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So you want to know how to be better at saving money, more specifically, how to save money when shopping?
This post will provide you some fantastic ideas on how to save money. Learn how to save your money efficiently and easily with these 5 tips for how to save money on all purchases.
We all need to make purchases; buying things is inevitable. We all need or want things and even though we’re trying to save money that doesn’t mean we can stop spending altogether. There will always be things we need to buy.
Here is a list of 5 things you can do right now, to help save you money while making your everyday purchases. Hopefully these tips help you save money on ANY purchase!
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Table of Contents
Make Money with Amazon.
Get the Amazon Credit Card!
This probably seems very random and out of nowhere. But answer this one question: Do you use Amazon? On the off chance you say no, you may proceed to number two.
Odds are the answer is yes and you are one of the 150 million people who use Amazon, so you should get the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card.
What you can get with the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card.
Getting this credit card will help save you money because it is FREE if you are a prime member and you get 5% cash back on ALL Amazon and Whole Foods purchases.
This means, if you spend 100 dollars on Amazon, you get 5 dollars back as a reward. If you were going to spend 100 dollars anyway, you might as well get 5 dollars back for free.
ADDITIONALLY, they are offering a $150 dollar Amazon gift card immediately after you get approved. (at the time of writing this post)
This chart demonstrates the extra money you will get from having the Amazon credit card.
| Getting the Amazon Credit Card | Ignoring my advice (nothing changes) | |
|---|---|---|
| Opening up the card | $150 instantly | $0 🙁 |
| Using the card | 5% cash back on all Amazon and Whole Foods purchases | $0 🙁 |
According to a google search I did while writing this, the average Amazon Prime member spends $1,400 dollars on Amazon per year. With the Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card, you would have received 150 dollars back from Amazon alone. Sure that may not seem like a crazy large amount, but $150 cash back + $150 opening bonus is greater than the $0 you are getting now.
If you still aren’t sold, above are some screenshots from my Amazon credit card rewards summary. As you can see I’ve already earned $67.73 this year.
It is important to note, I did not go out of my way to make these purchases. these were items I would have purchased anyway (my standing desk making up the majority of the balance).
I am not encouraging you to purchase more from Amazon, I’m simply suggesting, if you shop with them already and are a prime member, getting some free cash back rewards is a good idea. Why not make money with amazon if it is at no cost to you?
Stop Going to Starbucks.
Everyone has a guilty pleasure “snack” location. Whether that be Starbucks or any other coffee shop, maybe boba, ice cream, frozen yogurt. If you are consistently stopping to buy yourself a cup of coffee, those expenses can add up.
Let’s do some math.
On the low end, let’s say you are spending 3 dollars every time you get coffee (which of course doesn’t include getting something to munch on while you drink your coffee) and purchasing it twice a week. That’s already more than 300 dollars spent.
On the higher end, let’s say your average purchase amount is around 7 dollars and you’re purchasing three times a week. That is over 1,000 dollars that you’re spending!
If you were to invest that 300 dollars every year, compounded annually for 20 years at a 7% interest rate, you would have over 148,000 dollars!! Moreover, if you invested the 1,000 dollars every year, compounded annually for 20 years at a 7% interest rate, you would have almost HALF A MILLION DOLLARS.
That was not a typo. You would have almost $500,000.
If the investment calculation is confusing, here is another way to think about it. 300 dollars is more than enough to get you a helicopter tour in Hawaii.
Starbucks Run < Helicopter Tour 🙂
I’m just saying, if you’re going to spend your money, wouldn’t you rather spend it on something else?
Install a Money Saving Browser Plugin.
I use Rakuten so that’s what I’ll be talking about here but there are several other cash-back websites, money saving browser extensions and cash back apps as well. I’ve listed some below.
- Capital One Shopping
- Swagbucks
- Ibotta
- Cashapp
- Pei
- Fetch Rewards
- SavingStar
- Dosh
I’m always very hesitant to try anything that screams “WE’LL SAVE YOU MONEY” because I’m very risk averse and scams are everywhere nowadays. However, Rakuten is not a scam and can actually help you save a good amount of money.
What is Rakuten and how does it work?
Rakuten is a cash-back website that gives you money when you purchase a qualifying item from one of their 2,500 retail partners.
Why would they do that? Why would they give me money?
Great question!
Rakuten gets paid a commission from the retail store (for example, Target) when someone (you) makes a purchase at that store. They then give you a portion of this commission to make sure you keep shopping through Rakuten.
How to use Rakuten cash back.
Rakuten has both online and in-store options:
How to use Rakuten online?
1. Shop through their website.
Click here to make an account.
