Insight & Advice

How to Save 10% on Every Purchase

03/21/07 - 12:29 PM EDT


Most investors would love to get a double-digit return on their money. While it may be difficult to earn a return of 10% or more with many investments, you can find double-digit savings on many of your purchases.

People usually pay very little attention to how much they pay for their everyday items. They simply go to the store and buy what they need, possibly purchasing the item on sale if they're lucky and it happens to be discounted that day. With a simple step before shopping, however, it's possible to take 10% or more right off the top of virtually every purchase.

With the explosion in popularity of gift cards comes an opportunity to purchase nearly everything you buy at a discount. While gift cards are sold at face value in most retail outlets, there's an active secondary market for them that can mean savings even before you begin to look for any other type of discount.

Gifts From the Secondary Market

Gift cards have become the gift of choice for many occasions. The problem is what to do when you receive a gift card from a store that you do not frequent or which has merchandise that you're not interested in purchasing. What many people do in this situation is turn to the secondary markets to sell them for cash. Most of the time, they are willing to sell the gift cards for less than face value.

All you need to do is purchase gift cards from these secondary markets for those stores where you regularly shop. This can save you anywhere from 5%-30% with little effort.

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Jeffrey Strain has been a freelance personal finance writer for the past 10 years helping people save money and get their finances in order. He currently owns and runs SavingAdvice.com.

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