I am a major penny pincher. Some even might call me cheap, and while I will accept that, I prefer to call myself frugal. Pinching pennies has saved our budget many times over, particularly during two seasons of unemployment, but also just in general, as we have spent almost the entirety of our marriage toward the lower end of the earning spectrum. As online shopping has become more and more the norm for us, I have discovered a few ways that have helped us to save, and in some cases, actually earn money, while buying the things we need. I know many of you out there are always looking for ways to save money also, so here are my best secrets. Some of these options have affiliate links, which means if you sign up through my link, I will get a small credit for your signup, and I really appreciate that, as it helps me to keep this website going.
I try to use a cashback/rebate site to earn back a percentage of my purchase amount every time I shop.
My favorite is Ebates! You simply sign up for an account, and then each time you are shopping online, you click through the Ebates site to the particular store of your choice. Once you have made your purchase, Ebates will give you cash back in your account, which they will pay out to you in the form of a Big Fat Check–easy peasy. There are no rebate forms to fill out or mail in. They simply credit your account, and send checks out every 3 months for what you’ve earned during that time. Each store has a different percentage that has been negotiated, but most of the stores I shop at regularly are on their list, and the percentages are decent. They also give you a list of the best coupons and deals for those sites, so you can use both when you check out. Ebates has also recently added a few brick-and-mortar stores to their list as well, which is really nice! It’s really a no-brainer to use this site. It’s easy, free, and hello–cash back!!
*Right now, when you sign up, you can get $10 cash back when you make purchases through their site totaling $25 or more in the first 3 months that you are a member. Free money for buying what you would be anyway? YES, PLEASE! If you want to sign up for an account, you can click on this link right here: SIGN UP WITH EBATES!
There are a couple of other cashback/point earning sites that I sometimes use instead of Ebates. I basically compare to see where I can get the better deal, and although I use Ebates most frequently, I have gotten some nice gift cards for earning points on these sites, so I definitely think they are worth mentioning. One is MyPoints. I just cashed in points for a $50 gift card to Cheesecake Factory, and thanks to that, we’ll be taking my son there to eat for his birthday for FREE. With MyPoints, you can sign up to receive their emails, many of which offer an option to earn points just for clicking through the email. The point values are small (usually just 5 points for emails), but they do add up if you have the time to click through them. Another site I have used in the past and still use occasionally is SwagBucks. Both Swagbucks and MyPoints offer options to shop through their sites, print and use coupons, watch videos, play games, take surveys/polls, and use their search engines to earn points. You can make one of their sites your home page to make it easier, especially if you’re using their search engines, or they both have the browser buttons you can add as well. I have not done a major comparison between their search engines and other big search engines, but it seems they are pretty similar, at least when it comes to normal, everyday searches. Both MyPoints and SwagBucks offer a few different payout options, so you have some flexibility there too. You can sign up for MyPoints here: SIGN UP WITH MYPOINTS! If you would like to start earning SwagBucks, you can click here: SIGN UP WITH SWAGBUCKS!
This article is really interesting. I have bookmarked it.
Do you allow guest post on your site ? I can write high quality posts for
you. Let me know.
Consuelo recently posted…Consuelo
Thank you! One of these days I hope to incorporate some guest posts on my site. I will let you know when I do! Thanks for the interest!