People often spend money as soon as they get it. Many people spend money on the essentials like housing, food, and transportation. They’ll also spend it on a variety of services including real estate, health care, banking, investments, and insurance. Upon a closer look, many people across the United States spend a lot of money on discretionary expenses. These are those items that people want but don’t necessarily need. Let’s say you head out to Mooresville, NC one evening. You catch a movie, and then go out to a local restaurant to get something to eat. This is an example of discretionary spending, also known as consumer spending.
Consumer spending alone makes up approximately 70 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States economy. We see that money is being spent between needed services like housing on one side, and on the other side discretionary spending. Seeing the spending habits of their customers, businesses often provide discounts for their products/services. These provide an incentive for the customer to shop at their business, while also showing a bit of appreciation for them. For people wanting to spend money, hunting for discounts can be a time-consuming process. Below are a few smart ways to score top discounts.
Look for online coupons and discounts.
A great way to find discounts on items and services is to check online. Sure you will continue to receive those paper mailers or coupons at your home. The internet allows for more opportunities to find those same discounts, for many items and services which you might want. For instance say you live in the Lake Norman, North Carolina area and are looking for Lake Norman’s most trusted window cleaning experts. You want to get a number of things done to your home including gutter cleaning, exterior pressure washing, power washing, and window cleaning.
You want to find the best deal for these services, while also receiving great customer service. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get these services at a low price. Visit websites like Coupons.com, RetailMeNot.com, and SlickDeals.com to see if there are any coupons or discounts available. In some cases, contacting the actual business through their website can also help with locating top discounts.
Also, on the more discretionary spending end of things, it also helps to utilize such online coupon and discount hubs. If you’re trying to find coupons for a local restaurant, a retail store, or even Kays previously owned treasures like a wedding ring, these websites can provide great discounts. Don’t be dissuaded if you’ve found an engagement ring with a crazy amount of carats that you couldn’t afford. Try seeking out online options to find great discounts on such items and services.
Do comparison shopping.
No matter what you’re spending money on, it helps to do a bit of comparison shopping. Often many stores carry the same item, but they might be priced differently. Sometimes the pricing is so significant that a potential discount is how low the price is from one retailer vs. the other. Let’s say you’re looking to redo the flooring in your home. You start to look into the pricing for the various components needed for this type of major home renovation. Begin by researching the pricing for tiles, laminate flooring, hardwood flooring, ceramic tiles, planks, and carpet. You can use comparison shopping apps like PriceBlink and Pricegrabber for doing such research.
Compare the pricing along with the square footage for each of the items which you’ll be needing, between different home improvement store retailers. In some cases, these stores might already provide discounts on these items, so that’s another incentive to do comparison shopping. Lastly, if you are buying a lot of these items for a large home improvement job, seek out the manager of the store. Since you are making such a huge purchase from their store, in some cases, they might be willing to provide you with an additional discount. This helps to create repeat business in the long run and helps you to save money.
