saving money

Keeping in theme with my previous post about being resourceful, I want to share with you some of the few ways I have been saving money/getting money back. I have found this to be even more crucial as I have only recently found a job and Aaron is still unemployed and we are now moving into the holiday season (we are under the 100 day mark until Christmas!!)

This past week I had to purchase books for this upcoming quarter. In previous years I have either purchased the books from the bookstore, bought a few of the books I know I'll use again off of the internet, or opted out of buying books altogether and using the library. Now that I'm doing grad work, I have found it to be very necessary to not only purchase the books but to keep them as part of my personal library (which means no selling at the end of the quarter/semester). This year, my decision was to purchase all of the books over the internet making sure I found the best price. Comparison shopping is the first way to save money no matter what you are buying (we do this for groceries and big-ticket purchases). Granted, you don't want to run all over town trying to find the best price, but it's really easy to comparison shop when you are internet shopping.

After finding the best prices for my books, I also began to factor in outside discounts. This included whether or not I could get free shipping or combined shipping for items. I have found that eBay and Amazon tend to offer free shipping for most items these days, so the issue was almost nonexistent for my factoring. Another thing to consider is getting cash back. This is my new-found money saving tip, and I cannot believe I'm getting cash back for the things I need!

First off, both Aaron and I both get points for purchases we make with our bank card. I pay an annual fee of $25 to get 4 points for every dollar, while Aaron's is 1 point per dollar (and is free). We pay all of our bills out of either of our accounts, and I have been able to make back the annual fee and double what I put in this year. So I always make sure to shop with either of our debit cards! We can trade in these points for giftcards (or other items) whenever we'd like. Currently we are close to a $50 giftcard with my account and we can get a $25 one with Aaron's.

Second, is signing up for cash back programs. The first is through eBay itself and they offer 2% back on qualifying purchases. All of my books happen to qualify, so at the end of this month, we will be getting back $5.65. It doesn't sound like much, but it can go towards a Christmas gift this year and is money we wouldn't have had without the program even though we still would have had to buy the books. The second cash back program is ebates.com. You have to click on the site you are buying from through them in order to get the cash back, but they send you a check four times a year for what you have earned. The percentages vary by store, but they have 100s of places to shop! I got an additional 2% back on my eBay purchases (bringing that rebate to 4%) and 5% back on a book I bought from abebooks.com. I will be receiving a check from ebates.com in the middle of November for $6.70 (the cash back posted 48 hours after I made my purchase, and 2 of my books haven't posted yet, so I will be getting more back!) If you happen to sign up for ebates.com, you can use me as a referrer if you'd like (demureprincess7). Unfortunately I haven't found a cash back program through Amazon, but I will still get my points by using my bank card!