Meranda Devan HER Business, Hersite FEED

Don’t Blow Your Money! -35 Best Money Saving Tips

Pay less, save more.  It’s what every woman wants to hear!

Here are  35 of the best money saving tips which can put some of that hard earned cash back in your pocket.

1. Start Building An Emergency Fund- Start putting money into a savings into account, which can ONLY be removed in a crisis, such as losing a job. Stick to a high-yield savings account, not a locked-in CD or the stock market.  This will pay off more than any other money saving tip out there. Save up to six months of living expenses.  If you are self-employed or the family’s sole breadwinner, save more.  Send automatic deductions from your bank account into a savings account, which is not linked in any way to your regular checking account.  Open up an account at a different bank.  $50 a month of forced savings can go a long way.

 

2. Avoid Falling For The “10% off, Company Credit Cards– Oh we have all been there, where you are completing your transaction, and the associate at the cash register offers you 10-20% off your bill for signing up for their card. Avoid this!  Stores  offer great deals when you sign up for their cards, but often times, the cards have such high interest rates that they aren’t worth the time.  That one time savings can cost you dearly.

3. Google Prime $99 a Year…..Worth it?  “Prime membership also includes all those streaming movies and TV shows, and the ability to borrow so many Kindle titles free. But some people who are already using Netflix (where prices range from about $6.99 to $19.99 per month) or Hulu Plus ($7.99 per month) probably don’t care much about Amazon Prime unless they’re also buying a lot of goods they want to get free shipping on. And though 500,000 free Kindle titles sounds like a lot, if you’re an avid reader, you’ll end up paying for a lot of titles too.” Determine if Google Prime is worth it for you here

4. Save With Amazon Mom – Amazon Mom gives you 20% off diapers, wipes and some other household products and 2 day shipping with Amazon. To sign up, you simply indicate whether you are a mom, dad, step parent, family member or other caregiver and then insert the child’s name, gender and birthday

5. Phone Direct Than Booking Online For Flights and Hotels “How many of you book your travel online?” Greenberg asked the Travel Show audience. Most hands went up. “You’re all losers! You think all the available inventory is on the web. Not even close. It’s only the inventory they want to put online.”As an example, he mentioned that one of his staffers had to fly one-way nonstop from Los Angeles to New York City the following morning. The lowest fare online: American’s $809. Greenberg called American and asked if the airline had a “positioning flight” (when a carrier needs to get one plane from one city to another); it did, for $109.When a staffer groused that it costs $30 to talk to a human at an airline, Greenberg responded: “Do the math. I saved you $670.”” By Richard Eisenberg NextAvenue.org.– Seen on Marketwatch

6. Travel Secrets From Peter Greenberg, a CBS News’ Travel Editor:

  • Book After Midnight Monday– Airlines are known to announce their  sales on Friday night,but it so happens to be that this is the worst time to buy tickets.  Why?  Everyone else is buying their tickets at the exact same time.  He suggests booking after midnight on Monday night/Tuesday morning.  He says that anything that wasn’t purchased, comes flooding back into the computer system at the discount fare.
  • Book your flights, cruises and hotels on the phone, not online.  Agents have access to a larger inventory – some, at cheaper prices.
  • Ask For Positioning Flights-  While you’re on the phone, ask the agent if a so-called positioning flight is available. What are positioning flights? These are flights which  transport an airplane from Airport A to Airport B.  See more tips  here

7.  Cut Your Cable And Save Over $100 per month – Cable has become a thing of the past, as subscribers have been declining since 2004 with Netflix and Hulu.  According to research firm IHS, cable companies are expected to loose roughly 1.3 million subscribers in 2014.  Many channels also offer their prime shows available on their websites, which work for people who do not mind watching the shows after they’ve aired.   MarketWatch recently launched a unique calculator — Are you ready to cut the cord? — which allows you to find the shows you normally watch through such lower-cost options.

