You STILL haven't joined Swagbucks? Resistance is futile, you know.

I've been beating the Swagbucks drum for quite a while now, and I'm always surprised to meet anyone who hasn't joined Swagbucks yet, but apparently, some of you are still resisting.  I'm not sure why.  (Sometimes getting free stuff takes work, but this is not one of those times.)

Swagbucks  is the King of No-Brainer Ways to Get Free Stuff. Swagbucks is effortless to join, use, and the rewards come quickly and easily.  Basically, you get points for searching through the Swagbucks search engine (which is Google-based) and after 450 points, you get to redeem a $5 Amazon e-gift card. The points accumulate very quickly; I currently have hundreds of dollars in credits sitting in my Amazon account because of Swagbucks and have gotten a ton of free stuff that way.

If you are more ambitious with extra time (I'm not) you can do other things to earn points, like take polls, watch movies, fill out surveys, refer friends, etc., but you don't have to.  The fantastic thing about Swag Bucks is that you can earn points by doing something you would already be doing, searching the Internet through a Google-based engine.  My $0.02:  because Swagbucks does occasionally throw in an occasional spammy offer, I'd skip everything else and stick to earning points through searching alone.

And here's a fun little bonus:  if you join Swagbucks today and enter the Swagcode FreeGiftCards (exactly like this in the same upper/lower case; best to copy and paste it), you'll start yourself off with 50 points, just like that. That is a big one-ninth of the way towards your first free Amazon gift card, which is a sweet little bonus for signing up.  (The Swagcode works only with new signups, btw.)

Those "stupid programs" (and why you should join them)

I've always been interested in "programs" that reward loyalty through points and savings, and I look for ways to use these programs to my best advantage.  I've joined (and un-joined) quite a few of these programs in the last few years.

My husband, Joshua,  is one of the most practical, straight-shooting guys around.  He used to think that my spending time keeping up with these programs was a colossal waste of time. He was not a believer. Then, one year, I decided to track my rewards/earnings/bonuses from all of these programs over the course of twelve months.  Surprise: they came to over $3,000.  I showed him the results. Needless to say, he's a believer now.

Many of these rewards are seasonal or are offered once or twice a year, like certain bank account bonuses or credit card rewards.  I'll post about those as they come up.  But, right now, I want to talk about the ones that I use year-round.

I use these little programs to create pockets of "perks" and extras in our budget. I don't rely on them for real income or basic necessities, but we definitely enjoy them as low-effort side projects that significantly add to our slush funds.

Ok, before I dive in and tell you which programs we've been successful with, first let me tell you how I decide which ones to participate in.

• The program is not spammy or shady, does not promise you the world, and is backed by a recognizable company or organization.  As a frugal blogger, I'm besieged with requests from affiliate marketing companies to post offers that capture your emails, medical information, personal data, etc. with promises of immediate iPads, gift cards, etc. Needless to say, I won't post those spammy, suspect offers or programs.  I won't post an offer that I wouldn't participate in myself, and I'm very protective of my privacy.  If an offer sounds too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true.  I have a special gmail address for any program or offer that I use (gmail has excellent anti-spam filters), and I never give out any financial information or medical info.  (Remember, even though I do screen deals that I post on Daily Cheapskate, it's ultimately up to you to discern which offers to respond to.)
• You don't need to wait too long to get an initial reward.  I'm very results-oriented and I like to see the fruits of my labor after about a month or so.  If I need to wait a year to get any rewards of value, the program isn't worthwhile.  That's not to say that I won't save up rewards for a big payoff at a later time, but I still like to see the rewards start accumulating about a month in to the program.
• You don't need to work hard to accumulate points.  Most programs give you several options for earning rewards.  I'm always going to choose the easiest, least intrusive ones and forget the others.  I've got a busy life and so do you, and no one wants to spend a ton of time on these things.  On occasion, if there is a reward offered that's worth the trouble, I'll go the extra mile, but otherwise, I don't want to break a sweat or spend too much time doing it. 

Ok, now here are the programs that I do recommend.

Swagbucks.  I'm always surprised to meet anyone who hasn't joined Swagbucks yet, but apparently, you guys are out there. Swagbucks  is the King of No-Brainer Ways to Get Free Stuff. Swagbucks is effortless to join, use, and the rewards come quickly and easily.  Basically, you get points for searching through the Swagbucks search engine (which is Google-based) and after 450 points, you get to redeem a $5 Amazon e-gift card. The points accumulate very quickly; I currently have hundreds of dollars in credits sitting in my Amazon account because of Swagbucks and have gotten a ton of free stuff that way.  If you are more ambitious with extra time (I'm not) you can do other things to earn points, like take polls, surveys, refer friends, etc., but the fantastic thing about Swag Bucks is that you can earn points by doing something you would already be doing, searching through a Google-based engine.  My $0.02:  because Swagbucks does occasionally throw in some spammy offers, I'd skip everything else and stick to searching.

My Coke Rewards.  This rewards program is great for people who like to drink soda (us) or like to serve soda when they entertain.  During the week, we toss our Diet Coke caps and codes into a drawer in the kitchen that's the designated rewards/rebates/stufflikethat drawer.  Once every other week, I take out the caps and codes and enter them into our two MCR accounts. (If you've got kids, this is a great errand that you can assign to them.) I redeem the points for free soda, as needed.  Thanks to this program, we spend less than $40 per year overall on soda, and we do drink a heckuva lot of soda.  The exceptions to this schedule are when My Coke Rewards runs double-point promotions (like last week) or at the end of the year, when they offer special deals on their rewards.  I did spend a little more time on MCR in the last month because of all of their incredible December specials, and I have over thirty (yes, thirty) coupons for free 12-packs to show for it (that's about 6 months of free soda for us).  Oh, and a free $25 Target gift card as well, which will go into our gift card slush fund.  The thing I like most about MyCokeRewards is that the rewards beget more rewards; i.e. after I redeem the coupons for the free 12-packs, I can use their codes to get points to redeem for more rewards. Etc.

Recyclebank.  I've been a member of Recyclebank since November 2010.  While I'm not the greenest person in the world, I do really like this rewards program, mostly because the points accumulate very quickly and the rewards have been excellent.  If you do happen to be a greenie, you will love this rewards program, as it's chock full of quizzes, videos, games, and all sorts of little educational vignettes about the Green Movement.  My two past favorite rewards from Recyclebank were the $1 off any two Bumble Bee products coupon (hello near-free tuna), the $5 off $40 purchase at Sprouts (neither one is offered any longer).  My current favorite rewards are the $2.00 off any Regal Theater movie ticket coupon, and the tons of free magazine subscriptions.  They also periodically post gift card rewards that we put right into our gift card slush fund. (Parenthetically, I'll also throw EcoBonus in the mix for the die-hard Whole Foods shoppers, though I do find myself using Recyclebank much more.  EcoBonus does have some nice high-value organic coupons.)

