Your Guide to Smart Spending – March 27

I recently went looking for a cheaper haircut because the hairdressers around me that I actually like are charging €60-65, which started to feel a bit excessive. I didn’t find any lower-priced places that felt like a potential long-term replacement, but I did have success with Groupon hairdresser deals*.

I booked a haircut that included a mask, blow-dry, and head massage that was listed at €40 (discounted from a regular price of €80), plus Groupon showed me an extra discount – so in the end I paid €36. I was really happy with the result, so I would absolutely do that again. The same goes for massages, which are very much a treat-yourself category, but if you spend a little time researching, there are some good massage deals* to be found on Groupon too. The key is to read reviews carefully – both on Groupon and on Google Maps. And if a place looks promising, I’d even message or call beforehand so you can check availability and book an appointment before even buying the voucher.

One thing to keep in mind: while Groupon can work very well for things like haircuts, simple facials or massages, I would personally avoid booking anything invasive, technical, or medical-adjacent through it. So no Botox, no aggressive peelings, and nothing that can end up in regret.

Another option worth knowing about for massages is ClassPass*. The place I recently went to charges 47 credits for a one-hour massage, which works out to about €66 based on ~€1.40 cost per credit. Booking the exact same treatment directly with the studio costs €100 – a massive difference. I wrote more about how it works in this ClassPass article, and you can also get the 14-day free trial with 67 credits here*. Massage isn’t included in the free trial, but you can use your credits for fitness classes, and many of them cost only 6 or 7 credits, so you can get a lot of value for free.

I recently had a chance to try ATWorld, which is basically the Urban Sports Club of coworking. Through one app, you get access to a network of hotel lobbies, cafés, lounges, and coworking spaces across Germany – and each check-in comes with a complementary coffee or tea. And the exciting part is that you can try it free for the first month instead of a regular price of €99 – which is what I did, and I really enjoyed it.

The locations in the app are split into two categories: touchdown and premium. Touchdown locations are mostly hotel lobbies, cafés, and more casual coworking spots where you can work for a few hours. Premium locations are the more, well, premium coworking spaces, including names like Mindspace and Denizen. And it’s not just coworking – in some cities, there are also a few places on the app where you can use the membership for hotel spas and pools. I used my membership for two lovely spa days during the free trial, and that ended up being my favorite part.

The free month gives you the Classic membership (regular price €99/month), which includes unlimited touchdown access and 4 premium check-ins – a very generous free trial offer. If you mostly just want casual work spots like hotel lobbies, cafés, and simpler coworking spaces, there’s also the Essential plan for €29 per month, which includes unlimited touchdown access (this plan can double as a coffee subscription). For people who see themselves using coworking more regularly, there is a Plus plan with 8 premium check-ins for €159. On all plans, you can also book extra premium visits for €20 each once your included check-ins are used up. If you want unlimited premium check-ins, the Unlimited plan is €229/month.

ATWorld is especially worth a look if you’re freelance, self-employed, remote, or working for a company that doesn’t have an office where you live – but even if you’re not, it’s still a fun one for the coffee, the change of scene, and the occasional hotel-spa detour. Use code SMARTLIVING_1FREE (advertisement) to get your first month free. Try ATWorld here*.

iHerb (an online shop for supplements, beauty, health and wellness products) is running a buy one get one free sale* on selected products, and this is a nice chance to either restock your favorites or try some new products. The offer runs until April 1 at 7 p.m. CET, and no code is needed. Alternatively, there’s 20% off in the app with code EUAPP20 (advertisement), so it’s worth checking which of the two deals gives you the better result for what you’d like to buy.

iHerb is my favorite place to buy supplements, vitamins, beauty products, and pantry staples like tea and spices – the value for money is amazing, and there are so many cool products to discover. I’ve been ordering from there for 11 years at this point, and I like it so much that I even wrote a whole guide to shopping on iHerb from Germany. You can also browse my iHerb page* if you want to see some of the favorite products. Both current offers are very good, so I'll definitely be stocking up. Shop the sale here*.

If you’d like to get a little something back from your everyday spending without rearranging your whole banking life, the free BBVA current account* is worth a look. New customers get 3% cashback on card payments for the first six months, on up to €350 in spending per month – so up to €10.50 back monthly, or €63 in total. On top of that, if you open the account by April 7, make your first card purchase within 90 days, and then use the card in that first month, you get 10% extra cashback on up to €500 in purchases – which means up to another €50 back. In total, that’s up to €113 cashback.

What makes this offer especially nice is that the account is permanently free (including a free debit MasterCard) and you don’t have to move your salary or jump through any other hoops to get your welcome bonus. It also pays 3% interest on your balance (up to €500,000) for the first six months, which makes it a great place to park some savings for a while. Open your BBVA account here*.

P.S. If you’d rather go for a bigger one-off bonus and don’t mind switching your salary or other income to a new account, the €200 welcome bonus at Berliner Volksbank* might also be worth considering.

Money-back grocery and household product promos are one of the easiest ways to cut everyday costs. A lot of promotions from previous issues are still active – you can find them all here if you’d like to try more. For more free grocery products, Rewe product tests are worth a look as well.