Are you a money-saving tip collector? Then you can always use more, right?
Here are six hacks that you can add to your bag of tricks to get things cheap, or even free:
- Turn on the charm. I know others can play the charm card far better than I can, but I managed to snag a free dessert by phoning in my take-out order while I was standing in a long line at said restaurant. I waved at the cashier after I placed my order, she smiled, and gave me the dessert for free.
- Say what you’re looking for. A friend of mine is looking to start up mountain biking. He was looking for a bike rack for his vehicle. After striking out at a yard sale, the seller asked my friend what he was looking for. He said he was looking for a bike rack. The seller went back to his shed, and pulled out a bike rack that hadn’t seen the light of day in years. “Like this?” he asked. “Yeah, how much do you want for it?” my friend asked. “Oh, I don’t know … five dollars?” He snagged it.
- Capitalize on mistakes. My same friend look at Walmart for a bike rack for his other vehicle. The clearance section had a number of bike racks. One was in the $30-$40 range, which was quite a bit lower than the original price of around $120. When he was in town he visited another Walmart, and found the same bike rack discounted quite a bit less: down to about $80-$90. As far as he could tell, the second Walmart took 35% OFF the original price, while the first Walmart sold it for 35% OF the original price. Oops! But they sold it to him anyway.
- Pull out that contact list. Our church gives our local Domino’s quite a bit of business. They give us one-topping pizzas for $6 all the time. So when one of our musical groups was getting lunch the day of our concert, we said that we were with the church when we ordered. We got the discount. (We did this with a clear conscience. Not only were we with the church, but it was for a church function. I don’t recommend pretending to be part of a group that you’re not part of!)
- Peruse the clearance section, especially if your tech isn’t bleeding-edge. I inherited an iPad 2 from a previous role. I had never gotten a protective cover for it while I was using it, but decided I needed one. Since my iPad is now several generations old, the accessories were on clearance.
- Peruse the curbside. I know from experience that sometimes it’s an absolute relief to just get rid of something, especially something bulky. But, it’s also fun to be on the receiving end of free stuff. We got some nice patio furniture a few years back that still is giving us a lot of use in our sun room. It was discarded by someone in our subdivision. We just had to haul it away!
What other tips help you to get things cheap or free?
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