Never Pay Full Price For Shoes Again - Perks that are Worth It!
Long gone are the days that we walk into a department store and pay full price for a pair of shoes. At least they’re long gone for me. A long time ago I became hooked on a food shopping television show about couponing. On that show I heard something like “shopping is like a game of chess” and that we should never let the store win. That stuck with me… and while the store will always win because I’m still out of money, the least I could do not pay full price and hunt for the best bargain. There are so many apps and programs to get you a deal on shoes that NO ONE should be paying full price on anything.
So without further ado, lets get into it:
(1) Credit Card Points - Any credit card you own should be offering you some sort of kickback on purchases. At the very least be sure to maximize on this. I don’t apply for any credit card that doesn’t offer some sort of cash back or point system. I’m not huge on getting into debt so even if you use the card today and pay it off tomorrow, you’ll still benefit from the reward.
(2) Department Store Cards - Now most department stores like Bloomingdales (for example) offer a store only card AND a credit card where you can use the card inside and outside of the store (maximizing your ways to earn rewards). I use my Bloomingdales card outside of the department store to maximize on my points especially when I’m working towards a purchase. Don’t be afraid to use your department store cards at the supermarket, gas, cell phone and cable bills, and other monthly expenses so that you can rack up on points.
Shoes by schutz
(3) Store Loyalty Programs - competitions between stores are serious and right now every store has some sort of loyalty program.
Bloomingdales Loyalist
SaksFirst Bonus Reward Program
Nordstrom Nordy Club
Enroll and always sign in when making purchases. On some sites you’ll even receive a 10 -15% discount code for providing your email address or phone number for the first time. These codes might pop up right within the first few seconds of accessing the website. You can always opt out after receiving the discount, but I usually have a junk email account where I direct all these sales/discount emails to. Before checking out at a store I usually do a quick skim through my emails to see if there are any active coupons available.
(4) Rakuten - one of my favorite apps (join using this link and receive $10 after spending your first $25)! Rakuten connects with stores to offer you a cash back discount on your purchases (in store AND online). You must shop through the app in order to benefit from the discount (you can also add it to your desktop). Before buying anything - check the app! As I mentioned, they have in-store discounts and online discounts. They change all the time and sometimes it can be as high as 12% cash back. I currently have $178 in cash back rewards for last quarter which feels amazing!
(5) Shopstyle & Shoptagr - I want to put these two together because they’re both great and serve a similar purpose. Before making your purchases make sure you check shopstyle to see if it’s cheaper anywhere else. Below is a screenshot of the shoes I’m wearing in one of the photos above. Once I search the name of the shoes, I’m given all the stores that sell the shoes; including the price and the cash back rebate through Rakuten as well! A lot of these apps are working together because consumers (like you and me) want deals! Shoptagr allows you to add items directly from your phone/desktop and then alerts you when the item goes on sale or restocks (if it’s sold out).
Just to give you an example:
The original price of these shoes are $265. Bloomingdales had them on sale for 30% off which reduced it to $185.50. Then, Rakuten offered 10% cash back AND I remain logged in to my Loyalist rewards program that gave me 6 points per dollar on my shoe purchases when using my credit card. It’s hard to calculate all the savings and I get that it requires a little extra work, BUT it feels really good to have enough rewards to get a pair (or two) of shoes for free!
I currently have $250 in loyalist rewards available to spend.
Did I miss anything? If so, drop it in the comments below. Thank you for reading!