With the recession in full swing, many consumers are turning to the internet to take advantage of special trial offers allowing them to save hundreds of dollars. Kathy, an ordinary, modest mom from Santa Cruz, CA is one such consumer. Kathy recently discovered a clever way of combining two different teeth whitening product trials from two different companies--Ivory White and Everbright Smiles--to get one full “super” whitening, comparable to what you might attain at a local dentist for $400 or more, using nothing but trial offers and paying just a few dollars in shipping charges.

Kathy's story of how she wound up with yellow teeth sounds all too familiar to some:

Well, honestly, I did quite a few things that probably contributed to my yellow teeth. I love a glass of red wine, I’m an avid coffee drinker, and, most regrettably, I started smoking way back in college when I was about 21 years old. I smoked for just over 10 years before finally quitting, and although I’m very happy I did quit, I was disappointed that my teeth really didn’t recover. Finally, I was self employed for many years and had little or no dental coverage. I can’t claim to have brushed twice a day every single day, but I honestly think I was usually pretty good about it… and I didn’t see any improvement, no matter how many “whitening toothpastes” I tried. Anyway, long story short, the coffee (couple cups a day), red wine here and there, and about ten years of smoking made my teeth something I was ashamed of.

...I’m not a rich woman and didn’t think I could afford it. But after looking around online, my son helped me find a few special offers (and coupon codes) where you could try the product by only paying a few dollars for shipping. That allowed me to get two different products–completely free!* :). My idea was that I’d just use one first and once I ran out I’d switch to the other, and that’s exactly what I did. The results were good with the first product alone, but what I hadn’t expected was that when I followed it with the second, I noticed improvements in parts of my teeth that the other product hadn’t affected, or had only slightly improved. Like I said, I’m no doctor or medical expert, but it appears that each of the separate products focus on DIFFERENT parts of the problem, or that the second one just gave the whitening enough of a “boost” that it finished the job! By using them both in a row I was able to get even better results, and because they both had trials AND I found coupon codes for them, I was able to do the whole thing by just paying a few dollars in shipping charges.

Kathy: “I not only found products that produced a result as good as or better than I would have expected from the dentist, but I found out that these teeth whitening companies are desperate for new customers in this recession and are currently offering trials of their products.”

But Kathy didn’t stop there—after finding the special trial offers, Kathy made use of the kind of ingenuity many consumers have turned to during this recession, and obtained special discount codes that reduce the shipping charges on each of the trials to under $1.99--making it possible to get them both delivered for under $3 total.

As Kathy describes it, “I was surprised by the results after the first 3 days – but once I saw my teeth after a week, I was totally blown away… I knew I was onto something.”

Most clever, perhaps, is the fact that combining two different free trial products, and using them one after another, allowed Kathy to get what could effectively be described as a “super whitening” without breaking the bank.

When we asked Kathy more about her discovery, she explained that “The trick is to use TWO trial products that compliment each other TOGETHER to give yourself a whitening that’s better than you ever could have expected.”

Thank you to Kathy for this week’s consumer tip. Kathy has shared her discovery with thousands of people over the internet. If you’re interested in using Kathy’s trick, we’ve provided links and coupon code information below. Remember, to get results like Kathy’s, you will want to use BOTH products together. The coupon codes reduce shipping costs to under $3 total (as of 10/1/2009):

Step 1: Click Here for Ivory White (Use Promo Code: easydazzle)
Step 2: Click Here for Everbright Smiles (Use Promo Code: SMILE)

Would you like to share a consumer tip for next week? If so, please send us an email.