1. Shop with discounted gift cards
Gift cards aren’t just for other people. If you’re planning a major purchase or if you know you’ll be shopping soon at a favorite store, buy discounted gift cards for that store before you shop.
Sometimes multipacks are on sale (e.g., three $10 iTunes or Starbucks cards for only $25) at grocery stores and big-box stores. Or you can find deals at online gift card hubs.
GiftCardGranny.com sells gift cards and e-cards from hundreds of retailers and restaurants, including Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Cold Stone Creamery, Disney Store, iTunes, JCPenney, Lowes, Nike, Old Navy, Red Robin and Starbucks.
2. Use restaurant certificates
You can ask your favorite restaurants when they’ll be offering special bonus deals on gift certificates or cards online or in the stores. During the holiday season, for example, Red Lobster, Texas Roadhouse and other chains offered a $5 bonus with gift-card purchases.
3. Buy in bulk
Bulk buying can lower the unit price of products you buy regularly, and it saves the time and gas you would’ve spent in multiple trips to buy smaller quantities at a time. Grocery stores and big box chains often have a row of bulk products such as snacks, laundry supplies, paper products and more.
4. Join a warehouse club
There’s bulk, and then there’s bulk. If you need huge quantities of cereal, toilet paper, frozen food and more, then joining a warehouse store club makes sense. Costco, BJ’s and other warehouse clubs offer tremendous discounts compared with retail prices.
SEIU Member Benefits partners with Costco to help their members save money on thousands of brand-name items, plus you’ll receive the latest membership deals from Costco when you log in through our website.