You Can Save Money With Discount Codes, Vouchers And Freebies

The “freeconomy” in Britain is thriving, with many adults saving roughly £1,200 each year by using vouchers for money off, freebies, special deals and more.

A study by Halifax Home Insurance showed how the downturn in the economy has taken our nation of people who are smart about looking for bargains, with about a fifth of the people who were quizzed noting that they will rarely buy things that are full price. The top targets for discounts will be deals that you can find on meals, with more than have saving on fast food, restaurants and takeaways, with flights and holidays trailing very closely.

Contrary to a lot of the national stereotypes, about 12% of adults will admit that they haggle to be sure that the price is just right, with about one percent saying that they are actually too embarrassed to utilize discounts. The survey further claims that taking a good deal has turned into more of a social activity, with about 44% of people that are sharing their discounts with friends.

Because of this, more than one in four people will say that they can do things now that they would not otherwise do, all thanks to the vouchers and offer codes for buying gifts for friends and family and more.

If you have not yet jumped on the bargain bandwagon, these are some great tips that will get you started:

Discount Code Sites
Many websites available will offer discounts on products and certain services on a lot of online UK retailers to include financial services, fashion, gadgets, gifts, CDs, books, DVDs, travel, hotels and dining out.
Offers will range from a set price, to percentages off, to free delivery and more. Every website will explain how you can redeem codes. Generally, you will click through to chosen sites of retailers, select the services or goods, then once you get to checkout you enter in the promotional code, clicking update. Many sites will feature vouchers that you can print and use for discounts in high end outlets, including two for one meal deals. Some of the sites will acknowledge that the codes can become out of date, with many encouraging you to register to receive the best offers in your email box. Some serious seekers of discounts will register with several sites because each will have their own discounts.

When you shop online and you find opportunities to put in a code when you go to checkout, you can open up a new tab to see if it might be listed with some of the discount code sites. If not, the chances are good that the code is offered by the retailer and is only for a specific group of customers. A lot of these codes are will find their way into the hands of the public through websites like hotukdeals.com.

Giveaway/Recycle Sites
The Freecycle Network is one of the more famous recycling websites where you can pick up a great deal of unwanted items either for free, or you can give items of your own away. This is a site that helps to match up people and the things that they would like to get rid of with the people who can use them most.
The goal here is to save on landfill space, with the result being a nice way for bargain hunters to pick up some valuable freebies. The UK Freecycle group was put together in London in 2003 by local volunteer moderators, and there are now over 500 all across the country, with well over 2 million members. All you have to do to is sign up for your local group and you are free to post both “offer” and “wanted” messages, or respond to other members who are posting items. The person who is giving away items will decide to respond and set up collection times, posting up a “taken” message when the item has been collected.

From previous experiences with the Guardian Money Office, it seems as though the system works rather well. Examples of iItems that have been offered recently include televisions, freezers, sofas, dog cages, toilets, sinks, books and much more.

Freegle is a newer rival that works in a similar nature and has over 300 groups and over 1 million members. While it is primarily a community made up of classified advertisings and sale listings, Gumtree.com is available in many locations in the UK. There is a helpful section of “stuff for free”, with recent offerings including haircuts, house plants, musical instruments, trampolines and others.

Free Sample Sites
There are a lot of websites like Hot Free Stuff that offer links to websites or free product samples where you can get freebies, along with tips on how you can save even more money. The drawback for many of these is that you will normally have to sign up for a site to get regular newsletters that may clog up your inbox. The best way to get around this is to have a secondary email where you can register and get the samples that you want.