Monday’s Money Saving Tips – Money off coupons and vouchers! Don’t just bin them and ignore them, use them, milk them and save a load of cash!
Today in my ongoing series aiming to save all my fellow travellers money (and stitch up the odd capitalist company as best I can), I’m just looking at picking up free or discounted things with ease. This merely involves money off vouchers and freebies. The amount of people I have met on my travels that tell me:
– why would you pick up a magazine with a money off voucher??
– it’s just a scam
– it’s false advertising
– they’re just trying to get you into their bar
– there will be a catch
– nothing’s free
– nobody ever uses those vouchers
Well, there’s no catch. Money off vouchers and FREE drinks vouchers really work and I have used them a lot. All you need to do is check all the details and work out how to use them to your benefit. If you doubt these coupons, you need to think again. For example, look at this one linked here, it is a perfect example of how to save money and grab yourself a bargain! I have had FREE meals, FREE drinks and even free trips before, all legitimate. Here are some examples of easy places and ways I’ve got free drinks, snacks and services on my travels:
– Become a member of something and get a FREE drink/money off voucher. No obligation to buy, just filling in a few forms. OK lazy people won’t bother, but it’s FREE Stuff. This company in Australia still do it: Publife Card (just for example – sign up and immediately get a $10 drinks voucher).
– Buy one get one FREE on Happy Hour drinks in pubs. This is really a FREE drink. You were going to buy a drink that night anyway, so you might as well have a free one, or go halfers with a mate and get a half price one.
– Free snacks in a certain pub during Happy Hour. They offer this to get you in of course. Buy one drink of the cheapest variety and eat all you can. Particularly common in Australia.
– Airport City Guides – I got one with a 10% off entry to Lone Pine Zoo voucher! I was going there anyway so an immediate reduction.
Keep your eye open for discounts and free meals in places like Burger King and McDonalds!
– Burger King and McDonalds vouchers are VERY common. They’re cheap enough as it is but who would turn down a free meal!
– Invites to events. I got invited to a lecture in Sydney, Australia in 2009. I wasn’t interested in the lecture one bit!! But I went for FREE food and drinks all night, I even ended up writing about it: John Marsden Lecture
Loving the FREE food and drinks at the John Marsden Memorial Lecture in Sydney back in 2009. Me and my mate were the only 2 backpackers that were there!
Here are a few ways to get FREE drinks vouchers and money off vouchers:
– airports (when you arrive pick up those free maps and city guides)
– free magazines (pick them up, look for vouchers, if you don’t find any throw them out)
– hearsay/word of mouth (if a fellow traveller tells you a bar offers buy one get one free then listen to them)
– newspapers (pick them up, look for vouchers, if you don’t find any throw them out)
– websites
My free shot in Quito Ecuador.
If I actually listed the amount of free drinks and snacks I have had in the last 10 years, it would be in the late hundreds. I’m not even kidding. I’m a cheapskate, a scavenging scrounger for offers and I love a bargain and I milk bargains and use drinks vouchers.
If there’s a voucher for a free drink in a bar between 4pm and 5pm, then I pick up 6 of them!! And I go in separately to 5 mates and we all get a free drink. And it really works. No obligation to buy. Even the bar is still a winner as it attracts more customers, some will buy drinks, some won’t, either way the bar LOOKS BUSIER and suddenly gains popularity.
So next time you see a magazine with money off vouchers, rip them out and use them. You’ll get loads of free stuff on your travels. And don’t be a posh travel snob scared of reputation – head straight to the coffee shop and shout loudly “Oi! Where’s my FREE coffee!” You’ll get it!!
With you Jonny on the FREE! hey,
if you have to fill out a form – who’s to say that you have to give true details? Also, I’ve gotten discounts by:
Flashing a student ID (even outside the US)
Mentioning an airline or FF club
Mentioning travel clubs like AAA (again, even outside the US)
Have a friend who asks for senior discounts all over the world… and he often gets them!
I’m a real tight assed, budget, cheapskate traveller Maria. I take 5 things in my toiletry bag and only paid for one of them (the deodorant) – my soap, toothpaste, toothbrush and shampoo is always from a recent hotel or hostel – I’ve enough to keep me going a while. I milk freebies and I always have done. My Mum taught me to be like that. She collects coupons for 5 pence off milk, free CDs, anything and she always has done. It works and over the long term you not only save more but become a wiser person when you see offers, plus you know where to look for offers. The only negative thing is it does make you a lot more money orientated and selfish. But I’d rather be like this…Jonny
PS – I wrote a post a few weeks back about Fake Student ID Cards – most museums and bus companies don’t check – you can save a LOT by using them!