Back in the good old days of couponing and refunding, families used to be able to save a ton of money with Sunday coupons, ads, and mail-in rebates. Sadly, those days are pretty much gone! Sunday coupons are never for anything good for you, so if you are trying to eat healthier, those low-value coupons will only take you down the aisles with processed foods. You can get higher value coupons for the same foods at Coupons.com that you print at home, and you can select only the ones you want (you usually get two prints per coupon).
In fact, I recently canceled my Sunday paper subscription, which I only got in the first place for weekly ads and coupons. I wasn’t even clipping the coupons any more because there was never anything I wanted, and I can view the ads that interest me in the Flipp app on my phone or on the computer. That’s a big cost savings right there, just doing without the paper subscription! And I read relevant highlights of the paper online, so it’s a win-win. In fact, if you homeschool or teach, you can sign up with News In Education (NIE) for FREE digital access to your participating local paper.
So how do you save money when shopping for your family? I do a lot more shopping online these days than ever before. Since 2001, I’ve been linking through Ebates, now known as Rakuten, for cash back on online purchases I was already making. In fact, I’ve received over $850 in cash back since I started using it! That’s no small change, and although that was over a long period of time, it’s essentially free money, because I didn’t do anything extra to get it. And if you use their browser plugin (which I use with Chrome), you don’t even have to remember to log in to Rakuten…it pops up to remind you to activate it for an eligible website. It’s free to join, so it’s really a no-brainer. If you join and make a purchase on any participating website using my referral link above, you get a free $10 cash back, and I’ll get a bonus, too. Win-win again!
Speaking of shopping online, I really like sourcing deals from 1SaleADay. They send me a summary of the day’s deals to my inbox with links to special promo codes to get amazing prices for things, usually just for that day. The deals could be anywhere, but they are often from sites like Amazon and Proozy. I’ve really gotten some great deals recently on electronics and name brand apparel like Adidas. With brand-loving teens, it comes in handy for getting reasonable prices on the things they love.
Another great source is Julie Jules’ Facebook feed. Similarly, she posts deals, mostly from Amazon, that have special promo codes you can use for a limited time to get amazing deals. Some things are junk, but some are legitimately good deals. Recently, I got some reusable food storage bags in snack and sandwich size to eliminate all that plastic waste packing lunches. I paid a fraction of the regular price at Amazon, and the quality is amazing. So it’s worth having the deals in your newsfeed, and you can take them or leave them.
I’m going to stop there, and I’ll pick up with more of my favorite money-saving sources and techniques next week. Stay tuned!
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