Shopkick.  This is the program that got us our free and heavily discounted iPads, (in combination with other Target gift card offers).  You install Shopkick on your smartphone and then you basically get rewarded just for walking in to stores like Target, Best Buy, Old Navy, Macy's and others.  So if you're in a mall, just stop into three or four stores that you'll pass anyway, and you can rake in points. You can also get rewards for scanning certain UPC symbols in-store (I can't be bothered with that) and referring friends. The best rewards are the gift cards, and you can earn them very quickly.  We have always opted to redeem points for Target gift cards, and rather than use them right away, we kept the iPads in sight as our goal. Finally, we had enough to cash in for iPads on Black Friday.  I got my iPad for free last year and I got Joshua's iPad Air for less than half price this year (and also got another $100 Target gift card, which went right back into our slush fund).

Kellogg's Family Rewards.  Like these other rewards programs, it's very easy to build up points quickly and redeem them for rare, high-value coupons and other rewards.  And some of you might be hearing "Kellogg's" and thinking that you don't eat enough cereal to join the program. I'll confess this:  my husband and I barely eat any cereal at all.  But we do have a well-stocked freezer full of Morningstar Farm products and L'Eggo waffles, all purchased at half-price or less with high-value coupons that I got from KFR.

MyCokeRewards, Swagbucks, Recyclebank, Shopkick and Kellogg's Family Rewards are, IMHO, the Rolls Royces of rewards programs, but there are two other major shopping "programs" that I feel compelled to recommend as well, as they've saved us tons of money with so little effort.

Target RedCard.  Get yourself a Target RedCard.  Even if you don't live near a Target in your neighborhood, or don't shop at Target normally, you want to have one of these.  Target has got a ton of fantastic deals both online and in-store.  No matter what the item, you will always get 5% off and free shipping when you pay with your RedCard. Right now, you get 90 days to return a general item (excluding electronics, those are 30 days) that you've purchased at Target, but paying with Target RedCard gives you an additional 30 days to return an item.  Target has one of the best, most stress-free return policies in the retail world. When shopping in-store with a Target Debit RedCard, you can withdraw up to $40.00 from your checking account and save yourself a trip to the ATM (between this feature, online BillPay and being able to deposit checks on my phone, I have not been to the bank in 8 months).  There is no annual fee for either the Target Debit Card or the Target Credit RedCard.  Personally, I prefer theTarget Debit RedCard, because there was no hard credit check pull when I applied, and the money comes directly out of my checking account. I never have to deal with a bill.  You need to enter a PIN every time you use it, so your checking account is protected. Yes, I know about the Black Friday security kerfuffle, but keep in mind that no one was responsible for any stolen charges (Target and the banks covered all of them) and they have tightened up their security measures considerably.  While your shopping for yourself, you can be giving back to others; you can donate 1% of purchase totals made on your Target RedCard to your favorite school.  It costs you nothing.  Zero. Zip. Nada.  When you fill 5 prescriptions at Target, you'll get a coupon that will let you take 5% off anything you purchase all day at Target on the day of your choosing, and this is in addition to the 5% you get back with your RedCard.  Target has so many opportunities for saving money: Mobile coupons and Target store coupons which you can stack with manufacturer's coupons, Cartwheel savings,  weekly gift card deals, price-matching, etc.  You can also get ShopKick points every time you walk into a Target store.  Every single one of these opportunities is stackable with your Target 5% RedCard savings. Every single one.  Target will also send you exclusive coupons at home each month once you're a RedCard member.   I save a fortune shopping at Target over the year, and much of that is due to my using the Target RedCard.

Amazon Prime Shipping.  Yes, I know $79 $99 is a lot of money.  It is one of the few paid programs that I feel is so unbelievably worth it.  It works together with Swagbucks if you opt for Amazon gift cards as your Swagbucks rewards.  You also get a huge library of free movies with Amazon Prime (we watched the first three seasons of Downton Abby on our Amazon Prime account).  Best of all, you get to take advantage of all the Amazon deals that I and tons of other frugal bloggers post regularly, because when Amazon has a great price, Amazon has a GREAT price.  Believe it or not, last year, I did about a third of my Pesach shopping on Amazon!

Have you tried the Amazon Prime free one-month trial yet?  Sign up here, and then, after one month, decide whether you can live without Amazon Prime. It costs you nothing to try.

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So that's it folks, 5 + 2 = 7 programs that have made me a happy camper over the last few years.   The next time someone tells me not to waste my time on those "stupid programs," I'll show them my iPad and offer them a soda.

The King of No-Brainer Ways to Get Free Stuff

Sometimes, saving money takes effort. This is not one of those times.

I'm always surprised to meet anyone who hasn't joined Swagbucks yet, but apparently, you guys are out there. Swagbucks  is the King of No-Brainer Ways to Get Free Stuff. Swagbucks is effortless to join, use, and the rewards come quickly and easily.  Basically, you get points for searching through the Swagbucks search engine (which is Google-based) and after 450 points, you get to redeem a $5 Amazon e-gift card. The points accumulate very quickly; I currently have hundred of dollars sitting in my Amazon account because of Swagbucks and have gotten a ton of free stuff that way.   If you are more ambitious with extra time (I'm not) you can do other things to earn points, like take polls, surveys, refer friends, etc., but the fantastic thing about Swag Bucks is that you can earn points by doing something you would already be doing. No. Brainer.

Swagbucks starts you off with 30 Swagbucks when you first join up.  Once you sign up, you are going to kick yourself for not joining sooner...earning free Amazon gift cards is pretty effortless once you get the party started. You want to join this program.

Easiest 405 Swagbucks and $15 in free music downloads I've ever "earned"

You know how I rant and rave about Swagbucks. The only frugal thing that I enjoy more than getting me free stuff is knowing that I've taught you how to get free stuff.  It's an ego thing.  I would love to know that 100% of my DailyCheapskate readers belong to Swagbucks.

What's Swagbucks?  I'm so glad you asked.  Swagbucks = total no-brainer.  Seriously.

Swagbucks is effortless to join, use, and the rewards come quickly and easily.  Basically, you get points for searching through the Swagbucks search engine (which is Google-based) and after 450 points, you get to redeem a $5 Amazon e-gift card. The points accumulate very quickly; I currently have hundred of dollars sitting in my Amazon account because of Swagbucks.   The fantastic thing about Swag Bucks is that you can earn points by doing something you would already be doing, searching. No. Brainer.

Ok, so you joined?  Already have an account?  Good. Now I'm going to tell you what I did to earn 405 points in one night.  (Do the math yet?  That's 90% of the way toward a free $5 Amazon gift card.)

Stay with me.  Go to Swagbucks.com and make sure you are logged in to your account.  Click on "Earn" and then "Special Offers" in the very tippy-top gray toolbar.  Click on the "Trial Pay" tab, then the "More" subtab, then "Music/DVDs/Games."  Are you still with me?  About six offers down, you'll see the Emusic offer for 405 Swagbucks.  Select it.

"Sign up for a 7 day eMusic Trial and get a $10 credit towards music downloads! With songs as low as 49¢ each that’s up to 20 songs. Choose from over 14,000,000 tracks, guaranteed to play on any MP3 player. 100% risk free.

Sign up for eMusic today. You must be a new member with no previous account on record. Please note: If you cancel your order, TrialPay reserves the right to discontinue access to your free product."

