How to Get the Best Deal on Everything: The Ultimate Guide to Deal-Stacking

What’s the best deal you’ve ever gotten?

Have you scored 50% off groceries or 80% off a new pair of jeans? Have you ever left the check-out lane with more money than you had when you came in?

Getting something for well below the retail price — well below what everyone else is going to pay for it — is a simple and exhilarating victory.

You deserve that extra pep in your step as you walk back through the parking lot.

But what did you have to do to earn that discount?

If you’re like most people, you probably had to wait for a rare sale, battle crazy crowds or diligently scour grocery ads every week.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Put the scissors down. Sleep in. Relax. You’re still going to save money.

In this guide, we’re going to teach you how to use deal-stacking to get the best price every time you shop — no matter what you’re shopping for.

Let’s Define “Deal-Stacking”

It might sound like something straight out of an episode of Extreme Couponers, but deal-stacking is much simpler — and way less kooky — than you think.

Deal-stacking is simply applying multiple discounts to one item or purchase to successively drive down the price.

Picture a price tag. Then picture yourself placing a coupon on top of that price tag.

Lower price.

Now picture yourself placing a mail-in rebate on top of that coupon on top of that price tag.

Even lower price.

That’s what deal-stacking is: a little pile of deals and discounts you use to reduce the price of the things you buy.

Most of the time, though, you don’t have to actually clip coupons or fill out rebate forms. The best deals happen when you shop online.

Here’s How Good Deal-Stacking Can Be

Are you still afraid this is some kind of crazy couponing nightmare? Not convinced it’s worth your time?

Look at these examples:

• We used deal stacking to get a $10 Barbie for $4.39.

• We used it to make an awesome Old Navy sale even better, saving 48%.

• We used it to get a $35 dress at Target for $7.54.

With the tools we’ll give you below, you’ll be able to find deals like this in just a few minutes — without leaving your house.

This post is packed with information and resources, so we recommend bookmarking it to help you remember the steps each time you shop.

1. Make a List

Make a list every time you shop to prevent overspending on impulse buys.

Stores — in person and online — are designed to grab your attention as soon as you walk in the (virtual) door and direct it toward whatever you didn’t plan to buy.

If you’ve already made a budget, then you know how much you can afford to spend each time you head to the store. Creating a shopping list helps you stick to that budget and ignore distractions.

2. Compare Prices

In addition to knowing what you want, decide where to buy everything on your list. Planning ahead is key to getting the best deal.

Before choosing a store, use PriceGrabber.com to compare prices on the items on your list.

The site will allow you to see a list of online retailers that carry an item. Prices are side-by-side, so you can quickly pick out which has the best offer.

In addition to comparing prices for yourself, you can also add these browser extensions that help you find cheaper prices on the items you search for in Google or a retail site:

• Invisible Hand

• PriceBlink

You can also receive a discount on items you buy regularly, like toilet paper, certain foods, diapers or beauty products, by purchasing on a schedule through a service like Amazon’s Subscribe & Save or a Target Subscription.

3. Find Deals

Finding the best deals can be tough if you don’t want to spend hours each day glued to your computer or grocery ads.

That’s why we love deal aggregators.

These sites keep an eye on daily deal companies like Groupon and LivingSocial, so you can see the best deals in one place. Check these out:

• TikTakTo

• OneSpout

• YipIt

• Dealery

• Dealupa

• Blue Kangaroo

We also recommend subscribing via email to your favorite stores. You’ll be the first to know about sales and receive exclusive coupons and offers.

4. Look for Coupons

In addition to finding the best prices, you might be able to save even more by stacking coupons on top of deals.

Many coupons exclude items that are already discounted, or can’t be used with any other deals or specials. But you can often use a manufacturer’s coupon with a store coupon, for example.

It’s always worth checking! Make sure you read the fine print before you start shopping so you know which coupons are applicable.

Deal aggregators often list coupons and rebates you can stack on top of sales. And you can find your own coupons through these sites:

• RetailMeNot

• Coupons.com

• Valpak.com

• Groupon.com

For online shopping, you can also install one (or more) of these browser extensions that will look for coupon codes before you check out:

• Coupons at Checkout

• Piggy

• Honey

• CouponCabin Sidekick

5. Shop Online (No Matter What)

Whether you’re shopping for the week’s groceries, back-to-school clothes or just indulging, we recommend shopping online whenever possible.

