Never Buy Anything Without a Coupon

I know, the title of this article is a bit extreme.

But honestly, if you engrain this tiny piece of advice into your impulsive, worry-about-an-overdraft-after-the-expensive-shoe-purchase brain, you'll save yourself a lot of financial headaches. It wasn't that long ago that I realized the power of Google in my constant mission to pinch pennies.

You'd be surprised how many companies have valid coupon codes floating around on the web without actively promoting them in their normal email spam.


A friend once showed me the way to find valid coupon codes for pretty much anywhere. He saved hundreds of dollars on a new computer (after forty-five minutes of Internet combing), whereas I would've paid full price without thinking. "If it's not on sale, oh well," the younger, dumber me would say. Now, I coupon search for everything. Case in point: Wedding Paper Divas.

When I was ordering my wedding invitations, I knew I would use Wedding Paper Divas. Its quality is excellent and if you call with a question on a proof, you always get a real, live person (a novelty these days!). I had been getting their spam emails for about a year at that point since I ordered through them for my save the date cards. But unfortunately, at the time I was ready to buy my invitations, I couldn't find a valid coupon code in any of my emails.

So like a true bargain-hunter, I took to the web. And oh, the spoils I found. The first result on my search for "wedding paper divas coupon code" was actually a page on the company's site called "Codes and Promotions." (Who knew?) I also found good coupons on RetailMeNot and MyCoupons.com. I ended up using a promotion for 20 percent off through the month of June--a coupon that was never sent to my email account.

This isn't my only experience with successful "e-couponing," either. I would never buy anything from a big name retailer, such as Macy's, Pottery Barn, or the Gap, without finding a coupon online first. I've also never had a problem with getting spammed or virus-attacked by the coupon sites I've found. Just don't give them any information in exchange for a code; if asked, that would be a red flag for me.

Photo credit: Heidi Kennedy, Hotcouponworld.com via Wikimedia Commons.