Yes, assuming you don't already have an Emusic account, you will sign up for the seven-day free trial offer and enter your credit card number.  And if you don't cancel within seven days, they will charge your credit card for (an unbelievable) $31.99!  But you are not going to let it go for seven days, because the 405 points are credited to your Swagbucks account instantly, and there is absolutely no reason for you to hang around a trial membership that you will need to remember to cancel.  We are going to take care of business in one evening.

Now before you say "that's gaming the system," I'm going to respond "no, it's not." You're not doing anything slimy, wrong or illegal.  You're strictly following the rules that they (Emusic and Swagbucks) set up.  You entered your credit card number.  And now you're even going to take advantage of Emusic's kind offer of $10 of free music.  Go ahead and download $10 or less worth of free music mp3s. Go crazy.  But whatever you do, don't download more than $10 worth of music or you will activate the $31.99 membership fee.  Once you have ordered what you want and downloaded the music safely on your computer, go to "Account" (on the top horizontal navigation bar).  Then click on "request to cancel" on the left-hand side vertical toolbar.  And then, voila, just like the clingy boyfriend/girlfriend in college who didn't want you to break up with them, Emusic will offer you a free, no-strings attached extra $5 in additional credits if you agree not to leave them. Take the $5 in credits!  Go crazy again.  Download another $5 worth of music, but do not go over $5 unless you actually want to join Emusic and pay $31.99 per month.

After you've downloaded the extra $5 worth of music to your computer, repeat the cancellation steps, and this time, go through with it all the way. You cannot cash in on any more bonus offers. Make sure you've canceled completely (unless you actually want to join!).

That's it.  405 free Swagbucks, $15 (or just slightly less....I was able to leave with just six cents in my account) worth of free, legal, mp3s, and all in a night's work.  The key to taking advantage of these tempting trial offers is get in and out in one evening, and not let it fester until you forget all about the trial offer and need to deal with that exorbitant first membership charge.  That's how they getcha.

So, ok, what music did you download? It took me forever to decide.

Hurry! 100 Swagbuck signup bonus through 10/3/11

 
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I firmly religiously believe that joining Swagbucks is the King of No-Brainer Ways to Get Buckets of Free Stuff from Amazon.   It is simple and free to sign up for Swagbucks, the most effortless rewards program on Planet Earth.  

"Really, Susie?" you're saying.  "I dunno. I've been burnt before by hyperbolic claims like that.  I don't want to wait forever for a reward,  I don't want to have to work for rewards, and I don't want to get spammed by giving out my email address."

No problem.  I think Swagbucks sends out less than one email a month (if that).   All you need to do to earn Swagbucks is do your normal internet searches through a Google-based search engine, something which (I'll bet the farm that) you're probably already doing.  The points accumulate very quickly and before you know it, you'll be stockpiling your $5 Amazon gift cards like nobody's business. My husband and I going to buy a new flat-screen tv from Amazon for our anniversary, using only Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks.

It's a no-brainer.  It's the King of No-Brainers.  If you like free stuff, you need to join Swagbucks, seriously. This is like religion to me.

As if all this weren't enough, to sweeten the deal, today only, 10/3/11, Swagbucks will give you 30 Swagbucks for signing up, and then an additional 70 Swagbucks for entering Swagcode BIGTIMEBUCKS during signup, for a total of 100 Swagbucks signup bonus. That's just ridiculously generous (and more than a fifth of the way towards an Amazon gift card), but you don't hear me complaining. I'm only going to complain if you don't join, because I want you to get free things.  Every DailyCheapskate reader should do this.

Free. Stuff. No. Brainer.

Ok, I'm done yelling now.

My Frugal Quest: replacing my slow cooker, Part 1

In the larger scheme of things, the death of my crock pot, is, well, a very minor glitch in my life. 

On Friday, I took my crock pot down from its shelf, after having retiring it there for the summer (I don't do hot chulent during the summer), dusted it off and noticed a very large crack in the liner (the "crock" part). Hoping it was just a surface wound, I tested it by filling it up with water. Instant fail. Yeah, that crock was history. Ba-bye crock pot.

It's a little annoying when only part of an appliance dies, and it's a crucial part renders the entire appliance unusable, like when I smashed the carafe on my coffeemaker. I did a little research and just as it costs more  to replace the carafe than the coffeemaker, it costs more to replace the liner than to replace the crock pot. I'll do better value-wise replacing the entire appliance. So, sadly, the crock pot is going to follow the coffeemaker into Freecycle (I'm sure someone out there can make a planter out of it, or something), and my frugal quest for a new slow cooker has begun. Charge! Hi ho Silver! Go Cheapskate!  Etc.

Now, notice what I didn't do. I didn't rush out to Target and say "one crock pot please" and buy whatever was on the shelf. The most unfrugal way to buy anything is to rush into it. If I was suddenly having ten teenage boys over for a Shabbat lunch next week and desperately needed a crock pot, I would either 1) take my Passover crock pot out of storage, use it, and then shop for its replacement or 2) borrow one.  As it stands now, there's no rush.

I have a confession to make. The crock pot that just died was part of a crazygood purchase I made at Target about a year and a half ago, when I bought three stainless steel 6 quart crock pots for $15 each. Yup, $15. One became a shower gift, one became my Passover version, and the last one is the deceased of which I speak. So, for a $15 purchase, I'm not all that broken up about the demise. Truth is, I've been hankering after the three-in-one Hamilton Beach slow cooker that my friend Sally A. has for quite some time. It comes with 3 crocks: 2 quart, 4 quart and 6 quart. This is a great feature for me, as I can size-down when it's just my husband and me for lunch, and size up-when we have a million Shabbat guests or I want to make a large pot of comfort-food soup. I've kind of been waiting for an excuse to buy this, but until my current one died, I had neither the room nor the reason to. And now, on to the quest.

Naturally, I looked online first. After running the model name through PriceGrabber.com, I checked Target, Amazon, Buy.com and Home Depot, which are usually pretty promising frugal sites. Right now, Home Depot looks like the winner at $57.99 with free shipping. But I want to do better than that.

I'm going to wait around for one of those seasonal $5 off $50 promo codes and see if I can time it to stack with a ShopAtHome.com Extra Cash Back Event. My goal is to pay no more than $45 for this. I'm also going to take into consideration that I have hundreds of dollars of credit in my Amazon account from Swagbucks, that I have a stack of $5 Target gift cards from sales promotions, and that I have at least $300 in Home Depot cards in our house emergency fund, redeemed from credit card points.  So in effect, anything I buy at these three store will be free, or at least, no cash out-of-pocket.

I'm going to post Part 2 of My Frugal Quest when I'm just about ready to buy. For now, I watch and wait.

Yaysave: new (to me) program

I've been a member of Swagbucks, Recyclebank and MyCokeRewards for about two years now, Ebates and ShopAtHome for about four years and MyPoints for over twelve years. When I find programs that I like that reward me quickly, I stick with them.  collectively, I've recommended literally hundreds of friends and readers to these programs, because I believe in them.  Tried and true.

