THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR FEEDBACK RE: THIS STORY ... WE'RE WORKING ON ADDITIONAL COST-SAVINGS STORIES, SO FILL US IN ON YOUR TRICKS ... THANKS AGAIN. BEST IS YET TO COME ...
Lester isn't exactly a bargain bee, but he did light up when he found out he can soon have savings transmitted directly to his grocery store card &/or his cellphone as seen on the TODAY SHOW this morning.
Call it want you want ... A recession or not, there's no question Americans (INCLUDING THIS ONE:) are looking for to get more bang for their buck and cash is king.
While there are scams online offering "get rich quick" schemes or promising tax refunds (one of the most popular "phishing" scams), there are also some savvy, legitimate resources worth taking advantage of.
Here are FIVE SITES THAT CAN PUT $50 IN YOUR POCKET FAST:
CLICK TO VIEW: NBC's Lester Holt with Regina Lewis
www.couponmom.com
TOTAL AVG. MONTHLY SAVINGS: $50.
Grocery prices are up almost across the board. People are really feeling it when you consider food accounts for about 15% of the average household budget. Rising prices are in large part driven by wheat – up 44%. Cereal is one of the most obvious examples, since wheat makes up about 24% of the total cost of goods for cereal. One of the ways cereal makers are hiding the price increase is to make the box smaller.
Consumers are paying as much as 36% more than last year
for common kitchen staples, like eggs, bread, milk, chicken
Money saving blog WalletPop has breaks down where your food budget is seeing the biggest hit. According to WalletPop, grocery prices are up substantially from this time last year. Orange juice is up 13.3% and lunch staples like American sliced cheese, up 8.3%; peanut butter, up 9.4%; and potato chips, up 7%. If you drink cola with your lunch, that's up, too, 12.4% year-over-year.
An obvious way to get around rising grocery costs is to stick to a list, so you avoid impulse buys ... and above all, play the coupon game. You can print coupons at home from sites like couponmom.com. Manufacturers want you to have these, but only if you need them to pick their product. Retail 101. In a matter of minutes, we selected $12.50 in coupons ... Shopping once per week, that equals $50 a month in savings. If your store doubles coupons, $100. And this is conservative. True bargain bees are all over this site – a quarter million of them are regular users.
The Coupon Mom says over 250,000
users save money using her system.
Coupon "Shortcuts" on the way
Here's what's coming up next: You won't even have to print them. A new just-developed technology launching later this month (www.shortcuts.com) allows you to select the coupons you want & instantly they'll be transmitted to your grocery membership card (81% of people have these). It's like turbo-charging your card with extra savings.
And, looking further ahead, you heard it here first – coupons can be requested & downloaded right to your cellphone & you'll scan it across the in-store scanner. We got our hands on a prototype from Acuity Mobile (www.AcuityMobile.com). Think of it as coupons on-demand.
2)
www.cellforcash.com
TOTAL
Log on, locate your make and model and get a quote in seconds. You do need to know your exact model – find this wherever the battery is on your phone – pop out the battery and look behind it. If you're satisfied with the price they offer you (anywhere from $5 for a regular cell to over $50 for a higher-end Blackberry), request a postage paid box. The phone must be able to power up and complete a call and you'll need to send in the charger as well. Cellforcash.com will mail you a check within 30 days. The site takes the old phones, refurbishes them and resells them in developing countries ... A win, win.
www.swapagift.com
TOTAL CASH OUT: $75.00 SEARS card currently going for $48.75
$26 billion worth of gift cards were sold this past holiday season alone ... Thousands will go unused by consumers. You can't redeem for cash in-store, but you can online ... Generally, you can expect to receive about 65% of face-value. I spoke with a top executive from swapagift.com and he says business is booming. Makes perfect sense ... cash is king in this economy.
So, I had a $75 Sears gift card. I enter this info on the site (it takes a few seconds) and get an "instant" quote. There is a $1.99 fixed fee, because they make their money on the spread (the difference between what they buy the card for & the price they re-sell it at). So, on the flip side, if you're doing a kitchen renovation and wanted to really get the cost of a new dishwasher down, you could buy three $100 gift cards on this site for $90 each (the current going rate). Essentially, you'd be getting "discounted cash." If the dishwasher is $300, that's $30 off right off the bat before any other sales or discounts are applied.
4) SAVE AT THE PUMP
www.mapquest.com
TOTAL MONTHLY SAVINGS: Save 30 cents per gallon X 2 tanks per week = $48.
In many cities across the country, going one block or one mile could save you precious pennies at the pump ... As much as .30-.50 cents per gallon. If you're filling up a 20 gallon SUV once or twice a week, it adds up fast.
Mapquest's Gas Prices feature plots prices
on a map for stations within a 50 mile radius.
5) CHEAP SEATS GUARANTEED
www.yapta.com
TOTAL CASH BACK BASED ON NEW LOWER FARE = $400 (original fare) - $275 (new fare) = $125 - $75 (change fee) = $50
You book your airline ticket, prices drop ... But it's not game over! Plug in your itinerary into Yapta.com (before or after you book) and it will alert you if/when prices drop. All major airlines offer what is called the "guaranteed airfare policy," which means you're eligible for a refund if the fare price decreases. When you get your itinerary, just email it to Yapta at flights@yapta.com. It's literally just a matter of forwarding what the airlines send you. Couldn't be easier. Even after deducting any change fee levied by the airline, if your $400 round trip ticket is suddenly $275, you might have $50+ bucks headed your way. Related: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - How to Get Money Back When Airfares Drop.
RSS