Discount Websites

I think most people that know me well also know that I love a good deal. I can't remember the last time I bought some item of clothing that wasn't on sale or I didn't have a coupon for. My grocery list pretty much only consists of things that are on sale, and I've gotten to the point where I have the prices memorized for certain items -- I will not pay more than $2.50 for juice drinks (100% juice required). When it goes below $2, I tend to stock up.

Then, I found Groupon -- and all the related sites that offer great local deals on everything from restaurants, to salons/spas, to any kind of service or store you could think of. Many of the places are either a) businesses I already go to, b) places I was planning on trying out, or c) services I have been wanting but were price-prohibitive. That's really the trick to making purchases from those websites. If you didn't have a desire to make the purchase before the deal showed up, even if it is a wonderful deal, it's best just to not buy it. Some of the buys can be real money savers, but others can be just a bust. I've been keeping track of my ratings of most of these businesses I purchase a deal from (the ones that aren't online deals -- all listed on the map below), and my average rating of them is probably 3 or 3.5 stars out of 5 -- so really just about average.

I Heart Deals

What's this?

It can get annoying to feel compelled to check these e-mails daily, since many of the deals are only available for 24 hours -- but I find that only Groupon and LivingSocial are the ones that tend to have such strict time limitations. Below is a comprehensive list of the deal sites I get information from, so you can check them out if they are in your area:

• Groupon
• Living Social
• Homerun
• Eversave
• Specialicious
• TownHog
• KGB Deals
• OpenTable Spotlight

• What's the Deal
• Half Off DC
• DC Half Off
• Bloomspot
• BuyWithMe
• Tippr
• Deals for Deeds
• DealOn

A few other sites that have deals (but I consider to be in a different category than these deal sites) are Amazon's Gold Box Deals and Restaurant.com. Many times on Restaurant.com, you can get a $25 gift certificate to a restaurant for $2-3 (with certain restrictions, depending on the restaurant)! And they aren't available for just one day -- they are there all the time. If you were already planning on eating there, why not?!

Here are two current examples of why I like these deal sites:

-Two Fandango Movie Tickets for $9 from LivingSocial

• If you go to the movies (which most people do), and were planning on doing so between now and when you would have to use the deal by (June 6th), then it really only makes sense for you to get it. Fandango is available for so many theaters across the country, it's really not prohibitive for most people. And if three friends buy from your link, then your deal is free! That happened to me when they had an Amazon.com gift card deal, and I ended up getting a free $20 gift card!

-An IPL Photofacial in McLean, VA for $99 from Eversave

• I've really been wanting to get another photofacial that will improve the complexion of my skin like the one I had at Rejuvalase (but I will only pay $100 or less), and then this deal popped up -- plus, I get another $10 off because of the "refer a friend" discount. I'd never get this done for the regular $300 per session price, but I can swing $89 maybe 1-2 times a year.

I'll probably keep posting the most exciting deals from the deal websites as they pop up! Oh yeah, there is Lifebooker.com -- but that is specific to NYC and LA, so not applicable to me on a regular basis. If there are any websites I'm missing, please let me know. :)