Last week I joined a shopping program called Yaysave. I really like their business model.  They offer products at nice discounts over other popular online vendors, like Costco, Walmart, Soap.com, Amazon, EBay, and Drugstore.com.  And they prove it with clickthroughs to the competitors' actual item pages.  So, for example, if Yaysave offers Neosporin 1 oz. for $5.05 and they claim that this is 25% less than Walmart, there will be an actual link on their page to the identical item on the Walmart site for $6.73 or more.  I like apples-to-apples comparisons and I love transparency.

The downside, of course, is that you cannot use manufacturers' coupons on their site, so you need to make sure that the deal you see is better than one you can score with a coupon that you have on hand.  But that is generally true of all online shopping.

Yaysave is free to join.  They also have a premium program for $19.99/year which entitles you to free shipping with no minimum (otherwise it's a flat rate of $5 per order, so it pays for itself in four orders) and they also throw in 500 Swagbucks.  They definitely have some sort of close relationship with Swagbucks. The 500 Swagbucks certainly sweeten the deal, as this is more than enough to redeem for a $5 Amazon gift card, so it effectively lowers the net cost on the premium membership to $14.99.

So, do I recommend Yaysave?  The jury is still out, as I've only been a member for all of a week.  I think it absolutely pays to sign up for their free membership...you have nothing to lose and just from skimming the site, there are some really nice bargains available.  I think I'm going to sit with it for a month or so, see what kind of deals I can snag and then reevaluate jumping over to the paid premium membership. Sometimes it pays to pay to save, and sometimes it doesn't.

Another nice perk of Yaysave is that it's on the list of ShopAtHome.com's vendors.  So when you purchase anything at Yaysave, and you click on the ShopAtHome.com link to Yaysave first, you will get 2% cash back on your Yaysave purchases. (Remember, you must be a member of ShopAtHome.com and signed into your account to get your cash back. Not a member of ShopAtHome.com yet?   It's free.  Click here to join and get $5 cash just for signing up and using their site to make a purchase within 30 days.)

Are you already a paid member of Yaysave?  Any Yaysave experiences to share?

Click here to sign up for a free membership to Yaysave.

Frugal newspaper subscriptions

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that because of all the many free deals on magazines and newspapers, my annual budget for periodicals, was, well, zero.  Null, nada, gournisht, effes, big goose egg.

But sadly, my free Wall Street Journal daily subscription has expired, and along with it, my free source for Sunday coupons. This past weekend, I had to run out to Starbucks to pick up a $1.50 full-price Sunday Denver Post.  And pay for it.  Ok, I paid for it with a Starbucks gift card that I got for free from Swagbucks, but still!  I paid full price for a newspaper and I had to burn gas in my car to get it.  That just strikes me as wrong.  I checked out subscription prices on the Denver Post website, and found that they weren't all that much better.

Then I found DiscountedNewspapers.com.  They can get the Sunday-only Denver Post delivered to my door for $4.75 per month, even in months that have five weeks.  Over the course of the year, that averages out to $1.10 per paper on my doorstep.  That's frugal.  Ok, that's cheap.  I heart cheap.

DiscountedNewspapers.com has heavily discounted deals on periodicals in just about every state.  If you're not subscribed to a newspaper, this is a great opportunity to get one delivered to your door at a great rate.  If you're already subscribed to a paper and paying ridiculous rates, you can cancel your subscription and subscribe through DiscountedNewspapers.com. No newstand prices, better than regular subscription prices, and you don't have to get in your car to pick it up. 

Click here and enter your zip code to see how well DiscountedNewspapers.com can do for you.  And save that free Starbucks gift card from Swagbucks for lattes.

The king of no-brainer ways to get buckets of free stuff from Amazon

UPDATE 8/21/11:  I published this post exactly a month ago, but this weekend I, once again, met people who had never heard of Swagbucks, and I started pulling my hair out in clumps.  Rather than go completely bald, I'm just going to repost this, in the hopes that all of you will come to your senses and join the most effortless rewards program in the universe.  There are so many things we do to save money that are downright hard.  Why not do the easy ones too?

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I'll admit, I don't post as much about Swagbucks as other frugal bloggers do, because I figure, c'mon, DailyCheapskate readers don't live under rocks; who hasn't joined Swagbucks already?

Then the other day, I actually met one of DailyCheapskate's readers, who was cute and put-together and very clearly did not live under any rocks,  and he asked me "So what's the deal with that Swagbucks thing?  Should I join?"  My Cheapskate little heart skipped a beat.  Omigosh.  Please, if you haven't joined, and you like to get free things, please, pretty please, join now?  Swagbucks = total no-brainer.  Seriously.

What's stopping you?  Swagbucks is effortless to join, use, and the rewards come quickly and easily.  Basically, you get points for searching through the Swagbucks search engine (which is Google-based) and after 450 points, you get to redeem a $5 Amazon e-gift card. The points accumulate very quickly; I currently have hundred of dollars sitting in my Amazon account because of Swagbucks.   If you are more ambitious with extra time (I'm not) you can do other things to earn points, like take polls, surveys, refer friends, etc., but the fantastic thing about Swag Bucks is that you can earn points by doing something you would already be doing. No. Brainer.

So, if you are one of the fourteen people left on Planet Earth who has not yet joined Swagbucks, click here (and thank you very much for letting me refer you; I get a little something from that as well), sign up, and continue with life as usual, just search through Swagbucks instead of Google (which is essentially the exact same process), and watch your points pile up and your Amazon gift cards accumulate.  If you really want to streamline the process, install the Swagbucks toolbar (once you've joined, click on "Toolbars" then "Download") and make your Google-based searches even more effortless.  Go. Swagbucks.  Now.  You are so going to thank me later.

Save 10% on tvs on Amazon, when you pay for them with your American Express card

Save 10% on select televisions on Amazon.com when you pay with your American Express card and enter promo code AMEXTV10 at checkout.  You can see which tvs qualify when you click here.  This offer is good until 8/31/11.  If you have Amazon gift card credits from your Swagbucks account, you can use a combination of credits and and your American Express card, and you will still get the full 10% off.  Delivery on nearly all of these tvs is free.

Most of the tvs are on the higher end, though I did see a few for under $600, like this 42" LG plasma HDTV.  Make sure you run comparisons on these tvs to other online stores, especially ones that give you cash back from ShopAtHome.com....you might find a better deal.

The Fine Print:
Limit one discount per customer. Promotional offer valid on select television purchases up through August 31st, 2011 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) or while supplies last. The discount applied will be on qualifying products sold by Amazon.com and eligible for purchase with American Express Card. Amazon.com reserves the right to cancel the promotion at any time. Offer must be redeemed through the Amazon.com shopping cart using your American Express Card as your payment method. Offer must be redeemed at the Amazon.com web site, http://www.amazon.com. Products sold by other merchants or third parties do not qualify for this promotional offer. Offer may not be used in conjunction with the purchase of products sold by or under the brands of third parties or sold through third-party areas. If Amazon.com is not the seller, this will be noted on the product detail page. Offer cannot be redeemed at Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp, or any other web site operated by Amazon.com, its affiliates, or third-party merchants (including web sites linked to from the Amazon.com site). Taxes, gift-wrap, and shipping and handling not subject to discount. Offer may not be combined with other claim code-based offers. Offer is not for resale and is not redeemable for cash. Offer cannot be applied to orders already placed with Amazon.com. If you return items purchased using the offer, you will not receive a refund for the amount of the offer. Void where prohibited. American Express is not responsible for provision of or failure to provide the stated benefits and services.

