When Andrew and I got married and I relocated to a city
where I was unable to find a job, I discovered the world of couponing. I have
learned a lot about saving and earning money over the past few years, and
although I am by no means an expert, the strategies below have helped us to stretch
our budget , allowing us to save more, give more, and travel more.
Couponing – There
are a multitude of blogs on couponing; however, I entered the world of
couponing and drug store shopping through Money
Saving Mom. Currently, I visit
Southern Savers the most often, as
she offers the ability to easily create a shopping list by clicking on the
items that you would like to add to your list. You can then print your custom
list complete with coupon matchups. Although Money Saving Mom and Southern Savers
are the blogs I visit most often, I also visit Common Sense with Money and Deal Seeking Mom on occasion.
Shopping – For online
shopping, I shop through Ebates,
Mr. Rebates, or Shop at Home
to get cash back on my purchases. Mr. Rebates is the site that I
use most often, as it typically has the highest rebate. These websites will
also list coupon codes that may be available. Another website that is useful is
dealnews, which lists some of the best
online shopping deals. For information on Amazon-specific deals, Jungle Deals and Steals blogs about
great Amazon deals.
Dining Out/Entertainment
– Groupon and Living Social are my favorite sites for
entertainment and restaurant deals. I have found half price deals on my
favorite restaurants, salons, and local entertainment (walking tours, cooking
classes, etc.). There are several other websites that offer daily deals;
however, Groupon and Living Social are the ones that I visit
most often. For dining out, some cities have great restaurants listed at www.restaurant.com. There is always a
coupon code for this website - just search for one on your search engine prior
to purchasing. I’ve gotten several
great restaurant gift certificates for very little money through
restaurant.com.
Travel – Groupon and Living Social offer fantastic deals for
travel – from one night stays at a Bed and Breakfast to two-week excursions. From
the Groupon website, click on
Getaways, and on the Living Social homepage,
click on Escapes. These are updated weekly, and although the deals typically
last one week, the lower priced deals frequently sell out prior to ending.
For hotel stays, I have discovered Priceline, which has helped us to save
hundreds of dollars on our trips. We use two websites, Bidding for Travel and Better Bidding, to give us an idea of
what hotels we might end up getting through bidding on Priceline. This also gives me an idea of
what prices other people are paying, so that I do not waste any bids, as you
only get one opportunity to bid in a particular zone (unless you change the
star level) in a 24-hour period.
Another option for vacations is to book an apartment via www.vrbo.com or www.homeaway.com.
There are several other websites for searching for vacation rentals, but these
are the two that we use most often. We booked an apartment for our stay in
Rome, and we loved it. Not only were we able to save money by renting an
apartment, but also we are able to cook our own breakfast and do laundry at the
apartment.
One last resource that I use for travel deals is Clark Howard’s website, where his team
posts travel deals (focusing specifically on flight deals from Atlanta). He
also has several great tips for traveling and saving money.
Earning Money – There
are a few easy ways to earn money online. Now, you won’t become a millionaire,
but something is better than nothing, right? One way is to earn points that can
be redeemed for gift cards through SwagBucks. You can earn
points by using SwagBucks
as your search engine and also through completing daily polls on the SwagBucks page.
Another easy way to earn money is through the completion of Pinecone surveys. Pinecone only sends you surveys for
which you have already qualified, and you get paid $3 for each survey.
Occasionally, you will also get the opportunity to test out new products that
have not yet hit the market.
PaperBack
Swap and SwapADvd
will not necessarily make you money, but you can exchange your used books and
dvds with others for only the price of postage. We have exchanged several books
and dvds through these websites and recommend it highly.
Well, in a nutshell, those are the tools that we use to save
money – I hope you find this helpful! Happy saving!
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