  • Roku 3 – The Roku 3 users an Ethernet connection for more reliable Internet, streams in high quality 1080p and has a headphone jack in the remote control for individual listening- $99
  • Digital Antenna –A dependable, indoor digital antenna is easy to install in apartments or houses and costs approximately $40. Mohu’s Leaf Indoor HDTV Antenna ($39.99) and Ultimate Amplified Indoor HDTV Antenna ($69.99).  You should check the signal strength in your area before purchasing.
  • NFL Game Rewind** Game replays only. $69.99 annual payment includes postseason, but there are cheaper packages available.
  • NHL Gamecenter LIVE –$169.99 per year, but there are local blackouts for conflicting broadcasts.
  • FOX Soccer 2Go For $139.99 per year, or $19.99 for a month-to-month subscription, watch international soccer and rugby. FOX Soccer 2Go includes matches from UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, FA Cup and many other leagues with an average of 100 games per month.
  • MLB.tv An annual payment of $109.99 gives access to live out-of-market games during the regular season. Because of the blackouts, the subscription is not recommended for fans only interested in their local teams.
  • NBA League Pass –NBA League Pass allows for streaming your five favorite teams for an annual payment of $129.99 ($139.99 after the first week of the season). For $189.00, the subscription includes the entire league.

 

8. Go Paperless, Or Change The Typeface – 14 year old Suvir Mirchandani discovered that just by changing the typeface, it could save millions for his Pittsburgh-area middle school.  He discovered that “Ink is two times more expensive than French perfume by volume”   CNN calculated that Chanel No. 5 perfume costs $38 per ounce, while the equivalent amount of Hewlett-Packard printer ink can cost up to $75.  From this analysis, Suvir figured out that by using Garamond with its thinner strokes, his school district could reduce its ink consumption by 24%, and in turn save as much as $21,000 annually.  See the CNN video here

9. Use Skype For Long Distance Calls – Skype, allows you to video chat using smartphones and your computer at no cost. FaceTime, is also for free with a Wi-Fi connection. MagicJack Plus also  provides phone service via USB port, computer, or regular phone router.  The service costs $49.95 for the device and for the first six months, after which, costs can range from about $1.67 to $2.50 per month.

10. Buying A Flight Online? Clear Your Computer’s Cookies & Cache “If you searched for airfares on a site but didn’t buy a ticket, use a different browser or computer on your next visit or clear your computer’s cookies and cache. Otherwise you may be shown a higher fare because you left cookies the first time and the site knows you’re eager to buy, said Frommers.com Editor-in-Chief Jason Cochran”  Seen on Market Watch

11.Shop With Grocery IQ App – It was called “Best in Class” by USA Today; it can locate free coupons while you’re roaming the aisles, and then help you apply them to your grocery bill at checkout. See it here

12. Try It Before You Buy It Samples Looking to buy that $50 dollar bottle of perfume? Try it out before you buy it.- MySavings is a website which provides access to the best freebies.  They show a picture of what is offered for free, and link to the website that is giving it away. What makes this site unique, is they link to the more desirable products, such as Lancome, Calvin Klein, Origins, Biolage Products, Burberry, Sephora and more.

13. Shop Food Coops For Your Groceries. Many neighborhoods have food coops which in return,  for a membership fee or volunteer shift, they give members access to discounted fresh fruits, vegetables and meat.Food co-ops are voluntary, non-profit organizations that are formed for members’ mutual financial benefit and are owned and controlled by their customers.  How it works – Individuals purchase a share in the business to obtain membership.  Members decide policy, discounts and other services. Some co-ops let you pay for a membership in volunteer hours, while others don’t require membership to shop. There are approximately 350 retail co-op food stores across the country. Search for your local food co-op using the Co-op Directory Listing

14. Download Gas-Saving Apps. There are new smart phone applications that help you track your fuel consumption, and find cheaper gas.  With Gas Buddy, users can locate gas stations nearby and view current prices. For those who have several stops during their commute, Route4Me finds the best route for multiple stops. IGasUp can give you the 10 cheapest gas stations nearest to your current location and directions for how to get there. Carticipate helps you locate other carpooling groups  by matching them with people in their network who are traveling the same way.  Traffic jams can really slow your day down, in that case, use Waze which notifies you of the best routes to take in order avoid traffic jams.