Earn 27 Swagbucks instantly when you "Tag Your Green"

Are you one of the 12 people left on Planet Earth who have not joined Swagbucks yet? Seriously? What's the holdup? It's a virtually effortless way of earning lots of free gift cards on Amazon.com. Join. Unless you don't like effortless free stuff?

Now Swagbucks members can score a very easy 27 Swagbuck points when they "Tag Their Green."
Just go to the Swagbucks home page (make sure you are logged in!) and wait for the image above to come up, top, center. Click on it. Wait a few seconds for the tags to load on the new page and then enter your address (which can be kept anonymous) or the address of a local business and then "tag" it with something green that you or the business has accomplished. I entered Ekar Farm and Community Gardens, which grows produce to give to to a local kosher food bank. Get creative...if you keep Shabbos, you can write that you don't initiate electricity or drive for one entire day per week. But enter something.

After you've submitted your "Green" thing, go back to your home page and reload it. You should see your 27 points immediately.  Happy Swagbucks!

Alternatives to Netflix

Sigh.  Netflix just raised their prices.  Instead of paying $10 per month for unlimited DVD-rental and streaming, the same level of service will now cost $16 per month, which translates to a 60% rate hike, from $120 per year (manageable) to $192 per year (ridiculous). In a bow to our budget, Joshua, my husband, has decided to ditch his subscription.  But Joshua has been traveling some for business and he likes watching old movies when he's not at home, and well, I hate that he has to give that up.  I've been researching some free or low-cost alternative to Netflix.  While there doesn't seem to be an exact or better replacement solution to Netflix, some of these aren't so bad, and maybe in combination, they might fill the Netflix gap.  Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. GreenCine: Their plans start at $9.95 per month, which lets you take out one DVD at a time.  Most on-demand rentals are $5 for 30 days, and you download the movie on DivX rather than stream.  They have a great selection of independent and foreign films but unless you stick to the one video at a time plan, they are pricey.  No streaming movies or tv.
2. Crackle: A free, streaming only movie and TV library owned by Sony.  No registration required, but you do have to sit through the occasional mindless advertisements.  The library is not extensive but it is growing. You can watch on your laptop, iPhone, iPad or Android.  No DVD rental yet.
3. Hulu Plus: $7.99 per month for streaming movies and tv.  Some shows come with commercials, which is a definite minus.  No DVD rental yet. Movie selections available are good, not great. Happily, you can try Hulu Plus out for a month for free to see if you like it.
4. Amazon Prime: For $79 per year ($6.60 per month) we can subscribe to Amazon Instant Video service. It offers no DVD rental but it does have a semi-decent (sort of) selection of streaming movies and tv shows.   The on-demand shows are about $4 each per view.  Of course, nothing to do with the video service, but this also comes with free shipping on all Amazon purchases, which is a huge perk.  The greatest plus to going with Amazon Instant Video is that 1) we can pay for it with free Amazon gift cards that we earned from Swagbucks or 2) we can pay for it with reward credits from our Amazon Visa, so as long as we had these, there would no ding on our budget at all.

 Did I miss anything?  Are you stuck in a Netflix bind too?  What alternatives are you considering?

Paying for saving: when is it worth it? Case studies of Costco and AMC Stubs

I belong to a zillion money saving and rewards programs, most of them completely free.  I don't understand why anyone wouldn't belong to a free program that saves or makes them money.  Target RedCards, library cards, Freegal, no-fee reward credit cards, Swagbucks, Recycle Bank, MyCokeRewards, ShopKick, FreeCycle, frequent flyer programs etc. all save or make you a ton of money and don't cost you a dime.  No-brainers.

Does it ever pay to pay to save? It's a good question. There are some programs out there that require me to pay for the privilege of saving money or accumulating rewards, each of these having different formats and business models.  What do I mean by that?

Take a Costco membership. This is a money-saving program for which I pay.  For $50 per year, you get the privilege of buying items at bulk discounts.  There are also many items available at Costco that don't come in bulk and are just low-priced.  When you buy a Costco membership, you make the assumption that over the course of the year, the money that you will save from buying in bulk will exceed $50.  Think about that for a second.  What do you buy on a regular basis from Costco?  Does buying in bulk work for you or do you end up wasting or not using what you've bought? Have you compared the price to purchasing the same items in stores like Walmart or Target on sale and with coupons?   Do you buy these items enough times over the course of the year to exceed $50 in savings?  My husband and I actually sat down and did these comparisons and crunched a bunch of numbers, and yes, we found that our Costco membership was well worth the price. Just buying our tires from Costco alone paid for the annual membership.  With their discount tire pricing, free rotations and road hazard warranty, we saved well over $300 per year.  (That's mostly because I tend to get more flat tires than a Nascar driver.)

You can also up the ante and get the Costco Executive Membership for $100. The advantage over the $50 membership is that you get 2% of your total purchases back in Costco credit at the end of the year.  You assume that 2% of your purchases will exceed the extra $50 that you pay for the privilege.  So, if you spend less than $2,500 at Costco over the course of the year, it wouldn't pay to upgrade to the Executive Membership.

But the Executive Membership comes with a safety net!  If you spend, let's say $1,200 over the course of the year at Costco and get back only $24, Costco will reimburse you for the $26 difference at the end of the year.  So, frankly, I can't figure out why all Costco members don't upgrade to an Executive level, when there is everything to gain and nothing to risk.

Costco also has the perk of being a national chain.  So we can take advantage of Costco membership when we are visiting family in New York and Atlanta, or my husband is working in Omaha, or I get a flat while driving my car through Wyoming.  It's also nice to be able to use my membership online to buy things like checks or order photo prints.

Now what if a competitor to Costco, like, say, Sam's Club, suddenly decided to completely drop their annual membership fee?  Would we jump ship?  Almost certainly, under the condition that Sam's Club could provide comparable merchandise and services at the near-same level of low pricing as Costco. Why pay for a privilege when you can get the identical privilege for free?  But if they couldn't, then we'd stick.  But Costco's services and savings would have to be much, much better than Sam's Club, both quantitatively and qualitatively, to keep us as members.

So let's lay down some rules. It pays to pay for saving money when:

1. The amount you save/make on average exceeds the amount you pay.
2. There is no comparable program offering identical privileges for free.

I think these are very important rules in deciding when to pay to save. They might strike you as being very obvious, but I think that's a sign that they are very good rules.  And while the following two rules are not decisive factors on whether it pays to pay, they are very strong incentives:

3. There is a "safety net" or a guarantee to refund what you've paid if the first rule doesn't work out.
4. You can use the money-saving privileges even if you change your location (moving or traveling) or online.

When doesn't it pay to pay?

