When we updated Your Money or Your Life last year, we took out a lot of the hints and tips on how to save money in chapter 6. We knew that some of them had become outdated and that the Internet had emerged as a new and powerful cost-cutting tool. Today, I want to share with you three ways that I recently used the web to save money:
1. Significant reductions on magazine subscriptions: After you’ve completed the nine-step program and winnowed your magazine subscriptions down to only those you’ll take the time to read, I recommend that you visit the world wide web before you sign up for or renew your next subscription. Just type the name of your favorite magazines into your search engine and a variety of offers will invariably pop up. I wasn’t sure at first if these offers were legitimate but I haven’t had any problems with my renewals so far. Initially, I renewed my subscriptions through a variety of companies that were previously unknown to me, but I recently saw an offer from Amazon on a big-name magazine that could not be beat (even by the customer service rep at the magazine itself).
2. Great deals on non-prescription/health and beauty care items: I use a special sunscreen that I used to order through my local drugstore at full price. I recently typed the name of the product into my search engine and was delighted to find great deals on this item. I decided to order four and saved over 50%! The source I used was www.drugstore.com which has a wide variety of products and unbeatable deals for first-time buyers which includes free shipping and two-for-one offers.
3. “Free” coupons on EBay. Months ago, I stumbled upon a seller who was “giving away” coupons on EBay. (Apparently no one is allowed to charge money for coupons, but it is legitimate to charge for time spent collecting/sorting/clipping them). I quickly realized that this could be a great way to save money on the items I purchase most. Using the EBay search engine, I quickly found offers for organic milk, high-fiber bread, cage-free eggs and other items for which I had never found coupons in the past. Although you’re often required to buy 10-20 coupons at one time, I find that you can recoup your cost normally after redeeming just one of them (especially if your local grocery store offers double coupons).
Assuming you’ve already cut costs on all the big-ticket items in your life, the success of the Your Money or Your Life program relies on finding easy, satisfying and financially lucrative tips like these to reduce your daily expenses. Do you have any tips to share on how to use the Internet to save money? If so, let us know in the comments below.