Anytime you shop online, you can take advantage of cash-back sites.

That means you earn back some of the money you spend on every purchase — you’ll either earn direct cash or points to redeem for gift cards to top retailers.

Here are our favorite cash-back sites:

• Ebates

• Swagbucks

• Ibotta

Even better, through Cashbackholic and CostShredder, you can find out which cash-back site offers the best rewards for the store you’re shopping at.

The CouponCabin Sidekick browser extension can also help alert you when there’s cash back available for your purchase.

As a bonus, you can “recycle” your savings by using the gift cards you earn through these sites on your next shopping “trip.” Earn more points from the money you spend, cash out for more gift cards … do you see how the savings start to stack up?

6. Pick Up In Store or Get Free Shipping

Don’t let shipping costs ruin all your hard work. An extra $5 or $10 to get everything to your door could negate everything you’ve just saved!

Often the best way to save money on shipping is to pick up your order in the store.

This also saves you from waiting a few days or weeks to have items delivered to your house.

For items like groceries that you’d normally buy at a nearby store, this is pretty simple. Just shop online, and select “pick up in store” under your shipping options.

Many stores offer pick-up for groceries within a few hours of your online order.

For other retail items, you’ll probably have to wait for standard delivery, even if you have them shipped to the store for free.

Here are a couple of tricks for getting free delivery to your home:

• We’ve rounded up 17 stores that offer free shipping — including some retail giants like Target, Dell and Nordstrom.

• If you buy individual small items on Amazon — lighter than 8 ounces, smaller than 9 x 6 x 2 inches and less than $10 — you can get free shipping, even without a Prime membership.

• If you’re not a Prime member but want free shipping on larger items from Amazon, use this trick.

7. Pay the Smart Way

Choose how you pay carefully. It could be a valuable decision.

Store Credit Cards

Whether you have a store credit card could factor into which store is the best deal for the items on your list. What kind of bonuses or rewards will you get if you pay with a store’s branded credit card?

Store credit cards face criticism for high interest rates and limited use, but here are three that may be worth picking up, according to Credit.com:

• Kohl’s Charge Card: You won’t collect points per purchase with this card, but you’ll get at least 12 coupons for discounts of 15-30% every year.

• Best Buy Credit Card: Choose between 5% cash back or promotional financing. Also receive free shipping on orders of $35 or more, plus exclusive discounts, special sales and members-only events.

• Walmart Credit Card: This is one of the easiest store credit cards to be approved for, and comes with perks like receiving a free monthly FICO score and cash withdrawals in store with no fees or interest. It can be useful if you’re working to build or fix your credit.

Discounted Gift Cards

Knowing your shopping habits and planning ahead can help you save money for lots of reasons. One of our favorites is it gives you time to get your hands on some discounted gift cards.

Visit Raise to purchase gift cards for stores you frequent.

Sellers typically unload cards they got as gifts or ones they’re not interested in anymore, so you’ll pay less than the value of the card — giving you an automatic discount on anything you buy with it!

Load up on cards from popular stores like Target, Best Buy or Amazon to save money on your everyday purchases. Keep them organized with Gyft, so they’re easily accessible when you’re ready to pay.

CostShredder can help you find the sites offering the best deal on the gift cards you’re looking for.

Rewards Credit Card

Do you have a cash-back credit card? If you budget well and pay off your balance each month, these can be a smart way to earn rewards for things you’re going to buy anyway.

When considering your best payment method, a cash-back rewards credit card could offer the best deal by knocking money off your final price.

Or, it could pay off better in the long term, if you’re trying to save points for a trip or other bonuses, for example. That can be harder to factor into individual purchases, but don’t forget to consider its value.

For a win-win situation — getting the greatest discount possible and earning rewards on your purchase — buy discounted gift cards with your rewards credit card!

If you don’t already have a card, we recommend the Barclaycard Rewards MasterCard®, because it offers 1% cash rewards on all purchases and 2% on groceries.

Some credit cards can be more attractive at different times throughout the year because of rotating bonuses.

With the Chase Freedom card, for example, you can earn 5% cash back on a lot of your holiday shopping between October 1 and December 31, if it falls in certain categories. Keep an eye out for these seasonal bonuses that can save you a ton of extra money!

