Save

the Student or Holiday Pirates.

HUKD has more than a million

members, and all deals are posted

and rated (by voting hot or cold)

by them. The deal temperature is

usually a good indicator of the

quality and uniqueness of the

offer, and members always like to

help by answering questions or

finding deals for you. Their

freebie section especially is worth

a regular look.

Cashback Sites

It’s a very simple concept really: You buy through a cashback site (TopCashbackand Quidco are the two biggest and most popular ones around) from one of over 4000 major retailers, they get commission for your purchase and pass it back to you. While at first this seems like a lot of effort for a few pennies, think again when you’re looking to change your broadband or power supplier – currently TopCashback is offering more than £175 if you take Sky’s Complete Bundle. It’s also very handy for train and flight tickets, but I use it for everything. Many retailers offer cashback between 2 and 10 percent, and by making almost all my online purchases through cashback sites, I have earned about £150 in the past few years.

Let others do the work for youOne of the most helpful sites when it comes to finding the cheapest deal is Flubit. They used to try and beat any price you found on the internet, but now only focus on beating Amazon’s offers. You simply give them the link to the product you want, then they try and create you a better offer for the same item. Usually they keep their promise, and save you at least a few percent. Their latest coup is to ‘steal’ other peoples’ offers, but that’s still in Beta mode. Flubit is by invitation only, but usually they send you an activation link within a few days (if not, contact me and I’ll send you an invitation).

Shopping AppsIf you’re someone who takes their smartphone everywhere, shopping apps are for you. For grocery shopping, try CheckoutSmart, ClickSnap and Shopitize, all of which offer cashback when you buy certain products at all major supermarkets – sometimes you even get stuff for free. My favourite app though is O2 PriorityMoments (you don’t have to be an O2 customer, inserting a free pay as you go SIM card while installing the app is enough), which offers lots of freebies (fancy a free coffee at Caffè Nero’s every Tuesday?) and discounts that are updated daily.

Loyalty Cards

As even charity shops have

begun to offer loyalty cards to

their customers, there’s no

excuse not to use them. Not

every scheme may be as

lucrative as Tesco’s Clubcard,

but in the end, every little

helps. And if you don’t want to

carry a dozen loyalty cards in

your wallet, there are apps for

that, e.g. Stocard.

Student DiscountsIf you are lucky enough to be a student, there’s no excuse really not to take advantage of the wealth of student offers both online and offline. If you haven’t one already, it’s worth thinking about getting the NUS Extra Card, which offers all sorts of great discounts, including 5% on books at Amazon. It’s also worth asking in restaurants, cafes and smaller shops whether they offer a student discount – what’s the worst that could happen?!

For non-students under 25, getting the Young Scot Cardgives similar money off opportunities, as does the 16-25 Railcard.

Discount CodesWhen shopping online, you’ll

notice that almost every site

has a coupon or voucher box

waiting to be filled at the

checkout. So take a minute or

two and search for codes, you’ll

be surprised at how many are

out there. If Google produces

too many results, try finding

discount codes on HUKD,

VoucherCloud and

Vouchercodes.co.uk.

FreebiesThe best products are those that you don’t have to pay for. Admittedly, it’s hard to find really good freebies, but sometimes there are rare gems hidden among the free samples. Again, HUKD is a great way to find freebies.

If you are prepared to put in a little more effort, product testing might be for you. Check out the Orchard at Tesco’s for free food, BzzAgent for all sorts of goods (I’ve been sent free pizzas and a coffee machine in the past) and ClicksResarch for free beauty products.

Buy Second HandI’m sure this is nothing new to

you, so here’s just a simple

reminder: Buying second hand

can save you a lot of money

without necessarily saving on

quality. Gumtree and groups

on Facebook (e.g. “Stuff for

free/sale in Stirlingshire”) and

other social media sites are a

great way of buying and selling

second hand products, but

don’t forget more specialised

web pages such as

UsedBookSearch.co.uk and

offline charity shops.