15. Free Up Space, and Use Online Media Libraries – DVD players are leaving the market and DVD drives are disappearing from PCs.  Is this a sign people are starting to move their library online?  Work With Plex – ”  In the My Library section, click the plus sign, choose Movies, and then add the appropriate folder. While Plex is scanning the contents, head to Roku’s site and add the Plex channel. You’ll need to be signed in to your Roku account. If you own a newish Samsung TV, an Xbox 360, a PlayStation 3, or a Google TV box, you should be able to find a Plex channel on that device as well. Now turn on your TV, fire up the Roku box, and flip to the Plex channel. You should have access to all of your movies! Keep in mind though, that new channels can take a few minutes to appear, and Plex can take even longer to scan and catalog your movie folder. So don’t be alarmed if you don’t see your full library right away. If you take the time to set up the Plex mobile device client, you should also be able to stream your movies to your smartphone or tablet with ease.”  Read more about how to do this on PC World

16. Save Online And Allow Others To Donate To Your Goal – Smartypig, a free online piggy bank for people who are saving up for specific financial goals like a wedding or a vacation.  Invite friends and family to donate money.  Invite others to chip into a vacation fund.  Once you’ve reached the finish line you can redeem your cash on either a debit card or various gift cards.

17. Keep Making ‘Payments’ After You Pay Off a Loan– ” What do you do after you have paid off your car loan? Keep making the payment to yourself, of course, and put the same amount of money into a savings account. You’ll never know that it is missing from your budget. You already have it factored into your monthly spending. Simply keep making those payments to yourself” Hank Coleman Daily Finance

18. Best Travel Rewards Programs? Do you travel a lot for business?  What programs are the best for travel?   American Airlines AAdvantage won for top airline affinity program in the Americas, with United Airlines coming in second place. Starwood’s Preferred Guest program edged out Hilton HHonors in the hotel category. And Hertz Gold Plus Rewards took the rental car honors.-  CNN has the research for you here.

19. Have Your Kids Start Their Own Blog/ Outreach, Club ect, Which They Can Allow Others To Donate To Their College Fund – At GreenNote, students saving for college can use the online service to create a college savings campaign and request donations from their social network.

20.If You Don’t Need A Cell Phone For Business, Buy A No-Contract Phone – TracFone is America’s #1 National No-Contract Wireless service provider. That means, no bills, no monthly fees, and you still get the coverage of the major providers.  Call nationally, internationally or roam at local call rates.  Get a phone from Samsung, and LG. Keep your existing phone number or get a new one.  See the variety of phones here

21 Best Credit Card Reward Programs?  In this article “Best Rewards Credit Cards, Spring 2014”  Nerd Wallet shows you the Best CASH BACK credit card, the best flat rate REWARDS card, the best TRAVEL credit card and GROCERY and GAS card to get. Save by choosing the right card.

Skip cards that come with annual fees.  These fees can range anywhere from $30 to $75.  Many more people are opting for cards with a “cash-back” program.  These cards give  1% to 5% cash back per a certain number of dollars that they spend on their card. 

22. Planning A Trip To Vegas?   Jules atTop-Buffet shows us how to get free stuff while visiting Vegas. Players Card Points- She says the first thing to do when you arrive at a casino is to sign up for a player’s card.  Every casino gsuch as MGM, Caesar’s Entertainment or Boyd Gaming, has a different points structure but the principle is the same: at some threshold you will be entitled to either free food, free accommodation, or free shows.  See her updated page on which Vegas resorts gives you the Best Rewards.First time in Vegas?  Visit the free Vegas attractions   These low-cost attractions are a way for casinos to entice new crowds, so they try and offer something worth seeing.

23. Determine If That Extra Fridge Is Worth It – Hundreds of utility companies around the country offer free energy audits, where questionnaires are filled out to determine where you can save money.  In this article, a customer rep came to the home, and revealed areas where we throw away money month to month. Here are a few tips – 1.  The fridge in the garage costs $25 a month, unplug it.  2.  Turn off your air conditioner in the day.  Running a fan costs 2 or 3 cents per hour vs. an air conditioner at 1.50 per hour. 3. Space heaters can cost a bundle. For just a few hours every day, they can add up to $10 to $12+  a month depending on how much you use them. 4.  Leaving your computer on through the night can cost you an extra 12 to $18 a month.