If you have trouble keeping track, the Wallaby Browser Extension helps you earn the most rewards from your purchase by telling you which credit card to use for each transaction.

Stretch Your Money Further

When you pay with a credit or debit card, make your purchase do double duty by connecting the card with an auto-savings app — our favorite is Acorns.

When you make a purchase with a card connected to the app, Acorns will automatically round up to the next dollar and deposit the “digital change” into your Acorns account.

Then it invests the money into super-simple portfolios to help your money grow. It’s a cool way to make a little extra money while you shop — you probably won’t miss that loose change anyway, so why not put it to work?

8. Take a Picture of Your Receipt

One last step!

Rebate Apps

Once you have your items home, open your Ibotta and Checkout51 apps to find additional rebates for anything you purchased.

These apps are popular for the incredible savings they offer on groceries, but you can find deals on other retail items, as well.

Check for cash back on all your purchases, including online orders you have delivered, and remember to enter the items when they arrive.

Receipt Pal

Even if you don’t find a rebate for your particular items, you could still earn money just by taking a picture of your receipt with another cool app we’ve found.

Receipt Pal literally lets you earn rewards just for snapping a photo of your receipt — regardless of what you buy.

When you take a picture of a receipt, Receipt Pal will reward you with points you can redeem for gift cards. Your receipt data is used anonymously with others’ for market research.

You may have to wait as the app staggers in participants for their consumer panels. All you have to do is download the app and register with your email address, and you’ll be notified when it’s accepting new users.

Your Turn: Do you have more questions about deal stacking? Leave them in the comments!

Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which ThePennyHoarder.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). We do not feature all available credit card offers or all credit card issuers.

Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more.

The post How to Get the Best Deal on Everything: The Ultimate Guide to Deal-Stacking appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Outdated Financial Advice

By now, you may have heard about the famed “Good Wife’s Guide” – a list of 10 steps that 1950’s women could embrace to become the ideal spouse for the men in their lives.

The list supposedly comes from a 1950’s home economics textbook, and highlights what a woman’s role might have looked like back then, some 65 years ago. The text, made up of 10 steps women should strive for each day, includes gems such as:

“Listen to him. You may have a dozen or more important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first, remember – his topics of conversation are more important than yours.”

“Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.”

And my personal favorite….

“A good wife always knows her place.”

Ahem.

The Times… They Are A-Changin’

While there is some doubt as to whether “The Good Wife’s Guide” was really published or is a piece of modern-day propaganda created to illustrate how 1950’s women were often treated like doormats, there is no arguing that times have changed.

Where women were once mostly homemakers, they are now projected to make up as much as 51% of the workforce by 2018. And according to Pew Research statistics, women are outpacing men in terms of college enrollment at a rapid pace and across all ethnicities.

While some of us stick to traditional gender roles when it comes to domestic chores and child care, we’re not the meek and powerless domestic partners we once were. In fact, a study from the Harvard Business Review revealed that women may actually be the drivers of the world’s economic engine. According to the study, women make 94% of the financial decisions regarding home furnishings, decide 92% of vacations, choose 91% of homes purchased, pick out 60% of automobiles, and buy 51% of consumer electronics.

Outdated Financial Advice

That’s right: Times have changed, and not just in relation to a woman’s role in the home and workplace. The world of money has evolved since the 1950’s as well, and much of what was once considered “good advice” is now just as laughable as “The Good Wife’s Guide.”

In our efforts to dig up some outdated financial advice to laugh at, we asked several bloggers and financial advisors to share the most useless and obsolete financial advice they have ever received. Here’s what they said:

You can depend on your husband to support you.

Teresa Mears of Living On the Cheap remembers a time when most young women were told they should count on their husbands for lifetime support. Unfortunately, that very advice has proved disastrous over the years due to divorce and other factors.

Chances are, you know someone who has lost everything or been forced to rebuild their lives after a nasty breakup of a long-term marriage, an unexpected death, or some other disaster that was largely out of their control.

Sadly, Teresa believes many young women still cling to this advice despite changing times and attitudes.

“I am amazed at how many women young enough to be my children think they can depend on a man to support them,” says Mears. “No one is safe from death, disability, divorce, or a layoff.”