Once you’ve made an account, you have access to their website. Shopping through their website can be nice because you are able to shop by category. If you are looking for a specific item, you can see which stores have cash back deals.
I don’t typically like this because I normally already know what I’m looking for and where I want to buy it from which is why I prefer…..
2. The Chrome Extension Browser
The Chrome Extension Browser for Rakuten is fantastic because it lets you do your regular shopping and a button will pop up at checkout to let you know you can get some cash back rewards.
Can you use Rakuten in-store?
Using Rakuten in-store is also an option. You will need to activate the offer through the Rakuten app or website. Once you make a qualifying purchase it can take a couple of days for the store to confirm with Rakuten.
The drawback of in-store, means you have to connect your credit card to Rakuten so they can track if you actually made the purchase or not.
I haven’t done too much in-person shopping since Covid, so I haven’t actually tried the in-person method myself.
The $10 Sign-Up Bonus
Yes there is a bonus! You will receive $10 after signing up!
However, you have to make a minimum of $25 worth of qualifying purchases within 90 days of joining to receive it. DON’T BE INCENTIVIZED BY THE 10 DOLLARS. You’re reading this article to save money, not spend money. So you should only be making purchases you would have made anyway.
Rakuten should help you get a little cash back, it shouldn’t be the reason you are now spending more.
Drawbacks of Rakuten
Before you start thinking it’s too good to be true, here are some drawbacks to Rakuten.
Payment Schedule.
Rakuten has four payment dates a year, only once a quarter. This means that no matter how many cash back rewards you have, you will not see that money for a while.
It takes about a month and a half after each quarter to get you your cash back rewards for that quarter. This means you could be waiting for upto 4 and a half months.
Rakuten is random free money, it is not an income.
Exempt Products
Not everything you want/need to buy will be a qualifying purchase. More often than not, the items everyone is buying are the items that might not qualify.
TIP: Like I said before, I am not recommending you go spend a bunch of money now that you know you can get some cash back. No. I’m recommending this so you can get some free money on purchases you were going to make anyway. This will not save you any money if it encourages you to make impulse purchases. Which brings us to number four.
The 48 Hour Rule.
Consumerism. In our modern day society we are very encouraged to buy, buy, buy more goods and services. We are tricked into thinking we need to have something and constantly crave more, but do we actually want that item?
Many times the answer is no, we don’t actually want that item. We want the rush we get when making a purchase. Enter the 48 Hour Rule.
The 48 Hour Rule is very simple. If you want to purchase something, put it in your cart and hold off on clicking “check-out” for at least 48 hours. If you come back after 48 hours and you truly still want to make the purchase then go ahead.
I often get very excited to make a purchase, almost giddy. Then I’ll wait for it to arrive, open it, use it once, then never look at it again. These sorts of purchases can help be avoided by the 48 hour rule.
Wait for the Sales or Off Season
When purchasing things you need, it’s easy to bulk buy when there is a sale. There are several days a year when there are more sales than ever. Some of these include: Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day, New Year’s Eve and so on.
If there is a brand that you like and you know they do great black Friday sales, wait to buy and stock up then!
This really only works when you do it for products you already know you like. If you stock up on something and then realize you want to change it up, you’ve just wasted money. Don’t stock up unless you already love the product!
For example, I buy my face wash with Tula. I know for a fact Tula has an amazing Black Friday Deal. I stocked up on 4 face washes during the 40% off deal and no longer have to worry about purchasing at full price. I fully intend to do this again during the next Black Friday Sale.
Another example, I like Victoria’s Secret underwear. However, Victoria’s secret is very overpriced in my opinion. So I will only buy underwear from them when they are having one of their crazy 7 for $28 sales.
These sales are more difficult because they are not pre-announced so you kind of have to be on the lookout. Luckily I don’t need to buy underwear that often so I only start paying attention to the sale every 2 or 3 year.
What do you routinely buy? I’m sure you can find a sale or ideal time of year to purchase!
Check out this post by Nerd Wallet for the best months to buy things and when you’re more likely to score a deal!
BONUS #6 – Buy Generic
The only difference between the store brand and the name brand is the box. Name brand companies spend TONS of money trying to get their name out there. That’s why we know who they are, marketing.
However, they are selling the same thing. But, store brand products are usually between 15 to 30 percent cheaper! Take a look at the store brand items at your local grocery store and see how much you could be saving.
Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoyed these 5 very simple and easy tips for how to save money! We all have to make purchases so we might as well benefit from it a little. You can start applying all 5 of these things today!
Let me know how much you’ve saved on your everyday/necessary purchases!
What else would you like to read about? Send me an email or comment!
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