Spend Smart. Count on coupons for discounts

Are you itching to straighten your curly locks? You could wind up with a ₹10,000 bill if you visit one of the outlets of salon chain Toni & Guy in Chennai. Imagine if you could get it done for half the price?

Welcome to the world of paid-for discount coupons. These are either free or need forking out a tiny sum to buy them from a service provider. You can then use the discounts at various merchant outlets (whether online or good old brick-and-mortar) and get the benefit of reduced prices.

These coupons are available for everything from shoes and electronic gadgets to beauty salon treatments and buffet lunches. So if you did a little hunting around, you’d find there’s a coupon available for Toni & Guy with which you get the same beauty treatment at ₹4,999 (from Groupon). That’s a 50 per cent saving on the regular price tag.

Here’s explaining how you can save a pot of money on many such services.

Take online shopping. There are a plethora of sites offering discount coupons for online shopping websites, such as couponzguru and cuponation . Just visit the website and browse through the coupons; if you see something that interests you, click on it. You will either be provided with a discount code to use it at the website or redirected to the online store.

Second, for discounts at physical vendors instead of the online stores, browse websites like Dealsandyou.com .

The procedure here is similar — log on, scroll through their deals and select one. Key in your mobile number to which the coupon code will be sent. Simply use the code at the desired establishment. Both these types of coupons are free.

The third type of discount coupons is those offered by websites such as Groupon and Mydala. These aren’t free. Instead, you make an upfront payment for the coupon, following which the appropriate coupon will be sent to your email address.

Print it out — since you need to have a physical copy of the coupon to redeem it — and use it at the relevant outlet. You may firstneed to sign up at each website.

How much can you actually save? Well, the hair-straightening case above is a good example. There are also coupons for a fruit facial (₹399 against normal cost of ₹850), a bomb manicure and bomb pedicure (₹799 instead of ₹1,450) in the same salon. This translates into savings in the range of 45-53 per cent on these services.

Once you’re done at the parlour, you’ve got a date and your shared passion is food, how about a buffet lunch or dinner, depending on the time of your rendezvous, accompanied by unlimited mocktails at Main Steet at The Residency Towers Hotel in Chennai’s T-Nagar?

Normally, the buffet lunch at this four-star would cost you ₹1,199 per head, while dinner would set you back by ₹1,221 per head. But if you plan in advance, you can purchase coupons that would entitle you to the same fare at just ₹649 per plate, effectively translating into a meal for two but the cost for one.Sounds too good to be true? For the most part, the coupons and their usage are straightforward. You can use most vouchers immediately upon purchase. But some offers require you to make an advance booking with the merchant. In most cases, bookings are allocated for the amount of time required for a treatment and you are unlikely to be accommodated if you arrive late. What’s more, in case you need to amend or cancel a booking, you need to give a minimum of 24 hours notice, failing which you may forfeit the full or partial value of your coupon.

Restrictions

Do note that some offers are only valid for a limited period of time; if you aren’t sure you will be able to use them, don’t buy them. Some of the coupons also have fine print such as “Limit 1 per person”, which means that you are restricted to only one use of the coupon at a sitting. And offers might only be valid at specific branches of a vendor, which will be clearly stipulated.

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