Let's talk about movies.  If you go to the movies at all, it pays to join a frequent-watchers program. AMC Theaters recently decided to replace their free AMC MovieWatchers program with AMC Stubs, which cost $12 a year ("only a dollar a month!" shrieked the AMC employee who tried to sell it to us last time we went out to a movie).  So, according to their website,  you pay $12 a year for these privileges:

• $10 AMC Stubs Reward for every $100 you spend
• Free upgrades on concessions anyday, anytime
• Online ticket purchase fees waived
• Access to your online ticket stub collection

The last two on these list are really not privileges at all.  If you are still paying online ticket purchase fees, just stop.  They are a royal waste of money.  And I don't care to see my "online ticket stub collection" whatever that is.

My husband and I rarely buy anything at movie concessions, both because we keep kosher and because every fiber of my being bristles at paying $4.75 for 8 ounces of Diet Coke.  So for us, saving a dollar or two on concession food is just not a worthwhile privilege.  If you buy lots of refreshments at movie concessions on a regular basis, please reconsider. The markup on theater concession treats is about 1,000-1,300%.  Seriously.  If you're reading this blog and are trying to save money, think hard about that.

As far as the $10 reward, let's crunch some numbers.  Let's say, on average, a movie ticket costs $10.  Further, let's say my husband and I go to the movies every other Saturday night (we don't, but I think that's a reasonable what-if scenario).  So if we started the Stubs program on June 4, we'd get our first reward on July 30.  Two months is a long time to wait to get a reward. And the reward doesn't even cover the annual cost of the program!  You have to get to a two-reward level, which will take four plus months, to recover the membership fee.  And if you go to the movies less often than every other week, it will take even longer.  And if a movie ticket cost more than $10 at some AMC theaters, as it often does, the first reward won't even cover the cost of a ticket.  So far, I'm not impressed.

But eventually, as long as 2 people go to the movies 10 times over the course of the year (spending $200), you will get two $10 rewards and still come out ahead.  But I'm still not buying a membership in the Stubs program.  Why?  Because Regal Crown Club, Fandango, and social purchasing sites show how clearly AMC Stubs fails to meet the important criteria of deciding when it pays to pay to save:

1. Regal Crown Club offers similar rewards: you get 1 point for every dollar spent on movie tickets and you get a free ticket for every 150 points, or $150.  So the benefits don't come as quickly as with Stubs, where you need to spend only $100 for a free ticket,  assuming the ticket cost $10.  I much prefer getting an actual movie ticket as a reward than a dollar credit, because ticket prices vary by so much by theater. Also, and here is the kicker, there is no upfront cost to join Regal Crown Club.  No membership fee versus a $12 membership fee.  That pretty much sealed the deal for me.
2. Fandango runs sales and promotions all the time. All the time.  (Like 2 for 1 movie tickets every Friday, etc.) And again, there is no cost to join Fandango. Kicker #2.
3. Remember this $6 AMC Movie ticket deal from BuyWithMe?  The math:  this deal was nearly the equivalent of one and a half AMC Stubs rewards ($16 savings on four tickets, and it only costs you $24 to realize it).  Under AMC Stubs, you would have to spend $200 to save $20, or in theory, $160 to save $16 (though you can't redeem a portion of a reward, but okay, you get the point).  Living Social, Groupon and numerous other social purchasing sites routinely offer great deals on movie tickets, and if you are a regular movie-goer, you should be buying them.  Kicker #3 is that each of these deals exceed the benefits of AMC Stubs, with less spent and more saved.  Kicker #4 is that, again, it cost nothing to take advantage of these deals.

So I'm thinking that perhaps the marketing department at AMC Stubs needs to rethink the business model for their rewards program.  Because if you do the math, it doesn't pay to pay for AMC Stubs.

But are people joining AMC Stubs?  Why, yes, they are.  Because lots of people prefer platitudes to math.  Not you, I hope.

When you're deciding when it is worthwhile to pay for a money-saving program, run the program through our two rules, obvious as they might be.  Remember, it pays to pay for saving money when:

1. The amount you save/make on average exceeds the amount you pay.
2. There is no comparable program offering identical privileges for free.

Have you paid to save for anything recently or gone through a similar evaluation process?  Do you think I missed any important rules in deciding when it pays to pay to save?  Please comment below.

Snag 5 Swagbucks just for liking them on Facebook

Have you joined Swag Bucks yet?  If not, what's stopping you?  I like to think of Swag Bucks as a total no-brainer.  It's easy to join, use, and the rewards come quickly and easily.  Basically, you get points for searching through the Swag Bucks search engine (which is Google-based) and after 450 points, you get to redeem a $5 Amazon e-gift card. The points accumulate very quickly; I currently have hundred of dollars sitting in my Amazon account because of Swag Bucks.   If you are more ambitious with extra time (I'm not) you can do other things to earn points, like take polls, surveys, refer friends, etc., but the fantastic thing about Swag Bucks is that, you can earn points by doing something you would already be doing.

Now you can get five Swag Bucks simply by liking them on Facebook.  Here's how you do it:  log into your Swag Bucks account on SwagBucks.com.  If' you're not a member yet, join here.  Once you log in, you'll see a pop-up window that looks very similar to the one pictured above.  If you have already liked Swag Bucks on Facebook, check the "I liked Swag Bucks" option.  You will be asked for permission to verify (if you're uncomfortable giving Swag Bucks access to your account, do it, and then immediately take back the access in your Facebook security settings.).  You'll see an instant 5 Swag Bucks show up in your account. If you haven't liked Swag Bucks on Facebook yet, just like them by clicking the "like" button in that popup window and again, you'll see the five Swag Bucks added to your account instantly.

Click here to join the easiest rewards program on the planet.

Money-saving no-brainers that you simply must do

UPDATE: An earlier version of this post appeared on Cheapskate back in January, but after receiving this email from Raina last week, I thought it was worth another look. 

Dear Susie,

I love your blog, and I'd love to save as much money as you do, but I know myself.  I have a very busy career and the chances of my cutting out coupons, remembering which ones I have, doing all those "matchups" that I see in all the  other blogs, etc. are basically zero.  Are there other, more "passive" ways to save money that don't require a lot of energy and effort?

-Raina (a Cheapskate Wannabe)

Raina, excellent question, and I have to believe there are lots of folks out there with crazy-busy lives who would love to save some money without too much effort, or as you put it, "passively."  So I reworked this post just for you.


If you're here, reading this blog, chances are you got here because you want to try to save money. Even if you are not interested in coupon-clipping or bargain hunting, there are some simple, no-brainer things you can do that require very little effort after the initial setup, that save you money on an ongoing basis. Take the next fifteen minutes and do them.

1. Join cashback programs. Cashback programs work like this: if you want to buy something at an online store, instead of going directly to their website, you click through their link on the cashback program site instead, and are rewarded with a percentage of your purchase coming back to you in a check.  I have literally received over a thousand dollars in cash back over the last few years, for doing nothing that I wouldn't already be doing.  The three cashback programs I belong to are Shop at Home, Ebates and Mr. Rebates.  I use Shop at Home much more than either of the latter two, because they are a fabulous company with excellent customer service, and their vendor list is far more extensive than Ebates or Mr. Rebates.  Nevertheless, it also pays to have other companies in your back pocket in case you find a vendor who is listed on one and not the other.  Shop at Home also has a 110% matching guarantee on their percentage of cash back, so if Ebates is giving 4% back at Zappos and Shop at Home is giving only 2%, SaH will match and exceed Ebates' offer.

