|Insider Tips on How to Maximize Your Dollar

It’s called Group Discount Buying and it’s become a favorite of Internet bargain hunters.

My first experience with this: When I lived in LA I used to get a particular type of facial that was difficult to find here in Austin; and when I finally did find it, I also found that it cost twice as much here as it did in LA! 

That is, until I found out about Group Discount Buying.  I was able to buy it at a 50% discount, which brought it down to the price I was used to paying.  It was about this time I decided to make these discounts available on the Gen-A website, these are the types of deep savings that I like to pass on to our members!

On the Generation America website  (you will need to be a member and be logged in to access these) we have links in our Benefits section for Groupon and LivingSocial. 

LivingSocial offers one fantastic deal every day with discounts of up to 90% at local restaurants, bars, spas, theaters and more.

Groupon features daily deals from top local businesses in over 140 cities around the world. It has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and was named the #1 Hottest Website for 2010 by Fox Business News.

How it works: you will need to sign up to get on their email lists—each day they’ll email you what their daily deal is, which is always at least 50% off on some of your favorite restaurants and activities.  They aren’t in every city however—although both of them are adding new locations all the time—so check to see if your city is included (if it’s not you can send them a request to add yours ASAP!).

For example, today’s deal (for Austin, TX) on LivingSocial is: two private horseback riding lessons for $49, which is 62% off the regular price of $130.  Groupon’s deal today is: pay $10 for $20 worth of Mexican Brunch or Lunch at Carlos Santana’s restaurant: Maria Maria.

As a final note, I’ll share my thoughts on using coupons—they only really work to save you money if you use them on things you already buy, or have budgeted for in advance.  In your efforts to “save money”, you could be easily enticed to purchase things that you don’t normally consume–resulting in frivolous purchases that eat up your available cash, so please proceed with a certain amount of caution!

These days it’s easy to spend upwards of $50.00 – $100.00 on a haircut and manicure, so if you’re interested in a $5 haircut and $7 manicure . . . two words = beauty schools.

I first learned about this when a friend of mine, Jennifer, was studying to become an aesthetician.  She asked if I’d be willing to come and be her “customer”; of course I jumped at the chance when I heard I could get a facial for around $15.00.  As soon as I walked in I found out that it’s definitely not the “spa experience” you may be used to if you’re used to paying a higher price, but it was fun, everyone was very friendly and there was a lot of buzz in the air . . . and it felt good to help out a friend.

To find beauty schools in your area, just do a Google search.  I typed in “beauty schools Austin TX” and got 7 schools listed immediately at the top of the page.  I visited each website and found that 3 of those schools will let you come in and get services as a customer.

Most of these schools offer everything from shampoo + haircuts, to manicures, pedicures, waxing and facials.  I’m pretty picky about who cuts my hair so the haircuts wouldn’t be for me, but if you want to get one, Jennifer told me that you can ask for a more experienced student.  Remember to allow a little extra time as these are students and can take a bit longer than what you might be used to.  It also might help to know that all services are performed by students under the supervision of licensed instructors.

Here are just some of the services and prices from one of the three beauty schools I found in my area:

Tip #1:  I’m sure we all know by now that you do NOT want to exceed your amount of allowable minutes in your cell phone plan, as the per-minute charges are pretty astronomical and add up quickly!

If you’re ever curious about how many minutes you’ve used in your billing period, all you have to do is dial: #MIN# (or: #646#) and push the Send button; after a few seconds you’ll get a report of how many minutes you’ve used so far in the current billing period, as well as the date of when your billing period closes. [I’m with T-Mobile, so this information may not be exactly correct for other cell phone providers, although I’m sure they all have this service available. You may need to call Customer Service for your provider to get their exact instructions.]

If you’re running low on allowable plan minutes, call Customer Service (611) and speak to them about it.  There have been a few times when I’ve had special circumstances (family emergency, out of town trip, etc.) that resulted in a spike of my normal cell phone usage and I was given an additional 150 minutes so that I wouldn’t have to pay the per-minute charges for going beyond the 1,000 minutes a month in my plan.  I have since found out (because I was nosy and asked) that they can grant you these exceptions up to 3 times in a calendar year, so by all means, take advantage of it!

Tip #2:  For those of us with “old fashioned” cell phones that aren’t able to access the internet, here’s another money-saving tip: instead of calling directory assistance (411) when you need the phone number of a business—which costs upwards of $1.50 for each call—simply type the name of the business and the city it’s located in in a text message and send that message to Google (466453), after a few seconds you’ll get a text message back with that businesses address and phone number.  Most text messages cost approximately 15₵ if you don’t have it included in your plan.  (I pay an extra $5.00 a month for unlimited texting and have saved a bundle.)  If you don’t know how to send a text message, ask your kids, grandkids or any kid in the neighborhood for that matter–they’d probably be very happy to show you how!

Nothing but the best for our members:  I personally researched and found the best deal for Gen-A’s roadside assistance program. 

To provide our members with spectacular savings on roadside assistance, we have partnered with Best Roadside—who has been in business for 25 years.  We negotiated such a good deal; you can buy it from us cheaper than buying it directly from Best Roadside!

Check it out:

Need I say more?

To find out more information and to take advantage of this great deal: Click Here.

Only Gen-A members are eligible for this offer. If you’re not already a member Sign Up today; as you can see, this deal more than pays for your membership!