How to get Discounts on Everything

How much Could you Save if you were able to get a Discount on Every Purchase?

Aside from checking the clearance racks, there are a few other tricks you can use to get discount codes, special offers and freebies to save you money.

This post contains affiliate links to products and services we use and can recommend. Full disclosure here.

1. Add to Cart but Don’t Check out

Shop owners will hate me for this, but if you are shopping online, add the items you want to your cart, but don’t check out.

Make sure you are either logged in or you checked out enough to have put in your email address but not paid.

Many shops are set to offer discount automatically, even small businesses.

It is a feature built into many e-commerce platforms and owners set it up to encourage sales.

If you can wait a few days before purchasing you can get anywhere from 5% to 40% off your order.

2. Shop at Different Stores

Coles and Woolworths are competition.

Switch your shopping between them for better offers and more points.

For example, if you shop at Woolworths regularly, when they send you an offer it is likely to be for items you buy or if they have a promotion where you spend a certain amount over 2 to 4 weeks to get bonus points, the amount will be around or higher than your recent shops.

If you don’t shop with them for a while, they will drop this drastically.

I was shopping with Woolworths for a few weeks and got a “Spend $130 each week for the next 4 weeks and get 1,000 bonus points” or something similar sent to me.

As I had not shopped at Coles for a while, they sent “Spend $50 each week for the next 3 weeks and get 2,500 bonus points!” or similar.

The store I had not shopped at recently gave a better offer to entice me back. Switch up your shopping and reap the rewards.

3. Sign up to Reward Programs

There are so many rewards from stores to get you on their email list. Generally, there is a sign up freebie or discount, followed by regular offers to your inbox, a birthday bonus and other incentives to get you to shop, especially if you don’t shop frequently.

If you do shop frequently, maximise the rewards program, collect points with all purchases, combine it with other reward offers if you can and use the gift cards or vouchers you get offered.

To get started, check out our list of freebies here, our list of Aussie birthday freebies and another list we have with VIP and reward clubs.

4. Use Cash Back Sites and Search for Discounts

A little cash back can go a long way. Sign up to cash back programs.

They all offer discounts or cash back on your shopping.

Install their Chrome extension, get the app on your phone and be notified every time you land on a site about any cash back offers or discount.

I have seen 1% to 40%, $1 through to $80 so far. Different sites have different offers.

CashRewards: By far my favourite as it usually has the highest cash back offer, the payments are processed easily and customer services has been good.

Simply join CashRewards for free, activate it when you see the cash back offer and get a bonus $20 cash back with your first purchase over $20.

Shopback: Works the same as CashRewards. You can only activate and use one so I compare to see which one is offering me a better deal. Join Shopback for free and get a bonus after your first purchase through them too.

Kickback: Similar to the others, Kickback is free to join and offers a variety of discounts and cash back on your purchases. Join Kickback and start saving money.

Honey: Slightly different, Honey offers cash back but also scans for discounts and coupon codes. Join Honey for free here.

Swagbucks: Best known as an online survey site, they also have a cash back program with the cash being awarded in points you accrue and cash out. Join free here.

ReceiptJar: This is for after your purchase is final. Upload your receipt and get points. Once you reach 1,000 points you can get a gift card. Join free with the code KYLIT3QH2 and get a bonus 200 points when you upload your first receipt.

Discounts

Aside from those specific sites, do a quick Google search for a coupon or discount code to the site you are shopping with. You never know your luck!

Get your first box free with HelloFresh! Essentially, try them for free then cancel.

Get up to $180 off EveryPlate, split across your first 5 boxes with the code THRIFTYEPLATE.

Get up to $144 off Dinnerly (49% off your first order, then 30% off the next two.) Marley Spoon offers up to $190 off 4 orders! That’s 53% off your first order, and 20% off your next three.

5. Ask For A Discount

Some people feel weird about asking for a discount, but it can result in huge savings.

I have asked for discounts with items on clearance or if clothes have a slight stain I am sure I can get out.

Two examples are a Portman’s shirt I got reduced to $18 because it had a pen mark and a shirt at David Jones which had a tiny drop of something on the shoulder but it was the only one in that colour left.

This does not always work (I asked at Sheike about a top, it was the last one left and it only had marks, but the bottom seam had come undone too.

They still wanted to charge full price! No thanks!)

If you ask, be polite, state what you want or simply ask if they can offer a discount because of the pen mark here or whatever.

NEVER put marks on clothes to get a discount! Be completely honest.

If you are buying more than one item, ask for a discount or if it’s the last item, close to its use by date or there is any other reason they might reduce to sell it quickly, ask.

The worst they can say is no.