Sense to Save

Trying out Groupon to potentially save money on local attractions

Learn How Groupon Works! from The Point on Vimeo.

My friend told me about a site called Groupon*. From their FAQs: “Each day, Groupon features an unbeatable deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in your city. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, we get discounts you won’t find anywhere else. We call it “collective buying power!”"

Interesting idea, right?

There’s a limited number of cities available right now, and they’re supposed to be growing.

There isn’t a daily deal for Pittsburgh up right now, so I checked out to see what it is in Indianapolis: $20 for $50 worth of food at Sushi on the Rocks. It expires in one year.

Today’s deal in Atlanta is $45 for 10 yoga or pilates classes. GREAT deal!

Check it out if you’re interested, and if you use my referral link and end up buying one of these deals at some point, I’ll get $10.

*referal link

Have you used Groupon? What sort of deal did you get?

Share expenses with a friend!

I recently mentioned how I split the cost of a museum membership with a friend. We’re both saving money and reaping the full benefits.

There’s plenty more expenses you can share with a trusted friend or family member. The key word here is trusted. You wouldn’t want one party to carry most of the financial burden, be liable for extra expenses — or worse — you don’t want to damage your relationship if a deal doesn’t go well.

That said, here are a few things you can split costs or otherwise help a friend save a buck:

• Rug Doctors. Cleaning your carpets? They’re usually rentable for a 24-hour period. But who needs a full 24 hours to do the job?
• Magazines. When I’m done with my magazines, I give them to my neighbor so she can flip through them. She’ll recycle them or keep passing them along.
• Coupons. We all have coupons that we’ll never use! Swap ‘em, mail ‘em, and help your friend save a buck.
• Accommodations. When we went to Florida last year, our family rented a house and shared the cost, rather than everyone getting a bunch of hotel rooms. It was much cheaper this way and certainly more fun.
• Entertainment Book. Along the lines of sharing coupons, there’s plenty of coupons in Entertainment Books that you’ll probably never use. Maybe you know someone who might!
• Shipping costs. If you and your bff have some online shopping to do, maybe you could combine your order and split the shipping. Sometimes, great coupon codes only apply to higher amounts. For example, you might get 30% off your order and free shipping, but only if you spend $50. It’s easier to hit that $50 mark if you and your friend are planning on buying something from that store anyway. Be careful–it’s only a deal if both parties were actually planning on making purchases anyway!
• CSA shares. Maybe you can’t eat all the veggies the farmers send your way each week. Some CSAs offer half shares, but if not, surely you know someone who could take all that extra produce off your hands.
• Warehouse club memberships. I’m a member of Sam’s Club, if any of you guys need giant jars of mayo.
• Bulk food in general. Can’t use a huge container of ________ ? Share the cost, split the item and reap the benefits of buying in bulk without having to store all that bulk yourself.
• Parking/tolls/gas. Carpool! Way more fun.
• Garage sale ads. Coordinate with your neighbor and host yard sales at the same time to generate more traffic. If you take out an ad in the paper, share the expense.
• Cell phone plans. This one has potential to be a real headache for all parties. If you do a family plan with someone else,  be sure each member fully understands their financial obligations.

What can you add to the list?

A downside of thrift store shopping

I’ve hit some thrift stores pretty hard lately as I’m reworking my wardrobe. I’ve found some incredible deals! Thrift store prices are usually really cheap ($2-4 for a top, $4 for a skirt, $6-7 for ‘brand name’ jeans, etc.).

To really save money, go when certain items are on sale. For example, one of my frequented thrift shops offers 50 percent off “upscale” brands on Thursdays. I spotted a lined blazer from JCrew for $5, so it would have been $2.50 on the sale day. Too bad it didn’t fit me!

Some thrift stores have junk for clothes, but if you go to the right ones, you’ll see that many offer quality items for extremely cheap.

It’s so cheap, and such a good deal that I’ve discovered one of the downsides (if you could even call it that) of thrifting:

Paying retail is so much harder to do once you’re accustomed to thrift store prices!

Some things you just can’t thrift. For example: socks, underthings, shoes for people with weird foot sizes, etc. I maintain that if you can find an item in a retail store, you can probably find it in a thrift store if you look long enough and hard enough. But darn it, I just haven’t been able to find some dress pants or khaki pants that fit right.

So, I’ll probably have to go retail for it.

It won’t be easy. I’ll likely have to go to multiple stores and look for sales and coupons.

But you know what? When many of your clothes come second-hand, you have more money left over to pay retail prices on other things.