Who doesn’t love snagging a good deal? According to Statista, about 90 percent of Americans have used coupons while shopping! While you’re out hunting for the next price drop, tune into this resourceful episode of Making it Count, where we give you the scoop on effective shopping hacks! Today we’re joined by our money-smart friend, James Anderson, Founder and CEO of SmartMov. With his help, Cristina and Randy dive into all the ways you can save money while shopping!
Cristina asks Question 1: “James, what are your favorite ways to save when you're shopping online?”
James responds: “One way is using apps. So like your grocery store app now it has all your digital coupons in addition to the “you save” coupons. That's one. And then Randy was talking about tracking prices. So like one of the things that just drives me crazy is when there's a sale that comes up and says, it's a sale, is it really a sale? So I love to use like Camel, Camel, Camel to see what that price was over the last year to see if am I actually landing an awesome deal, or is it a heightened the price and dropped it for my eyes to go, “oh, I saved 52% today.””
Randy asks Question 2: “So when I think of couponing I think of the old school method going through magazines, cutting them out. What are some good methods to find those types of coupons?”
James responds: “Now with digital, like Coupons.com is one site again, like on your actual apps. So I like to call it my burner email account, and that's where my loyalty signups go for like Eddie Bauer, REI, you name the thing, I'll be like sure, “I'll give you the email of my burner and basically let them spam me as much as they want with coupon codes. And when it comes time to hunt for those deals instead of having to type in Google, you just go to your burner account, type in what you're looking for, and you probably find a 20 to 25%, sometimes even more. Because I leave, I'm notorious for leaving carts just full of stuff, and they're sending me notes about that. They've reduced the deals.”
Cristina asks Question 3: “Well why we're on the topic of digital saving apps, what are your go-to apps for deals? What are some other ways that I could save using a digital app?”
James responds: “So I have this favorite app called CardCash. It's a discounted gift card site, so all the gift cards that you're talking about like Target.
Randy asks Question 4: "So aside from coupons, what other money-saving shopping hacks can you recommend to us?"
James responds: “Okay, so like I kind of talked about Camel, Camel, Camel to keep track of those. Like, oh, another thing that I really like to do and it's more just understanding and buying high-quality stuff. So I was doing a quick look. And based on your guys's location, Hillsborough County Public Library, for example, I love looking at Consumer Reports to find things that last. So instead of looking at kind of where, you know, there are the five stars and doing that, I like to look to — you know, I had to buy a dishwasher, and so I went to Consumer Reports after going through my library's website for free and looked for dishwashers. And then, of course, I used Card Cash to buy my Ikea gift card to go and get my really nice dishwasher that got the highest rating that was available. You know, in 2021, you couldn't get an appliance, but over at Ikea, I drove up and got it."
Cristina asks Question 4: “So are there any tools or resources available that you would recommend for individuals who are looking to take their shopping savings to the next level?
James responds: “Just take advantage of those loyalty apps, where you're basically signing up and then send it to your burner email. And as those deals come in, you're able to kind of search through them. Another thing that I love to do is on Google, I go to the second or third page of the search results. That's where the deals really are because on the first page, people are paying for, you know, to optimize their searches and stuff. But by the third page, you're finding mom-and-pop shops that have these amazing deals that you can actually Google and find those promotions that actually still show deals.”
Cristina asks Quick Question 1: “Are there any online resources for couponing that you particularly would recommend?”
James responds: “Absolutely. Love the Cardcash. I can't talk about it enough, actually. That is amazing.”
Randy asks Quick Question 2: “So if you had to pick one go to savings method that we discussed in this episode. Which one would you choose? What is the number one?”
James responds: “Stack it like what you were talking about, Randy. Stack your discounts. You find those coupons and you stack a further discount on there.”
Randy asks Quick Question 3: "How do you organize your coupons and promos? Are you digital or do you still do paper stockpile coupons?”
James responds: "Definitely digital and definitely just kind of keeping those deals in the email. So one of the things to save money is you're not constantly looking for a deal, but when you're actually needing to shop, that's when you look for the deal through your emails instead of the other way where you're getting prompted to use a code. You jump on there when you're actually actively hunting for it and have patience.”
Cristina asks Quick Question 4: “James, what's your favorite place to use a coupon?”
James Responds: “It was actually a lot of fun a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if you guys get the Vail Pack or anything, but we have these things called the Vail Pack. But there's these monster entertainment centers now for bowling, laser tag, things like that. And it's called Main Event here. And sure enough, I was able to find a discount gift card over at Sam's Club for Main event. Found a coupon. We ate dinner. My son is now seven. We celebrated his birthday. Got to go bowling. He got to do some VR and it was so much fun to just do that. And you know, we got to have fun and we still save money.”
So the best way is just on the website. So smartmove.app. Essentially, we're coming up with this app where everybody can share their savings wins. So as you're getting those awesome deals, you can share it on there. So people go, “Oh, I didn't even think about doing that.” I love to talk to people. Shoot me a note and connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and I'd love to talk to you!”
On this episode, Cristina and Randy shared a a seasonal shopping guide. Use this resource for some great tips to better navigate the spending challenges of the holiday season.