24. Discount Hair Styling and Dentistry – If you get highlights, color, or a simple cut, you know it can cost bundles.  Stylists-in-training at beauty schools can offer free haircuts or discounted color jobs to practice before they are licensed, as with dentistry schools. A professional teacher always is present in every session, and often before students are able to take appointments, they have 1 or 2 years under their belt.  Local look up your local schools and institutes to find out what days they have appointments.

25. Single?  Get Two Roommates Than Your Own Apartment-Save 35% of your combined monthly rent by switching to a two-bedroom apartment and 12% for a three-bedroom apartment, according to real-estate website Trulia.  See: Trulia’s The Rental Discount for Shacking Up

26. Check Community Facebook Groups For Free Events – A friend of mine signs up for the local school, town and community events, and she always seems to be going to the most unique children and parent get-togethers.  Target, for example sponsors free events, art exhibits, and concerts throughout the year.   TGo on to Target.com/arts to see what’s happening for free in your neighborhood.  Ask around, and you would be amazed what is offered for free.

27. Buy Gas Over The Weekend– Patrick DeHaan of GasBuddy.com tells Adrienne Mitchell you can save by filling up on the right day of the week.  He says, buy gas on the weekend, as they have found that prices tend to be lower on the weekend than the weekdays.  He figures the prices are lower over the weekends because commodities don’t trade over the weekend.  On the other hand, the most expensive day to buy gas was Tuesday and Wednesday.   Market Watch

28.Stay Away From Costly Hotels On Your Longer Vacations – Several sites like Airbnb connect you to a place to stay world wide.  With over 34,000 cities, in 192 countries, they connect you with a cheaper alternative.  This can really save money for larger groups traveling together, or families with children who want to cook at home, than eat out.  Vacation Rentals by Owner, also allows you to search over 575,000 vacation rentals world wide.

29. Shop Sears, Amazon or Macy’s?  Mommy Saves Big blog, links to daily coupons for free promotional items, along with discounted coupons at Overstock.com, Home Depot,Vista Print, Kohls, Sears, Amazon and Macys

30. Promotional Opinion Reviews For Free Products– Influenster.com is another site which gives you free products in exchange for marketing.  Influenster gives you a score based upon how much influence you have  on social media.  When you sign up, you give Influenster all your social networks.  The more talk about their products, and the better your reviews are, the better products you are given.

31. How To Score Product For Next To Nothing– In this video, a owner of a thrift store reveals how he is able to get free product simply by emailing garage sale ads on craigslist, informing them that he would be more than happy to take the remaining items which don’t sell off their hands.  “I see your having a garage sale, if you have anything left over at the end, please don’t throw it away, just give us a call and we will come and pick it up for free”  The owner says that this technique is surprisingly successful.  He gets about 1 or 2 every weekend, (from 30-50 emails) which results in a van full of stuff for free. He also reveals that before he would try the technique and it wasn’t very successful, in fact, it didn’t work a single time before he had the store.  The store made the difference in gaining people’s trust.  He suggests trying this strategy even if you don’t have a store, but give a reason for why you want the left over goods, OTHER than making money off their stuff where they couldn’t. Research Books And Sell Them With Book Scouter.  Sell your books for the highest price. Compare prices from over 40 book-buying websites. Make sure that you are getting the most money for your used books. BookScouter.com Seen on secretoftheinternet on ebay

32. Before You Buy Check Your Favorite Shop On Social Media – Start following your favorite retailers on Twitter and Facebook, and only buy when they have sales. Many of these companies offer discounts on a regular basis exclusively to their followers, so why not buy only when they are having a 50% sale?

33. FIND Discount Codes Before You Check-out Online – Never complete a transaction before doing a quick search online to see if there is a discount code first. Save yourself hundreds of dollars for a minute of searching.  RetailMeNot.com, SecretPrices.com, and FreeShipping.org are websites that pull up most of the discounts for stores.  How do you use the discount?  Most checkouts have an area where you can apply a discount code during the checkout process to save 20% or more.

34.  Go Out For Lunch With Your Girlfriends, Than Supper – “If you’ve ever compared lunch and dinner menus, you’ll often find that they include the same items, but at much lower prices at lunch. For instance, the tres-chic New York restaurant Del Posto offers a five-course prix fixe dinner offering that will set you back $115, but a similar three-course prix fixe lunch costs just $39”  Daily Finance.com

35.  Phone Your Insurance, and Request Higher Deductibles – Inquire about “good driver discounts,”….  you never know, they may just knock your payments down for a higher deductible.

 

Additional Savings Programs

-The 40 Highest-Paying Jobs You Can Get Without A Bachelor’s Degree- Business Insider

-Hotel Rewards Programs Comparison |FindTheBest

-10 Money-Saving Tips From Thrifty Celebrities – Business Insider

-Loyalty Rewards Programs –Frugal Living

-How To Manage Your Money In Your 20s, 30s, And 40s Business Insider

-Costco Money–Saving Tips –Business Insider

-How To Save Money In 2014: 10 Things That Will Cost Less This Year Finances Online

-How To Save Money Using Uber –Business Insider

Other Interesting Freebies

–  Get Free Products For Honest Reviews Through BzzAgent–  Do you have a blog?  Do you like to do product reviews?  BzzAgent, may be a way to get the products for free.  In this video, itsliz89 tells us how you can get free complimentary samples which you can then review online.  While most beauty bloggers spend their disposable income on products which they can then feature on their blogs, this idea allows you to get the samples at no cost.   How do you do this?  You sign up on their website, which you then complete a surveys telling them what you are interested in.  They then send you products, which you can review through a video on either Facebook, Twitter and blogs. You need to disclose that you’re a BzzAgent.  Basically you get free products by talking about their goods, and the more quality reviews you do, the better products you get.  Go to their website here.  Look into it, and decide if it is worth your time. 

– Earn Gift Cards For Watching Television Through Viggle– Viggle is an app for your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Android device that lets you earn rewards just by watching TV.

Watch the youtube video that Danielle (LePooke) made, explaining Viggle.

So whats the deal?  The deal is they want to know what you are interested in, which they can market more specific content to you. Basically the bottom line, is you are exposing your likes, and dislikes, and through that, they can market more effectively to you.   If you are ok with having a company know what you like to watch, you could earn points while watching your favorite shows.  See more here

  • “When you’re watching a particular show, use the Viggle app to “check in.” When you do so, you score points that you can collect and use to redeem for rewards, including coupons, gift certificates, exclusive DIRECTV Movie Money Certificates, and more. As a DIRECTV customer, you’re eligible for 4,000 Viggle points at signup. To score these points, first select DIRECTV as your TV provider when you sign in. Then, enter the promotional code “DIRECTV”.
  • Over 2.7 million Rewards, valued at $16,800,000, have been redeemed since launch

– Earn Gift Cards Through Swagbucks-  Swagbucks is a member rewards program which you are able to earn and spend currency in the form of what is called “Swag Bucks”. Swag Bucks is another marketing program that offers incentives in exchange for marketing info.   If you are protective of your privacy, this isn’t a program for you.

Here are a few ways you can gain points which then turns into gift cards:

  • – Searching Through Their Search Engine – Swagbucks hosts a custom search engine that will periodically reward users with random amounts of Swag Bucks. The search engine’s layout is similar to Google’s, though the results are compiled from multiple sources.  They say that the selection of winners are completely random, and more searching will not necessarily increase the odds of winning.
  • -Swagbucks TV- Users can watch videos much like you would on YouTube. Watching 10 videos will earn the user 3 Swag Bucks. The user can only earn up to 150 SB from videos per day. Due to many users using auto-refresh programs, where they re-loading the same video multiple times to exploit the system, more barriers have been implemented to discourage the use of automated computer software.
  • Surveys– “Special Offers”  through email invitations, the user can complete surveys from third parties to receive Swag Bucks. Generally these surveys take longer, but the payouts are larger on average.
  • Coupons– Clip coupons (hosted by coupons.com) and upon using them, earn Swag Bucks. Daily Deals lets the user purchase certain products and receive Swag Bucks in return.

Bottom line: Decide if this is worth your time.  They exchange swagbucks for Amazon , Walmart, Starbucks, Lowes, CVS and Target.  In this video by Danielle (LePooke),  she reveals that 450 swagbucks equal in value to ONLY $5 dollars, which isn’t very much in my opinion.   According to wikipedia, generally, a (ONE) single Swag Buck is worth slightly less than 1 US cent (¢). 

 

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