Make sure a sale is a sale. By this I mean do your price research before you commit to making an expensive purchase in a retailers money-off sale. You have to be sure the sale really is a sale and not a creative marketing strategy of the store to encourage you to spend your money without thinking. Remember when BOGO was “Buy one get one free”, now it’s usually buy one get one “50% off”, which is really just 25% off.  That kind of deal will only help you save money if the actual price you pay is lower than you would pay somewhere else for exactly the same product. Or if you really do need the two things and you’re happy to not have to pay full price for both. Once you have researched the true price of a product you are in a good position to take advantage of a sale, special offer or discount and really save money.