Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Discounts - It Never Hurts to Ask

I learned two things this past week about discounts and I thought I would share the love.


#1 - Medical Bill Discounts

We know a little something about medical bills during this season of our lives. Between hearing tests that required anesthesia, ear tubes, stitches and emergency room visits, urgent care, and an unexpected root canal (all this in the last two months!) we have bills coming out the wazoo.

I was going to call and pay a bill over the phone this past Monday.  Before I called, my Mom had reminded me to ask if they would give me a discount.  That might sound funny, but I guess they have so many people who either don't pay or ask to pay maybe $25 per month from now until 2015 that they might give you a discount if you can pay in full.

So I called and asked, hoping but not really expecting, and after putting me on hold to speak to her manager, she came back with the good news: 30% discount!  This particular bill was for over $1000, so a 30% discount was a significant chunk of change.  Thanks for the reminder Mom!

So before you pay any medical bill, ask if they will give you a discount if you pay in full.


#2 - Online Shopping 

I have done some online shopping this Christmas season.  So convenient, no crowds to fight, no gas wasted driving around town.  And if you have to ship gifts to family members that live out of town or state (or country!) you might as well just pay the shipping once and have the company gift wrap it while they are at it!

I needed to order a gift from the site NovaNatural.com for my little cousin Gemma.  I picked out what I wanted to purchase, which was this baby feeding bowl made out of Cherry wood...


Pretty cute, huh?  (I hope Gemma's not reading this blog or she knows what she is getting for Christmas...)

Before I made the purchase, I did an online search for "Nova Natural Coupons".  I only had to click on two sites from the search results before I found one that had a coupon code for $5 off your first purchase at Nova Natural.com!  Even if it says that the code has expired, try it anyways.  This one said it expired in 2007, but it still works.

Here are some other sites where you can find coupon codes for anything from discounted or free shipping at some of your favorite retailers, or a certain percentage off your total or specific items.  It never hurts to invest a few minutes on a Google search to see if you can get a better deal!








6 comments:

Karah said...

A girl after my own heart! I looove finding awesome deals online. And I'm pretty good at it, too. HAHAHA.

That's cool about the medical bills too - I would have never thought to ask!

Jen Price said...

This post is right up my alley! I love getting a deal! Thanks for the sites on finding one!

Anonymous said...

You might want to check out CouponCowgirl.com as well. Our site features coupons for over 600 stores and a blog with additional money-saving tips and alerts.

Anonymous said...

great site for coupons..thanks for post

Amy said...

Who is Gemma? Whey do I not know. I thought we were friends.

Anonymous said...

Brilliant post.!! I love online shopping and always use coupons to cut down the costs.