Trimming your budget usually means the first thing you do is cut down on luxuries, or things you can survive without. Eating at restaurants several times a day, brown bagging it instead of joining the gang at work when they go to lunch and cutting the cable cord are three of the most obvious ways to sacrifice extras in order to defeat debt. That being said, it can get pretty depressing when you feel you have to justify every extra purchase and sometimes we need little to indulge ourselves in small luxuries just to keep ourselves going. There’s a way to have your cake and eat it too. You just have to think smart and save on those little things you hate to live without!
For example, say there’s a high-end facial moisturizer that is incomparable to every other brand you’ve tried but you’re having a hard time rationalizing the expenditure. Consider doing a little investigative work and you’ll most likely be able to find the same moisturizer at a substancially lower price than found at the specialty cosmetics store!
Use our example to see how it works. L’Occitane specializes in high-end facial products that are usually only found at exclusive stores. Instead of doing without or sneaking a chunk of cash out of your paycheck, consider buying directly from the company and you’ll save considerably over regular retail prices.
You can take that one step further. Download the free Groupon app and search for L’Occitane and you’ll instantly get access to L’Occitane coupons worth up to 50 percent off!
Before you scramble to buy finish reading. Check out all the coupons first so you get the most bang for your buck. Often you can get an even better deal by adding clearance items to your cart, or qualify for free shipping with a minimum order. If you use several products faithfully it makes sense to take advantage of the offers because you’ll save more in the long run.
You can also plan ahead by checking out what seasonal items are on sale now. For example, if winter products go on clearance in February then you can predict summer products will go down in price by the middle of summer. That way you can buy enough to last until the next sale, and never pay full price again!