Thursday, November 21, 2013

Holiday Shopping: Four Money-Saving Websites You Should Know About

It's that time of year again. In honor of Black Friday, let us show you how to do your holiday shopping, Money Hip Mamas style. :) Here are four money-saving website your should know about and how to use them to their full advantage.
1- Ebates - Get Extra Cash Back for Shopping Online

My tech-savvy husband first introduced me to
Ebates a couple years ago and now I'm sold. They're totally legimate (A+ rating with the BBB). Basically, when you click through their website before making your online purchase, they get paid a commission which they pass along to you (they mail you a check every quarter). All of their particpating retailers offer at least 1% extra cash back, but they always have promotions going on featuring certain stores (e.g. at the moment I'm writing this, Kohl's is offering an extra 6% cash back and Amazon is offering 8% for certain shops). This is in addition to any other credit card rewards, coupon codes, or any other sort of loyalty rewards you earn. The only thing you have to do differently is go to ebates.com before finalizing any purchase.

How to use them:
1- Sign up for a FREE account at Ebates.com.
2- Shop around as usual. But before making an online purchase:
      - Go to Ebates.com
      - Search for whatever retailer you want to buy from (not all store participate, but a lot do), and click "Shop Now." This opens a special window that basically tells the retailer, "Hey retailer, Ebates sent this customer your way." 
      - Make your purchase using this window. Ebates will automatically credit your Ebates account with the proper cash back with a day or two.
3- Once you're enrolled in Ebates, provided your address, and made qualifying purchases, they will automatically mail you a check quarterly (it's not like credit card rewards where you have to request a check). I LOVE the days when our Ebates check comes because it's a total bonus. So far, we've made $447.50 in cash back (clearly, my husband and I are BIG online shoppers).
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=I0dm64ZtbRXLXuFXKSW9dg%3D%3D
OR 
Download the App and shop from your phone! 
 http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=I0dm64ZtbRXLXuFXKSW9dg%253D%253D

2- Retail Me Not App--Use In-Store, Too!

Okay, I think most people know to check retailmenot.com for coupon codes before checking out online. If not, wow. Good thing you started reading Money Hip Mamas. But I'm not sure everyone realizes you can use their app in-store too.
Real life example: Hubby and I went to Sports Authority to buy tennis shorts for my father-in-law. While my husband shopped, I supervised our toddler (who was thrilled to have access to an entire bin full of basketballs). Come checkout time, I offered to stand in the long, long line while my husband entertained the little troublemaker. I was waiting in line for about ten minutes before I got so bored, I decided to check my retail-me-not app to see if they had any sort of coupon I could use. Thirty seconds later and ...bad-a-bing-bad-a-boom... I saved $5. All I had to do was show the checker the coupon. I saved $5 with zero effort. Chalk one up for the Retail Me Not App. If you don't already have it, download it now and remember to pull it up while you're in the checkout line.


3 - Yip-It
I first mentioned Yip-It in a Date Night Series post about how save money on restaurants and movies. As Yahoo put it, "Instead of combing through dozens of different daily deal sites such as Groupon, LivingSocial, Amazon Local, and Google Offers, sign up for Yipit, a daily deal aggregator that works much like Kayak does for travel deals."
I used to subscribe to Groupon, Living Social, etc. but unsubscribed because I was getting too many e-mails. Eventually, I was bummed when I missed out on the occasional good deal. Then I discovered Yip-It. You can control the frequency of the e-mails and the types of deals you want to receive. Basically, it's the Reader's Digest version of deal sites. I would totally recommend it if you like getting local deals in your e-mail.

4 - Amazon Prime

Okay, obviously Amazon Prime isn't a secret, but seriously, can I just say I FOR SURE get my money's worth out of Amazon Prime. The free shipping (2-day shipping, no less) has paid for itself over and over again. 
 
On a more minor note, we don't have cable, so we love having Amazon Prime's Video selection (You've Got Mail and Clueless, what more can a girl need?). 

And that's my list of ways to save on Holiday shopping!

p.s. If you're decking the halls, check out our cheap and easy Ornament Wreath Tutorial!
http://www.moneyhipmamas.com/2013/11/diy-christmas-ornament-ball-wreath.html


Any deal sites or money-saving tips you use for your holiday shopping? Share in the comments, please!

 

4 comments:

  1. I always forget about that ebates site and I need to remember!!! Thanks for the reminder, and hopefully I can get as much money back as you :)

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    1. I know, Jessy! I used to forget all the time, too! Their website has a browser add-on you can install that has a pop-up bar that comes up when you're on a website that qualifies for Ebates cash-back. It's not fool-proof, but at least I remember more often, now. I want to smack myself for all the times I lose cash back because I forget to buy through ebates.

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  2. I also forget about Ebates, thanks for the reminder. And, this is not technically a website, and you are usually WAY ahead of me on stuff like this but I just started using Target's Cartwheel app and I'm in love. It's so great to browse at home when I'm making my list then just scan one barcode for all my coupons at the store.

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    Replies
    1. That's so amazing! Lauren just emailed me about Cartwheel this morning! Great minds think alike. :) I will most definitely be checking that out. Thanks for the heads up!

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