I hate shopping. Or, at least, I used to. Now I really
relish those moments walking through WinCo by myself. Grocery shopping aside, I
find that retail shopping can be really frustrating when I can’t find the
things or sizes I need in the stores. I’m also not one for crowds. Hence, I’m
super grateful for the advent of online shopping! I love taking a few minutes
here and there to do some “Chrome Window Shopping.”
One of the things I love about online shopping is how easy
it is to save money! Here are some of my favorite ways to save a buck or two
online.
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1.
Sign up
for Ebates. If you do a lot of online shopping and don’t currently use
ebates, you should really check this
out! My husband introduced me to ebates in December and since then we’ve
already gotten three checks back in the mail! Ebates gives you automatic cash
back when shopping online. All you have to do is sign into the Ebates website
and then search for whatever store you want to shop. Cashback bonuses vary by
day—sometimes you can get up to 8% cash back on purchases you are already
making! You also earn cash just by referring people…so sign up and then send
the sign up link to your husband and add a few bucks to your fun fund. Checks
are sent in the mail quarterly. It’s not much, but enough to pay for a
babysitter or a dinner you don’t have to cook!
2.
Let Honey Do the Coupon Hunting. Honey is
Google’s personal coupon clipper. When you sign up for honey, you can add a
button to your toolbar and when you go to check out, honey will automatically
(try) to apply any coupon codes it can find. It only takes a few minutes but it
can save you a few bucks here and there! The more you use honey, the more you
can build up HoneyGold, which only translates into more spending money for you
on Amazon.
3.
Use Credit
Card Rewards. Chances are, if you are shopping online, you are probably
using a credit card. I like to bank up my rewards and save them until Christmas
rolls around. I cash in rewards for gift cards to places like Shutterfly (which
is where I do a heck of a lot of Christmas shopping). I only redeem these
points for rewards that give me a little extra, for example I’d turn in $20
worth of rewards for $25, or $40 for $50, etc. This gives me extra back for my
rewards, rather than just using them for face value on Amazon.
4.
Check out
Gift
Card Zen or Gift
Card Granny Say you are
ordering clothes for your kids (cough*or yourself*cough) and even though you’ve
gotten some great deals with coupon codes, you’d still like to save a bit more.
Sites like Gift Card Zen or Gift Card Granny allow you to search for gift cards
that are being sold for less than they are worth (for example, a $25 gift card
for $21). It might not seem like much, but every dollar helps, right? You can
search for gift cards that are sent electronically (read: automatically!) so
that you can search for an amount that is close to your cart total, so you
aren’t spending extra on gift cards that are more than you really need.
5.
Sign Up
for Email lists. We all hate junk email, I get that. BUT, companies really
like to send out specialized coupons to your inbox that can alert you to sales
you may not have heard about otherwise. That being said…
6.
Don’t
Look at Ads for Things You Don’t Need. This is how they get you! You look
through an ad, see a really good deal,
and then talk yourself into needing that
thing that you didn’t know you needed ten minutes ago. My suggestion is to keep
a running list of things that you do need or anticipate buying in the next six
months and only look at ads that pertain to those things.
7.
Watch out
for Shipping Costs! Most companies will give you free shipping if you spend
a certain amount. If you are within $10-15 of that amount, sometimes it is
worth it to order an extra item or two to give you the free shipping. It’s
simply a matter of weighing the cost of shipping versus the cost of the extra
items. I find this to be especially true with stores like Shutterfly, where the
shipping costs can get astronomical.
8.
IF you
are a Book Lover…it wouldn’t be a post by me without mentioning something
about books, right? I used to be a strictly-printed-books-only person…and then
my husband gave me a kindle for my birthday. I love not having to run to the
library every time I finish a book! The Goodreads app has a feature where
you can sign up to receive daily emails for books that are on sale through the
Kindle Store or Google Play. These books are always $3 or less, and they look
at books on your Want-to-Read list to give you recommendations. Score, right?
Another similar service is BookBub, which also searches for free books (can’t get better than free,
right?). Even though I still maintain that nothing beats a book you can hold in
your hand, it’s nice to have some books on my phone to pull up while I’m
waiting to pick my daughter up from preschool!
What are your favorite money-saving tips for online
shopping?
Also in the way of books, Modern Mrs. Darcy does a daily email of good Kindle deals--most of the time it's different than my Goodreads email and she curates it (if it's a book she's loved, or a book that's never been on sale before, she'll say so).
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you do shopping on Amazon you can set up an alert on camelcamelcamel.com for specific prices on items, and you get an email when the price drops. You can also look at the price history to see the price trends. It's great for those things you want to get a good deal on, but don't need right away.