My morning ritual for the past year or so has been to get up, take a shower, get the kids up and fed and dropped off at school, but at 8 o’clock I can be found on my iPhone, checking the daily flash sales that come pouring into my inbox.
It all started out probably two years ago, when I was introduced to Groupon by a friend. One of the local kid entertainment places that we frequented was doing a deal that was basically half off admission if you pre-bought five of them. Being something we did a couple of times a month, I was thrilled to sign up, buy the deal, and use my discounted tickets. Every little bit counts, right? So then about a month later, one of my favorite restaurants was up there for half price, and since there was a limit on how many you could purchase, I made my husband sign up and buy it, too!
Later when I was raving to my friend about how excited I was (and yeah, let’s TOTALLY both go use our groupons for dinner together!) she asked me if I’d seen the Living Social for this other restaurant… and that opened up a whole new world of great deals to me!
Flash sales are a wonderful thing, whether you’re single and like doing new things with your friends, have kids and are looking for new or cheaper things to do with your family, or you’re a retired couple who enjoys going out to eat and catching a movie. Because all of these things are available to you, and just waiting in your inbox every day to surprise you!
Some flash sales like Groupon are only open for one day, and some of the deals have limited availability. Others like Living Social, Star Tribune Steals and DealStork run for up to a week, and have multiple different offers available. There are even kid and family specific ones like Plum District. Some sell tangible goods like high end clothing, shoes, kitchenware and more (think upscale outlet mall at your fingertips) like Gilt, Zulily, One Kings Lane and RueLaLa.
I have gotten some AWESOME deals on things that were really useful, and not just frivolous spending. I spent $75 on a $200 birthday party for my daughter at a local painting shop that she loves. I’ve gotten hour long massages for $30. I’ve gotten tickets to zoos and museums to take the kids to for half price. I found a month of swimming lessons for $25 about a mile from my house. I got a $50 voucher to use at a favorite restaurant for $20. Last week I got 4 movie tickets to my neighborhood theatre for $20. If you’re into deal hunting, I promise you will love doing this as much as I do!
Another great idea with these is if you’re going to take a vacation somewhere in the US, sign up for the local Groupons and Living Social deals in that area about a month or two beforehand, and you just might score a great deal on something you were already planning to do! This of course means you have that much more money to go hunt for another great deal!
Here are some links to get in on the deals:
