No-Spend(ish) October - How I Did!

So, for October I put myself on a little spend freeze.  It was partially to prepare to Christmas spending and partially just because it's good practice in case I ever *have* to do it for an emergency.  Essentially, I was trying to not spend money on anything new - existing recurring purchases, like my sub boxes, were fine.

Let me just say...it was HARD.  Things I've been wanting for MONTHS decided to go on sale during October.  I think J got tired of hearing me whine about things I wanted but wouldn't let myself buy.

So, how did I do?  Here are the things I wound up buying:

• Presents for my BFF's birthday,  Birthday gifts don't count, right?
• I also bought my grandmother some stuff for her birthday.  I probably overspent on her but...see above. ;)
• Two books from Amazon.  They are both Vaginal Fantasy Book Club picks AND they both count for the Semi-Charmed Winter Book Challenge.

 

• The only time I dined out was with my dad and I only can convince him to let me pay once every decade.  If I'm lucky.
• I bought Stella a new toy.  Yes, she has about a hundred, but doggy birthday gifts don't count either....right?  Right?!
• Two of Target's care packages when they had the Free Shipping offer.  I couldn't resist!

• Supplies to craft my Halloween costume...that I wound up not even wearing.  (Yet!)

Okay, so that kind of seems like a lot when it's listed out like that but it's mostly little stuff!  My Ebates deposit covered the Target boxes and I used a gift card for one of the books so really...I don't think I did that badly.  It was kind of a fun challenge, too!  I actually kind of look forward to doing it again after the holidays. 

Disclaimer: This post contains a referral link.

Friday Favorites - Saving Money While Shopping Online!

I'm the type of person who would be happy to never have to leave the house for anything.  As such, I do probably 90% of my shopping online.  Amazon Prime is easily the greatest thing ever.  (It's also the biggest enabler of my tendency to be a hermit.)  Here are a few of my favorite ways to save a little more on my online purchases:

Ebates Button:  I try really, really hard to remember to use cash back websites.  On the best of days, I'll go through and compare the cashback percentages that Discover Cashback, MyPoints, and Ebates all offer.  However, sometimes I get so excited about ordering something (don't judge me) that I forget about them entirely.  By adding the Ebates Button to my browser, a notification bar pops up any time I visit a website that Ebates supports, reminding me to activate the Cash Back offer.

CamelCamelCamel:  Amazon prices are more tumultuous than middle school relationship statuses. Before I buy ANYTHING from Amazon, I check CamelCamelCamel.  You just copy and paste the link to the item you're interested in and you can view the history of item's price to make sure that you're getting a good deal.  You can also input your desired price and CCC will send you an email when that item hits it.

Shoptagr: Shoptagr might be my favorite discovery of the past few months.  It works a little bit like Pinterest: you find an item you like, then "Tag" it to one of your lists.  When one of your tagged items goes on sale, Shoptagr will send you an email with the details - including, if necessary, the discount code.

I mean, honestly...sometimes I wonder why people shop in stores at all anymore!

Disclaimer: This post contain referral links.  This post is not sponsored - I'm just a fan!

Friday Favorites - Money Saving Grocery Apps!

Along with my decreased spending for October, I'm also looking for new ways to save more on the money that I *do* spend.  Aside from mortgage and utilities, the single category that I have regularly have the highest spending in is groceries.  I've tried a lot of things to save money on groceries.  Coupons get forgotten and left behind, then expire before I can use them.  Meal planning fails because, well, I have a hard enough time deciding what I want to eat for dinner *tonight* - never mind four nights from now.

The ONE thing that I have been able to keep up with doing regularly for the past couple months is using grocery savings apps.  They all work the same general way: purchase items from their list of offers, then upload copies of your receipt to the app and redeem said offer!

Snap by Groupon:  Snap is the most recent addition to my app collection.  It is my least favorite of the three, but still worth using.  The offers they give are often limited in the number of people who can redeem them, so if you see one you like, you'd better use it fast!  It's also been the slowest one to approve receipts.  The last one I submitted took 8 days to process.

Minimum for redemption: $20

Method of payment: Check

Checkout 51: Checkout 51's offers run from Thursday-Wednesday.  They also limit the number of people who can redeem a particular offer, but I've always been able to redeem everything I actually wanted.  You can also star the offers you're most interested in buying and it keeps a running total of how much you'd get back if you purchased all of your favorites.