Find a solid company and work there until you retire.

While workers from previous generations often worked for the same company for 20, 30, or even 40 years, then retired with a reliable pension plan, that kind of commitment is hardly the norm these days — from either employees or employers.

Because of increased mobility, the constant uprooting of our workforce, and the way companies continue to evolve and grow only to shrink again, it’s nearly impossible to work for the same company for your entire life anymore. And good luck finding a pension at a private-sector company.

Chris Huntley from Huntley Wealth & Insurance Services says he received advice to stick with one employer very early in his career and had to laugh it off.

“After graduating from college, my grandfather advised me to get a good job and work for that same employer for 20 years so I could qualify for a pension, and then leave and do the same thing at another company,” says Chris. “That way I could retire with two pensions and Social Security like he did!”

Everyone should go to college straight out of high school.

Just decades ago, it was accepted that if you wanted to get a leg up in life, you should go straight from high school to a four-year college. Just move from mom and dad’s to a college dorm, sleep on a twin bed and keep peculiar hours, and study hard until your journey culminated in a four-year degree and a rewarding professional career.

Nowadays, students who follow that path are increasingly mired by crushing levels of student loan debt, which begs the question: Shouldn’t young adults have a plan in place before they move away and earn a four-year degree?

Kimberly Parr of Eyes on the Dollar believes so, after receiving similar advice about college – and following it – the moment she donned a cap and gown at her own high school graduation.

“My parents told me to finish college before doing anything else like travel, getting a full-time job, or even really knowing what I wanted to do,” says Parr.

“It worked out for me, but there are way too many college graduates who are waiting tables with thousands of dollars in student loan debt. You don’t need to go straight into college and student loans without a plan to pay them back!”

You should buy as much home as you can afford.

Conventional wisdom of just decades ago told us that you should always buy as much house as you can afford – not only because your home will appreciate considerably, but also for the tax deduction you receive on mortgage interest.

Lee Huff of Bald Thoughts remembers hearing this argument as he grew up, yet questioning it all along.

Sadly, the housing crash of 2008-2009 showed that housing isn’t always such a great investment – especially if you don’t plan to live in your home for a long time. And that tax deduction for mortgage interest? Well, the value of that deduction is largely overblown, and not even worth the effort of itemizing for many homeowners.

Most people don’t know this, but if you don’t itemize your taxes, the value of your home mortgage deduction is nothing. Nada. Zilch. And even if you do itemize, the value of the deduction is limited to any amount that exceeds the standard deduction, which was $12,600 for married spouses filing jointly in 2015.

• Related: Why You Should Buy Less House Than You Can Afford

Photo: Western Lumbermen via Pinterest

Always use a debit card instead of cash… for increased protection.

Financial advisor Christine Beeby Odle remembers hearing about the virtues of using debit all her life, she says. The reasoning behind this? Apparently the FDIC protections offered through your bank were once a good reason to choose debit over cash in-hand. Plus, cash can easily be stolen, whereas debit was seen as much more “secure.”

Of course, the Internet has changed all that – and now cash and credit are king. Where using debit is still as convenient as it ever was, credit has steamed ahead as the most secure way to pay for most purchases – especially purchases made online.

Remember, most credit cards offer zero-fraud liability on unauthorized purchases. With your debit card, on the other hand, your liability jumps to $500 if you don’t catch the fraudulent transaction within two business days – and you could even have your bank account drained with no recourse after that.

• Related: Credit vs. Debit: Which Card Should You Use Online?

You should never talk about money.

When Kylee Della Volpe of Mortgages.com was growing up, she was constantly told it was rude to talk about money. As a hopeless rule follower, she went out of her way to avoid the topic of money at all costs, even when she should have been talking about her finances in an effort to learn more.

Fortunately, that changed over time as she realized she was missing out by shutting the conversation down.

“The older I got and the more I started paying attention, I realized that not talking about money was costing me a lot,” she says.

When she graduated from college, for example, she had no idea how to manage her finances, budget, or invest. It wasn’t that she couldn’t figure it out on her own, she says, it was that she had never taken the time to think through – or ask questions about – financial issues others had already deemed “impolite.”

