6 Surprising Ways to Save Money

I'm excited to share some simple things I do to save our family money.  I pride myself in finding great deals, stack savings and saving money where I can.

These are all very easy to do and I'll be honest to share our saving results for each one.  I've found each of these ways to save money worth my time and super quick to do.  I'd highly recommend them.

1. Fetch App

My favorite way to save money is by using this app!  So far I've earned $60 in gift cards just by scanning receipts, linking my email to get rewards on online purchases and referring the app to friends.

You earn the most points by scanning grocery or food receipts, but you can earn points on any receipt.  They do special promotions on items like diapers, make up and even special deals on things like any purchase from Panera.  You just down load the app and snap pictures of your receipts.  If you do grocery pick up or order something on Amazon, you just click the button to check your email for receipts and then it adds those to your point total.

Here's my referral code: C8K71

 

2. Rakuten

Rakuten is formerly known as Ebates.  I miss that name, but the money saving seems to be the same.  We've been using it for years and it says our lifetime rewards equal $220.  That's awesome!  It doesn't cost you anything to sign up.

You got to https://www.rakuten.com/ and sign up.  Then when you are ready to do some online shopping, you search the store.  I've recently used Rakuten for online purchases at Kohls, Sephora, Old Navy and 1800Contacts.  The deal is usually anywhere from 1-10% money back.  All of those little amounts really add up.

Here's my referral link if you want to try it out: https://www.rakuten.com/r/KAJEWH?eeid=28187

 

3. GAP/Old Navy Visa

I've had a GAP card for years, but it hasn't been until the last couple of years that I figured out a way earn more rewards.  I discovered that you earn LOTS of extra rewards points each month if you use your card at places other than GAP/Old Navy.  My current game plan is to use my GAP card for gas, groceries here and there and a few other random purchases throughout the month.  Then totally pay off the bill when it comes at the end of the month.  I'm earning lots of reward dollars this way.

I recently had $100 in rewards dollars, $40 in Old Navy Cash and then cashed in on some sales.  I ended up buying several Christmas gifts, a jacket for Olive, shirts for Fletcher and a few more things for just $20.  It's crazy the deal stacking that you can do there.

 

4. Pampers App

If you have kids in diapers, I'd highly recommend using the Pampers app to scan in the point codes from diapers and wipes.  It only takes a few seconds and the rewards add up.  I've been using the app since 2017 and just in the past year or so Pampers has started converting the points you earn to real money.  Now you can transfer the money you earn straight to your Paypal account!  So far I've earned $25 back in rewards money.

 

5. 1800Contacts

Where are my fellow contact wearers??  

I've been wearing contacts since jr high and love them.  But keeping up with regular eye exams to keep a current prescription can be tricky.  An eye exam usually costs $100-150 out of pocket.  And then you've got to order contacts for another $200-300.

I figured out a really easy way to save.  1800Contacts now offers an option to do "Get an Exam" virtually.  It walks you through the process and is perfect for people who aren't having eye issues or needing a prescription change.  And it's FREE!  I did the quick 10 minute total consult and got my prescription renewed for one year.  It saved me a huge amount of time and effort having to schedule an in person check up and then a huge amount of out of pocket money for an eye exam.  Then I stacked my savings by logging onto Rakuten.  They were offering an 8% back deal for 1800Contacts at the time I was ordering.  Double deals!

6. Eat at Home

This seems obvious, but it's crazy how much money you can save by eating at home.  The other night we were tempted to order Mexican food for an easy dinner.  We clicked to add everything to our order and the total came to $42+tax + tip.  We just couldn't justify that for a quick meal.  So we deleted our order and made a few things we already had on hand in the freezer.  

We always pack lunches, order take out instead of eating at the restaurant and do easy meals like Penn Station, Panda Express, Pizza or use coupons to local places.

If you're used to eating out multiple times a week for lunches and dinner, I'd encourage you to cut back a little for each meal time and see how much money it saves you.

Did you learn about any new ways to save money?

I hope so!  Thank you for using my referral codes or links.  I really appreciate it!  

If you have any trouble with the codes or have any questions leave a comment or email me polkadottyplace@hotmail.com