2. Join Swagbucks: This is probably the biggest no-brainer on the list.  Basically, you get points for searching through the Swagbucks search engine (which is Google-based) and after 450 points, you get a $5 Amazon e-gift card. The points accumulate very quickly; I currently have hundred of dollars sitting in my Amazon account because of Swagbucks.   If you are more ambitious with extra time (I'm not) you can do other things to earn points, like take polls, surveys, refer friends, etc., but the fantastic thing about Swagbucks is that, you can earn points by doing something you would already be doing.

3. Join Freecycle in your city.  Freecycle is an online group, local to every major city, where people offer up stuff they no longer need to anyone who would like to pick it up. Here's how they describe themselves:
"a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by local volunteers (them's good people). Membership is free." We joined Freecycle two years ago and have gotten ceramic tiles, ceiling fans, tons of dog stuff, wheel covers, painting supplies, tvs and all sorts of things that other people didn't need and we did.  In turn, we have freecycled tons of magazines, pots and pans, glasses, dishes, furniture, curtains, clothing, linen, and garden equipment.  Even if you have an aversion to getting things that are used, it's a great idea to join so that you have a way of unloading things that you don't need.  Getting rid of clutter is as important as getting free things that you need.  And while you will find that people freecycle EVERYTHING, you don't need to take in things that you regard as too personal to acquire secondhand.  We don't take in used clothing or linens or kitchenware, but I'm more than happy to pick up a 30 lb. bag of gourmet dog food that someone else's dog didn't like, or a tv that works perfectly but that someone else got rid of because they upgraded to a plasma.  And to all the Moms and Dads out there, I'd say roughly a third of the stuff that goes on Freecycle is children/babies-related stuff!  Much of the stuff on Freecycle is also brand new; people clean out their attics and basements and find things they've never even opened and don't want.  I got several sealed boxes of gorgeous designer ceramic tiles (with which my husband will someday tile the bathroom floor) that cost hundreds of dollars at the time store.  Freecycle saved us a fortune when we were working on our house.  It's definitely worth joining up.

4. Get the Target Redcard. Even if you never clip another coupon ever again, if you shop at Target at all, even occasionally, you will automatically save 5% off every purchase, just by paying for your purchases with the Redcard. And if you are allergic to credit cards, you can get the Target Redcard Debit card, which will automatically deduct your payment off of your checking account.  (And, you can get the Redcard debit card even if you don't have sterling credit.)  As a wonderful bonus, Target will donate 1% of all your Redcard purchases to the school of your choice (we chose Denver Academy of Torah).  If you get everyone in your community to use Redcard, this could add up to thousands of dollars for your school.  (BTW, the Redcard is not available to residents of NY or NJ.)

5.  Join the public library.  I don't understand my adult friends who take their kids to the library regularly, but don't even own a library card.  Today's libraries are wellsprings of free stuff and services.  Most libraries systems are online and have joint linked systems with other libraries.  This means that a) you can reserve virtually any book you like and the library system will make it available at your branch and b) you can manage your library account at home; you can renew books, find out which books are available, see when they are due, etc.  And most libraries have such enormous dvd collections, they eliminate the need for a Blockbuster or Netflix account.  So besides free books and dvds, what else can you do at the library?  Many libraries have excellent, low-cost or free classes in crafts, art, and numerous other topics.  I have a friend who has taken over a dozen art classes at her local library, and those same classes are offered at a local metro college for four times the prices she paid.  Many libraries have movie nights, readings, classes for kids, and book clubs for both adults and kids.  My former library in NY used to offer its members free passes at Manhattan museums and concerts.  Libraries are freebie treasure chests.  If you're not an active member of your library, sign up now.


6. Join Facebook.  I know, "it's such a time-waster," and "why would you want to make private aspects of your life public," etc. etc.  I've heard all the silly excuses for not joining Facebook and I can only conclude that if you believe them, you don't really understand social networking.  Yes, Facebook can be a major time-waster if you allow it be.  And yes, you can foolishly disclose personal information that you shouldn't.  Bottom line is, like everything else, you control what you do online; you don't need to post nonsense or private data and it's easy to take advantage of  Facebook's extensive privacy measures.  What can you do on Facebook that will save you money?  

• Share resources.  If you need to borrow a porta-crib because your friend with a baby will be visiting, don't rent it or buy it, post your need and borrow it.  
• Find out about events.  Is there a crazy clearance sale on bedding going on at your local store?  Is your local theater giving away free tickets to a preview? 
• Coupons and freebies.  I know, I said at the start of this post that these would be money-saving ideas for people who weren't interested in couponing and the like, but if you do choose to go this route, Facebook has got hundreds of special opportunities to snag high-value coupons and samples.  
• Everything else.  I come across tons of hard-to-categorize opportunities each day to save money on Facebook, whether it's a post from a blog that I follow, or community news, or a plethora of other sources. 

7. Subscribe to Cheapskate. Yes, I know, more shameless self promotion; what can I say.  I subscribe to all my favorite money-saving websites, so that their daily deals are pushed out to me instead of me having to check the sites, and this way I get to stay on top of current money-saving offers. Easy to be a Cheapskate.

So, busy readers, how do you save money without actively pursuing discounts and couponing?  

Get a $10 Amazon gift card with a special, limited-time offer from Swagbucks

I remember the good old days, about a decade ago, when Amazon just sold books. Then they branched out to cds.  Now, the great thing about Amazon is that they sell everything. Seriously.  If you were on a desert island....well, okay, maybe a desert island on a FedEx route, with nothing but a laptop stuck on the Amazon domain, and an internet connection, you'd be ok.  One of these days, you'll probably be able to gas up your car through Amazon.

That's why I love Swagbucks so much.  I've been a member for about a year and a half, and in that time, I've accumulated hundreds of dollars in Amazon gift cards from redeeming Swagbucks.  And I earn Swagbucks for doing nothing that I wasn't already doing.  You see,  you earn Swagbucks for searching through their Swagbuck Search Engine, which is Google-based.  So if you already use Google to search (and who doesn't?), you just need to keep on keepin' on, and you will earn...you guessed it...lotsa Amazon gift cards.

Swagbucks gives you many redemption options, but by far, their best prize is the $5 Amazon gift card that you can redeem for 450 Swagbucks.  I redeem one of these roughly every week and a half, just from plain-old searching. I have hundred of dollars in my Amazon account, just waiting for me to blow on something good.  Or maybe I will keep saving them for that desert island.

The question is, why haven't you signed up for Swagbucks yet?  It is a no-brainer.  Less than a no-brainer.  It is a negative-brainer.  Talk about passive income.  Sign up here.

And now, there is a special, time-limited offer on Swagbucks that will snag you $10 in Amazon gift cards immediately.   Sign up for Swagbucks, and then, if you sign up for a Netflix one month trial offer, you will get 1,000 Swagbucks immeediately, which you can turn around and redeem right away (though it takes about two weeks from redemption to actually receive the Amazon gift card codes).  This offer is for people who don't already have a Netflix account, so make sure that the email address you use for signing up is not associated with any existing Netflix account.  The details and link are right on the Swagbucks home page. Also, please note that while in theory you can cancel the trial account immediately. Swagbucks reserves the right to not award points to those Netflix accounts that cancel within 3 days, so enjoy that free Netflix account for at least a week.

So why haven't you signed up for Swagbucks yet?  You don't like free things?  Sign up now.

Join Swagbucks for free Amazon gift cards

I know I've mentioned them before, but by now, I hope you've heard of Swagbucks, which is by far, the easiest, most bother-free way to earn Amazon gift cards out there. Do you do Google searches on a regular basis? Simply do your searching through the Swagbucks search engine, which is Google-based, and you'll be rewarded with points daily.  There are other easy ways to earn points as well. When you accumulate 450 points,  you'll get a $5 Amazon gift card. It is so easy to earn points that I'm knocking back at least two gift cards a month, for zero effort. 

Join now and they will start you off with 30 points, just for signing up.

How I replaced nearly every major appliance in my kitchen for less than $400 total

When my then ex-husband and I remarried (yes, we did that), we agreed to do some upgrading in our house. We weren’t about to tear down walls, but in sync with our fresh start, we wanted to make our home more comfortable and livable.  Part of this venture included fixing up our kitchen, which sorely needed it.  Our budget, however, was tight. Very tight.

I’m a shopper and a planner. I don’t just walk into Home Depot and say "I’ll take one French Door Refrigerator, please." I research, I save coupons, I look for sales, I cash in credit card points. I look online and I physically walk into stores and ask a million questions. If you are in desperate need of a stove NOW, you probably aren’t going to save all that much money. But you still could save some. If you think you are going to upgrade your appliances, start your research asap. Here are some principles that I used to replace nearly every major appliance in my kitchen:

1. Don’t be married to one store. Keep your eyes peeled for sales and hooks like free delivery, 10% off for energy star, and seasonal sales. Our appliances came from Lowe’s, Home Depot, Sears, Amazon, and Costco. These stores usually will have competing prices on similar or same model numbers.  Periodically search sites like Slickdeals.net to see if there are any regional sales at the big box stores.
2. Home Depot takes Lowe’s coupons. Lowe’s take Home Depot coupons. Lowe’s 10% coupons are easiest to get; the post office has them in their change-of-address kits, or you can apply online for one if you are moving. I never go into either store without a handful of them in my purse. Usually, they will take expired coupons too. (They will also match each other's advertised prices, which comes in very handy if you have gift cards at one place, but the better sale is at the other.) Don’t neglect online coupon codes either. Always search for coupons before making any major purchase. Look at sites like RetailMeNot.com or just google away. Organizations like AAA offer excellent online discounts at Sears and Target, and WorkingAdvantage offers specific employee discounts if your firm is enrolled.
3. Gift cards. Pay attention to your credit card points and your choices for redemption. If you have a large purchase coming up, put it on the credit card that will give you the best bang for your buck in terms of points and gift cards. Put anything and everything you possibly can on rewards cards, i.e. utilities payments, medical payments, etc. We bought a $1,300 French door refrigerator with $930 worth of gift cards saved over the year from credit card points; well worth the wait. Most of the gift cards came from our American Express cards, which start you off with sizable bonuses, usually 10,000 points or more, (which translates to a $100 Home Depot card). We also participate in MyPoints;  for a few clicks a day, the points accumulate fairly quickly and the gift card selection is vast. I also belong to Swagbucks, another easy program, whose best rewards are their $5 Amazon electronic gift cards. We've accumulated over $200 in our Amazon account through Swagbucks.
4. Rebates. There are generally two ways to get rebates. The first one is from the manufacturer, who might just be running a rebate promotion and you might just be lucky enough to catch it. Always search online for a rebate if you are buying a major appliance. The second is from the government. State and local governments as well as utility companies have been giving away huge green rebates on energy efficient appliances. We got $150 back on our front loading washer from our water utility, and had we waited another five months (which we weren’t willing to do,) we could have gotten an additional $150 from our state. At that point, we would have actually made money on the purchase of our washer.
5. Stainless steel is stupid. I’m convinced that in twenty years, we will look back and view stainless steel as the harvest gold or avocado green of this decade. Just about every major brand charges nearly 10-20% more for the same appliance in stainless steel. Consider black instead. It gives a sleek, modern appearance, is easy to keep clean, provides a nice sharp contrast in light-colored kitchens, and will cost the same as white appliances. We got all of our major appliances (except for the washer) in black, and I love the contemporary look to my kitchen. Many of my small and less expensive appliances (my food processor, crock pot, urn, toaster oven) are stainless steel with black trim, and they go well with the large black appliances. If you’re really stuck on stainless for your major appliances, wait for the occasional stainless steel free upgrades.
6. Scratch-and-dent places are generally not worthwhile. We bought a front loading washer from a Sears Scratch-and-Dent Outlet about five years ago. The washer was a bargain at about $450, but we always heard a strange noise when we ran it. Turns out the motor had something wrong with it and the washer lasted only about four years. I haven’t found too many great bargains at scratch-and-dent appliance places, though sometimes their overstock sections have good buys. Remember, there's a reason that an appliance winds up at a scratch-and-dent place, and you can only hope that it's just cosmetic.

Ok, you want numbers? I gotcha numbers. Here’s how we did it.

LG Front-loading 4.0 cubic foot, High Efficiency Washer, Model WM2050CW, white. MSRP $646. On sale at Sears for $540.  Delivery/installation charge:  $65.00 Tax $43 ($648 base) We paid $64.

• AAA.com membership 5% discount:  $27
• Online NextJump coupon:  $25
• Shop at Home 9% cashback:  $50
• Sears ShopYourWay Rewards 1%: $5
• 5% Discount for using a Sears credit card: $27
• Gift cards from MyPoints:  $300
• Water utility discount for high efficiency washer: $150

24.8 cubic foot Maytag French Door Refrigerator, model #MFF2558VEB.  MSRP $1299. On sale at Home Depot for $988. Plus 4 year warranty, $99. Plus icemaker connector, $10. Free delivery.  Tax $65.  ($1162 base)  We paid $41.

• Coupon code BATH75G3:  $75 (though I bought it in the store, I told them about the online coupon and they honored it)
• 10% Lowes coupon: $116
•  Home Depot gift cards from American Express, Visa and MyPoints:  $930

GE Self-cleaning radiant heat glasstop range/oven, model #JBP62DM2BB, black, MSRP $549, on sale at Lowe’s for $494, free delivery, $35 tax. ($529 base)  We paid $226.

• 10% Lowes coupon: $53
• Gift cards from Visa promotion: $250

Broan F403023 30-Inch Two-Speed 4-Way Convertible Range Hood, black, $47 on Amazon.com with free shipping (Amazon Prime promotion). We paid $0.

• Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks: $47

Parenthetically, this same range hood sold at Home Depot for $102, and at Lowe’s for $78  .


Note:  I’m leaving my dishwasher upgrade out of this because my records on it are fuzzy, but we did the same sorts of shtick when we purchased that as well.


Thankfully, our dryer is still intact, but unfortunately, our microwave just died.  I’m on it.