WFMW - Groupon

I absolutely love handmade soaps, but they're one of the things I rarely splurge on. To be honest, I get so caught up in day to day life that I forget handmade soap even exists. Groupon reminded me a couple of weeks ago when they sent an offer to get ten dollars worth of soap for five dollars. Combine that with the buy five get one free deal at the soap store, and I got six bars for fifteen dollars. And I'm seriously loving my soap. They told me they're going to run another offer for the holidays, so I plan on watching for it and stocking up again.

When it comes to fun little splurges, Groupon is a great money saver. We've used an offer for Bath and Body Works for my daughter's birthday. And bought yummy tamales at a local bakery we'd never heard of before. Many of the offers aren't for us (no plans to golf or rent a photo booth), but if it's something I was going to do anyway, I jump at it.

Here's how Groupon works -- you sign up for an account and they send a daily email with a special offer for your area. If you're interested, you make the purchase online, then print the coupon and take it to the store/restaurant/whatever. The ones I've done have all been for half off -- $5 for $10 worth of stuff, $10 for $20 worth... and you can combine them with sale prices to get an even better deal.

I was able to combine the offers I used with Swagbucks to earn points (check daily deals on their website), but can't find them there today. That got me another dollar or two of bang for my bucks. I've already written about Swagbucks and how it works here.

Of course it doesn't make any kind of sense to use Groupon for things you wouldn't have bought anyway, but for things you do want, it can help you stretch your pennies.