6 Ways to Save and Earn on Big Purchases!

Well, want to know what we did on Father’s Day? We bought a new washing machine. ugh. I REALLY hate spending big money on things like this, but I also REALLY don’t want to be schlepping my clothes the laundry mat. So, we did a little research and made the plunge. But I was very happy with how much we saved, too, and I thought I would share it with you to hopefully give you some ideas of ways to save when making a big purchase.

The most obvious way to save is to buy when the item is on sale. Our washing machine was originally $799.99, and on sale for $599.99 at Best Buy – a $200 savings!

Now that we have the most obvious way to save out of the way, let’s mention the most important – only buy what you need. If you don’t need a new item, don’t spend the money. If you don’t need or won’t use specific features on an item, don’t buy one that has them. There are a lot of washing machines that have more bells and whistles or look “cooler” than the one we picked, but do we need those bells and whistles? Will we use them? Probably not. So, we went with the machine that has what we will use.

Another way to save is possibly through a price match. A lot of stores offer price matching, take advantage of it if you can. When we found out the price of the washing machine, we immediately checked out other stores in our area to see how they were priced. Many times, you will just need to show the store the current printed ad or the price on their website. In our situation, we had already found the lowest price.

Use gift cards to pay for purchases. Not only can you be given gift cards as a present, but you can also earn gift cards through a few other ways – credit card rewards, loyalty programs, survey sites, and Shopkick (more to come on this later) – and you can purchase gift cards with bonus offers (ie: About twice a year, Kroger gives 4x points on gift card purchases. If we had purchased Best Buy gift cards from them, we would have earn points that could be redeemed for savings at the gas pump! – Thanks, Malcolm-Donna!). We had a $50 gift card to use on our purchase! (woo hoo!)

Join your store or brand’s loyalty program to earn points towards gift cards or coupons for money off purchases. We were able to use a $10 gift card from my husband’s My Best Buy Rewards account!

Rebates! Sometimes companies offer rebates (instant and/or mail-in) on specific items. But, did you know that Ibotta has rebates at stores where you may make larger purchases? When we bought the washing machine, they had a rebate for $10 cash back when you spend $100 at Best Buy. And, even though, we didn’t have our washer yet, but had paid for it, we still got it! All I had to do was complete the two tasks, submit a picture of the receipt and that was it!

Now, that you have read about six ways to save on big purchases, have you thought about how you can also earn rewards on purchases?

I mentioned a few ways to earn rewards on purchases above – Shopkick, My Best Buy Rewards, credit card rewards, and grocery store loyalty rewards. We paid for our washer with our credit card (and we’ll pay it off right away with our emergency savings) where we’ll earn points, and we’ll also earn points on my husband’s My Best Buy Rewards account and his Shopkick account. Sure wish I had thought about the Kroger 4x points on gift cards before we bought! 🙁

These points can really add up and be redeemed for gift cards for future purchases allowing you to save on future big (or small) purchases.

So, how have you saved when you needed to make a big purchase?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments!