Organized to save money, energy, and time
From February 15 to March 31, 2012, Amazon is offering free one-day shipping for eligible items when you pay using your Discover Card. To qualify for the free shipping, all items must ship within the Continental United States.
Photograph Credit: Amazon.com
While using time wisely to buy items from the comfort of your home, this free one-day shipping option can help in stretching your dollars. Happy savings!
Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images
In stretching your dollars this holiday season, you may need to think outside the box.
As you make a list and check it twice, stay within your budget. If your budget cannot accommodate your giving spirit, then don’t fret.
Turn toward free or less expensive options found in Feed It Forward, giveaways and sweepstakes, and bundles to separate.
The Feed It Forward program allows you to gift friends and family a $10 e-gift certificate for free. The limit on Facebook friends is 15 per day, while the limit on e-mail addresses is 100 per day. The daily maximum is 100 gifts per day. In using time wisely, you can gift thousands of friends this December for free with a little time invested.
Last year, I won a giveaway package from Southern Savers. My gift included a coffee maker, blender, and automatic wine opener. All three of these gifts arrived, and I wrapped them for a friend and family members. The recipients were so grateful, and I openly shared how their gifts were chosen for them. It was a great opportunity to share how entering giveaways and sweepstakes saves our family money.
For giveaways, I like Money Saving Mom, Freebies 4 Mom, Southern Savers, Meet Penny, Becentsable, and Simple Savings for ATL Moms. Giveaways are on-going on some websites and sporadic on others. As you see a giveaway that does not interest you, consider entering. If you win, give the item or service as a gift.
For current sweepstakes, check out Heather Hernandez’ Freebies 4 Mom. On the menu bar, you can find freebies, sweeps, and giveaways. I love how Heather categorizes the sweeps by entry type: weekly, daily, or once. Heather keeps her list current.
When you need to purchase lots of items, look for bundles to separate into separate gifts. In previous years, I have purchased 3-count candles, package of ornaments, and jewelry sets. With the less expensive cost per unit, I can open the package and gift each item separately.
If you purchase on-line, start with E-bates or Shop at Home and find a promotional code to keep your savings within your budget.
In using time wisely and stretching your dollars, make a list and check it twice. Then look to Feed It Forward, giveaways and sweepstakes, and bundles to separate options. Though definitely not all the ways one can save, these three strategies can save you money, energy, and time.
If you still cannot afford Christmas, focus on the experiences. Creating a homemade coupon book, baking cookies, or going on an outing provides a special memory for the recipient beyond a temporal token. Happy gifting!
Question: How are you stretching your dollars this Christmas season?
Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images
My youngest daughter received a Leapster Explorer for Christmas. This gaming console was purchased through Amazon at a great sale price.
Though the unit, charging station, and case were discounted, the game cartridges remained around $25 each. Ouch!
Asking friends, whose children have the Leapster Explorer, where they find their games, I quickly discovered that sales are rare on these items.
Knowing that the purchase of games was in our future, I registered her Leapster device and checked the box to receive e-mail notification of sales and discount items. (Of course, I used my junk e-mail account to prevent overloading my personal e-mail account with offers.)
Last week as I checked my junk e-mail account, I discovered that for a limited time all the Leapster Explorer game cartridges were 25% off with free shipping. This deal came at the perfect time as my daughter recently turned 3 and had saved her money for games.
In using time wisely and stretching our dollars, my daughter and I made the following purchase:
Instead of paying $55 for the two games, we paid a total of $39.73 and will receive $1.19 back through Ebates and $.40 in credit card rewards. Spending less than $20 per game – rather than $25 plus shipping – helped in stretching my daughter’s birthday money. She did not mind waiting for a sale as she knew she could get 2 games rather than 1 if she was patient.
Teaching my children the value of money by showing them how we use the available savings tools to stretch our dollars, I enjoy watching them think through how they can save their money but also get the item they desire. Great lessons learned by waiting for a sale to come along. Happy waiting!
Question: For what have you waited to snag a great deal?
Note: This post contains affiliate links for Using Time Wisely. For more information, read my disclosure policy.
Photograph Credit: Honey
If you shop online often and find yourself stopping to search for a promotional code, then a little plug-in called Honey is a simple solution for Google Chrome users to using time wisely.
When I first learned about this plug-in, I became excited. I use the Google Chrome browser, so I downloaded the plug-in. Anytime I am on a site that supports Honey, a little orange box with Honey written on it shows up at checkout.
I just click on the button, and the plug-in searches for promotional codes. If any codes apply, then it will be added to my cart.
Though I have used Honey for a month or so, I have not had any additional savings. Now this could be because I was already using a promotional code, because my products purchased did not qualify for additional savings, or because I was already getting the lowest price offered.
Taking a few moments to install the plug-in is worth my time. I know when I push that button and it searches that I will get the best price available. If Honey finds more savings, then great; if not, then I know I’ve got the best price.
Since I first learned about Honey from a post on the Krazy Coupon Lady website and had no problems following their instructions, I am linking to their post. Heather and Joanie do a great job talking all things coupons. They post about 20+ articles a day which takes time sifting through the deals. However, they are fantastic at what they do which why I read their blog.
In stretching your dollars to save the most, add the Honey plug-in to your Google Chrome browser. For Firefox users, try the recommended CouponsHelper. I’ve not tried this tool, but it is mentioned in the same article by the Krazy Coupon Lady.
If you know of other plug-ins or tools for stretching our dollars, then please share in the comments. Happy saving!
Photograph Credit: Cardpool
In stretching your dollars, Cardpool is a service that buys and sells gift cards. If one has a gift card that she will not use, she can sell her gift card to Cardpool for 70-92% of the value for cash.
Cardpool then sells legitimate and active gift cards to customers at a discounted rate without sales tax or shipping charges.
Per Cardpool, all their gift cards have no fees and no expiration dates.
If the purchased gift card is a physical card, then Cardpool will mail the discounted card to you. Delivery typically takes 3-7 business days with FREE shipping.
For electronic gift cards, Cardpool will e-mail within 1 business day the discounted card’s code and any pin numbers needed to use the gift card online.
Should you experience any issues, Cardpool has a purchase guarantee program to refund your purchase price. With all these benefits, I tried Cardpool and was very impressed and satisfied with my order.
Though I have not sold any gift cards to Cardpool, I have purchased discounted gift cards. The ones I purchased where electronic gift cards.
My experience was fantastic. Once I purchased the three gift cards, I received a confirmation that the electronic codes would arrive in my inbox within 24 hours.
Keeping an eye on my inbox, my electronic codes arrived within 20 minutes of my purchase which I used the full amount on each gift card immediately. My order processed without incident, and I saved over $30 by purchasing discounted gift cards from Cardpool.
I only purchased gift cards to cover the subtotal of the amount in my shopping cart. As I was not sure if I could use a gift card amount to pay for the taxes, I erred on the side of caution since I did not want to have a gift card with a remaining balance.
Though I had a great experience, there have been a number of Cardpool users who have experienced problems when they did not use the entire balance in one transaction. Though there are documented incidents where customers purchased gift cards and the merchant did not accept them, I did not experience this problem.
Should I have, I would have dealt with the merchant, in my case Sears, to get the reasoning behind the denial. Then I would have contacted Cardpool, who has a 100-day purchase guarantee.
Finding this service a wonderful way to stretch our dollars, I will definitely purchase from Cardpool again. Many other customers have found this service beneficial as some gift cards are discounted up to 35% off the purchased amount. I was thrilled with the 7% discount as every little bit helps.
If you choose to use Cardpool, then access the site via my referral link to get $5 off your first purchase. Wow! I wish I had received a referral link to save an additional $5. Oh well, though I cannot get this deal, you can. 🙂
In stretching your dollars, I can recommend purchasing discounted gift cards from Cardpool. However, I have no experience with selling gift cards to Cardpool. Honestly, I do not foresee needing to sell a gift card, but I wanted to share this resource with you because you might need the cash.
Cardpool is another resource to help you in using time wisely while stretching your dollars. Happy stretching!
This post contains Using Time Wisely affiliate links at no additional cost to you. For more information about Using Time Wisely’s associations with providers, please read my disclosure policy.
Question: Have you sold or purchased discounted gift cards through Cardpool?