Minimum for redemption: $20

Method of payment: Check

Ibotta: Ibotta is my favorite of the three.  In addition to the grocery savings, they periodically have rebates for clothing stores, restaurants, and pet stores.  The offer redemption process is a little more involved than with the other two, though.  Some offers require you to take a poll or watch a short video, but they're rarely long enough to be annoying.  You also are required to scan the barcode of each product before uploading your receipt.  If it's so involved, why is it my favorite?  There are usually more rebates to choose from, plus you can earn extra rewards from bonus trophies (like buying purchasing items from a certain brand on two separate trips.)  The cash redemption itself is also the simplest.

Minimum for redemption: $10

Method of payment: Paypal, Venmo, or partner gift cards like Starbucks and iTunes

 Now, some General Tips:

• You can redeem offers on as many apps different as you want!  By mixing and matching app offers, you can make the most of your rebates.
• Most rebate offers have no minimum price for redemption, so you can stack sale prices + coupons + rebates for maximum savings!
• Finally, don't buy something just because it's a good deal.  If you're not much of a cracker person, don't buy them just because you can get $3 back!  It may sound obvious, but I have a tendency to get the "But it's so cheap!!!" bug.  Saving money on things is only helpful if it's things you'd have bought anyway.

There are others out there, of course, like Walmart's Savings Catcher, but these are the three I personally use.  If there are other apps for saving money on groceries that you think I should check out, let me know!  Unless they're only available on iTunes.  In which case, don't taunt me.

Disclaimer: This post contains referral links.

Friday Favorites - Birthday Freebies!

So, I had a birthday this week.

Woo.

I'm not really one for partying and celebrating my birthday, but I DO love all the freebies and discounts that companies offer as "gifts."  These are some that I took advantage of this year:

Alamo Drafthouse: They recently launched a rewards program and as a part of that, you get a free movie ticket on your birthday.  If you don't have an Alamo near you, I feel sad for you and your movie-watching experiences.

Victoria's Secret: Angel Card holders get $10 off a non-clearance item.  I know, I know...since discovering True & Co I've all but sworn off VS, but deals like this are what make me keep my card active.  I combined it with a couple other codes and it made for a pretty sweet deal.

Firehouse: You get a free medium sub sandwich on your birthday - you don't have to join a club or anything, just walk in and show your ID.

Sephora: Every year, I use Sephora's Beauty Insider birthday gift as "justification" to buy myself pretty presents.  Yes, I KNOW I could just walk into a store, get it and walk out but shhhhhh...

Starbucks: If you've got a registered Starbucks card, you get a free drink or food item or free drink in a Teavana store, plus 15% off an online purchase.  If you don't have a registered Starbucks card, get one.  The app - plus the periodic deals and presents - is great.

Ulta: This year, Ulta is giving members a free CK One mascara in store.  I haven't picked mine up yet, but it's good for another month.  The hard part will be resisting the temptation to buy all the Gwen Stefani OPI polishes while I'm there.

Of course, there are a TON of other stores who give you discounts - AE, World Market, and DSW to name a few - and the majority of restaurants and ice cream shops give you a free dessert.  If I had been so inclined, I probably could have spent all day running around getting free food and discounted presents for myself.  (I opted to spend most of the day snuggling Stella and letting J treat me like a princess. ;))

Target's Cartwheel App. Trust me, you need it.

I should start off by saying, no...this isn't a sponsored post.

Now then.

I might be late to the party and every single person ever may already have this app.

If you don't, and you shop at Target.  Download Cartwheel.  It's available for Apple and Android.  (Fair warning, you will need a Facebook account to log in - but you can adjust your settings so that your activity in the app won't be public on your timeline.)

So why do I think you need it?  It has exclusive coupons for anywhere from 5% up to 30% off of items in store.  There are offers for things in every category - groceries, toys, clothes, etc.  The best part?  They work with Sales (but not Clearance)...PLUS you can also use one manufacturer coupon and one Target coupon on the same item.

I'm not a coupon-savvy person, but I can certainly see potential here for the people who are.