Even if we care less about “things” after turning 60, we still get the impulse to go shopping occasionally. If this sounds familiar, you’ll love Groupon!

Maybe it’s for a new dress or pair of shoes in preparation for a stylish night out on the town. Or maybe it’s treating friends to a fancy dinner so you can all catch up and swap life stories. Or maybe it’s for a day all to yourself relaxing and getting pampered at a spa.

The problem is that you want to stay frugal, too, since you have bills to pay and necessities to budget for. And it can be hard to find a business that has a deal going on right now, or at least wait until a shop nearby holds a sale. This is where the organizing and searching power of the Internet comes in handy.

What is Groupon and How Can it Help You Save?

There’s a website called Groupon that can help you find deals that are close to you — AND on the things that you want — quickly and easily. Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that allows you to purchase vouchers for products and services from certain businesses at discounted prices. Then, you just print out your voucher, take it to the corresponding retailer, and enjoy the savings!

What’s more, Groupon will alert you to new discount vouchers if they’re related to ones you’ve already bought, and/or are from companies that have set up shop in your local area. This means that the more you use Groupon, the more it will give you deals on things you really want, and the more it will point you to ways that you can support businesses in your local community!

Most baby boomers are familiar with the concept of clipping coupons from the newspaper to get discounts on items that they need.

Groupon offers all the benefits of coupons, without the hassle of cutting up your newspaper and searching for the best deals.

What Makes Groupon Different?

What makes Groupon great is that it’s one of the biggest websites of its kind, so you’re sure to find a deal on something you like. And despite being big, it’s well-organized, so you can easily find vouchers based on the name of the business, the type of product, the location, other important keywords, and more. And the best part is that the discounts are usually really deep, ranging anywhere from 50% to 90% off!

There is, of course, some risk associated with using Groupon. The fact that you have to purchase a voucher ahead of time, and then trade it in for a product or service later, means that certain things can go wrong.

Maybe the deal has certain restrictions that you weren’t aware of, and so you can’t use your voucher on what you wanted to use it for. Maybe the business can’t sell enough vouchers to make the deal worthwhile, and so they call it off. Or maybe they sell too many vouchers and don’t have enough products to give out, or time to service everyone, and so they won’t accept your voucher.

Though Groupon has certain refund policies to protect you against these sorts of mishaps, most of them can be avoided; we’ll get into how to do so in our tips below.

For more information about Groupon and how to use its different features, check out these Groupon tutorials on Techboomers.com.

In the meantime, here are some more of our top tips for getting the most out of Groupon:

Customize Your Settings to Change the Kind of Deals that are Recommended for You

For instance, you can choose to see Groupons for products and services geared more towards women instead of men, and you can also see deals from businesses close to where you live, so you can support your local community. You can also filter your recommendations by category; for example, if reading’s your thing, try “Bookworm”. Got a passion for gardening? Try “Green Thumb”. Like to eat out a lot? Try “Happy Hour”.

You can choose as many or as few as you like, and Groupon will find you new discounts accordingly. Check out this Groupon Settings tutorial that will help you show you how to update all types of settings.

Be Vigilant and Act Early to Avoid Problems

While most Groupon vouchers have a fixed expiration date, the longer you wait between purchasing a voucher and redeeming it, the greater the chance that something will go wrong, and/or that you won’t be covered by Groupon’s refund policies. Therefore, it’s a good idea to make a habit of doing three things when using Groupon.

First, always check the fine print of a voucher to be sure of the ways in which it can and can’t be used, and what products or services it can or can’t be used towards.

Second, get in touch with the business that’s offering the discount, and ask them if the deal is going as planned and won’t be undersold or oversold. These situations may cause the merchant to cancel the deal or refuse to accept your voucher, respectively, and you’ll probably end up having to try to get a refund.

Finally, try to redeem your voucher as soon as you can after purchasing it. This can help you avoid a deal suddenly being declared undersold or oversold, or — of course — your voucher expiring before you can use it.

Use Groupon to Find Deals on Things that You Buy Every Day

Not only does Groupon have great daily discounts, but they also have a section where you can find free coupons to use at major stores where you buy things on a daily or weekly basis, such as Target, Walgreen’s, and PetSmart. Remember how we said that you might want to stay thrifty because you had to buy necessities, too? With Groupon, you can be money-wise with your essentials as well!

Participate in Promotions to Get Even Better Discounts

Groupon has a promotional program called “Groupon Bucks” that allows you to pay for (part of) your vouchers with on-site credit. Usually, you can only earn credit by referring your friends and family to sign up for Groupon, but sometimes, Groupon also has special promotions that allow you to earn credit for voucher purchases that you make anyway. Try both methods and see how much money you can save!

If Something Isn’t Right, Try Cancelling Your Voucher and/or Contacting Customer Service

If you’ve decided that you don’t want your voucher anymore, you can cancel it, and Groupon will (in most circumstances) give you a full refund. Or, if something goes wrong — like a product you got being broken or otherwise defective, a business refusing to accept your Groupon before its expiry date, or a vacation or event you booked getting cancelled or rescheduled — you can contact Groupon’s customer service department, and they’ll try to make things right, even if that means giving you a full refund. For more information, see these Groupon Customer Service and Groupon Refunds tutorials.

Now that you have our advice in mind, why not give Groupon a try?

Have you experimented with Groupon before? Or, do you still prefer to search for paper coupons? Why or why not? Please join the conversation and “like” and share this article to keep the conversation going.

This was a guest post by Techboomers.com.