Learning to budget and to save weren’t the only reasons she found that talking about money was not only important, but crucial for her own financial well-being. Friends can “let you know about their favorite financial planning blog or how they shopped around for a mortgage online before they even set foot in a bank,” she says.

Further, talking about salaries shouldn’t be taboo, either. “It might be uncomfortable, but asking your friends in similar career fields what they make can be absolutely essential to making sure you’re paid what your worth.”

• Related: How to Negotiate Salary and Juggle Job Offers

The Bottom Line

As our culture continues to evolve, our attitudes about money should change with it. Fortunately, we’re coming to terms with the fact that many of our old ideas are not only outdated, but downright dangerous.

At the end of the day, it’s up to us to decide which traditions to stick to and which to abandon; it’s up to us to decide whether to take a traditional approach to college or buying a home – or to buck past trends and do our own thing.

The truth is, conventional wisdom is not always right. And sometimes, it’s downright laughable.

The post Outdated Financial Advice appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Have Trouble Saving Money? So Did I, Until I Tried This Game

Here are some of the things on my wish list right now:

• A sweet tart pan so I can make my very own fruit tarts. Thanks for inspiring my cravings and eventual weight gain, “Great British Bake Off”!

• This adorable neuron necklace. Yes, I’m nerdy.

• This gorgeous-but-way-too-expensive-for-what-it-is athleisure jacket.

• A bottle of this limited release wine that looks super tasty, but is a little pricy for a non-holiday occasion.

When I find something I want, even if I can’t afford it right away, I can get some satisfaction by having it on my wish list, where I can (and do) ogle it on the regular.

And if it sits there long enough without me finding the funds to buy it, I sometimes discover I didn’t really want it that badly in the first place. Talk about a money saver!

But my favorite part of keeping a wish list is actually treating myself to some of the goodies on it when I save enough cash.

There’s only one problem: Saving money is really hard.

Saving Money by Hacking Your Psychology

Sometimes, my savings plan is derailed by unexpected minor emergencies. An unplanned trip to the doctor or a flat tire can make a pretty big dent in a 20-something’s bank account!

But I can’t deny that another factor keeping my savings game from getting stronger: impulse buys.

To be proactive about my savings, I automate them using Digit… but it’s so easy to move the money back into my account if I see something I want right now.

And I don’t want to lose track of my long-term goals, be they wish-list items or more important, bigger picture ones, like saving to buy a home.

But a recent post I saw at Lifehacker got me thinking.

The post describes Antonio, a business owner who found exercise so tedious that he couldn’t bring himself to do it, even after receiving doctor’s orders. Burning calories didn’t motivate him… but improving his willpower did.

So, Antonio stuck a sticker saying “willpower” over the word “calories” on his step counter to gamify his workouts and feel like he was earning something he really wanted.

How could I apply this to saving money?

What Can Your Money Buy You?

Well, I could easily look at my Digit balance and think of each dollar I don’t touch as a willpower point gained. But then, I thought about my wish list.

What if I thought about my savings in terms of the actual items I’m hoping to eventually purchase with them?

Right now, I have $311.39 in my Digit account. (Yes, I’ve been saving since November, so this is pretty low… but I just got back from a weekend trip where I spent a little more than I meant to at the bar.)

That money could buy me seven bottles of fancy wine, 12 neuron necklaces and three of those jackets I’m lusting after.

But it’s not even close to the cash I need to fund, say, that trip to Ireland I’ve been eyeing on Groupon.

In fact, I can do the math to discover exactly how close (or far) I am from achieving that savings goal: I only have 35% of the cash I need to get go on the trip to Ireland, and that’s before all the money I’ll need for food and other goods once I’m over there.

And if I can’t manage to scrape together almost $600 in the 10 days left on this Groupon and have to pay full price (likely), I’ll only be 19% of the way there.

So right now, I can buy three pretty athleisure jackets… but just a third of a trip to Ireland.

That really puts things into perspective. I mean, I already have enough clothes, right? That money can stay right where it is. For now.

So next time you’re tempted to blow your savings on something that steals your heart but probably won’t make you happy in the long run, think about what else that money could buy — and what it can’t quite, yet.

Your Turn: Will you use this psychological hack to help you keep your savings where it is?

Jamie Cattanach is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She also writes other stuff, like wine reviews and poems — you can read along at http://ift.tt/1RiB7sH.

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