This is a guest post by Marie Hickman. You can read more about her at the end of the post! Write for us.
Nearly 3 billion coupons are redeemed each year.
And it’s not just for electronics, clothing and household products.
Look hard enough and you can also find discounts on things you never imagined have discounts (or need them).
Here are 12 of the more unusual picks:
1. A Private Jet
If your bucket list includes hiring a private jet, here’s your deal! When a flight is chartered to a rich-and-famous destination, it flies back empty. JetSuite is one company that tries to fill those seats. That means you get the whole plane for $500 to $1,000. Split it four or six ways and it’s often cheaper than flying commercial – without the seat-kicking and screaming babies.
2. Pilot a Helicopter
Why not get a taste of the pilot’s seat? Obtaining a helicopter pilot’s license takes a minimum of 50 hours and $15,000, and that’s just to fly yourself around. Give it a whirl for half an hour and $100- $200 with an instructor at a nearby airfield. This is a popular deal with Groupon as well as Cloud9living.com.
3. Apocalypse Survival Kit
The number of prepper sites is growing. Can coupons be far behind? There are actually entire websites devoted to prepper coupons featuring gas masks, solar kits, and $30 food oxygen absorbers for just $9.25.
4. Fish Pedicure
“Doctor fish” minnows nibble dead skin off your feet. Hey, no one else will! A therapeutic treatment in Japan and China, has naturally come here. Sound fishy? Investigate it on the cheap – for about $1.10 per minute.
5. Let Groupon Name Your Baby
Is naming your bump causing knock-down drag-outs? Deals pop up now and then to let the folks at Groupon name your baby. It can’t be worse than some of the celebrity baby names out there.
6. Circumcision
Speaking of babies, this one’s certainly not for everyone, and is guaranteed to start a few heated debates, but this bizarre coupon for 76 percent off circumcision actually exists in the Philippines.
7. Discreet Testing Kit
Face it: people stray from the straight and narrow. Sometimes they just stray. If you’ve got concerns about your teen, it’s good to know there are discounts on online drug test kits out there, as well as STD test kits. Urine tests $15, saliva tests $13 and $25 off STD tests – these are the kinds of coupons out there.
8. Hiring Someone
It costs the average company 20 percent of an employee’s salary to replace them. That includes time, advertising and sometimes transportation. Online employment services like Monster regularly offer coupons for employers to ease costs. For example: $100 off a 60-day job posting that’s normally $395.
9. Pooper Scooper
Love your pet but hate the yard mess? Hire it out! Companies like this are putting their foot in this business all around the country, and many offer introductory coupon deals.
10. Cuddling Service
Craving some (platonic) human contact? In a world where finger swipes drive human communication, paying someone for a comforting touch doesn’t sound all that crazy. We’ve found coupons for professional spooners and cuddlers. And there’s this guy who will actually tuck you into bed for $100.
11. Driving School
Companies like DriversEd.com offer practice permit tests according to the rules of each state. It’s typical to find 10% or 20% savings on the courses, insurance reductions, and discounts on in-car tests near you.
12. Egg Grading Scale
Got trendy backyard chickens? Do you farm for real? Hatch a good deal online. Farm and gardening supply companies offer sitewide coupons through online couponing sites. Find something that’s already on sale, add a 10% coupon code – and count your chickens before they hatch.
13. Surgery Safaris
Medical tourism is a $38 billion a year business and growing. New companies are springing up to arrange discount destination surgery packages in bucket list places like Dubai, Thailand, South Africa and Turkey. Surgery costs are up to 70 percent off US prices, but it takes a lot of careful research and a helping of bravery.
Online coupon sites are good at helping you compare deals, discover deals in more obscure categories and see what deals are available without going to individual websites. If you’re willing to go through the sites to access what you want, you’ll find a treasure trove of the weird, the practical and everything in between.
Photo Credit: Gratisography
About the Author:
Marie Hickman blogs about savings, couponing and frugal living for the Valpak website, Behind the Blue. She and her son live in Palm Harbor, Florida.