Before the internet came onto the scene, if you wanted to research or learn something, you’d go to the library and have the newspaper delivered to your door. But, with the invention of the internet, there are now so many realistic and creative ways to save money in utilizing it.
How to Use Free Online Services to Save Money
Searching
Did you know you can earn money when you do your every day activities online like searching. It’s true. Check out Swagbucks here. You can also save money by searching prices before you hit the store, saving you gas and time, or by searching product reviews before you buy a product. Over the years, and thank you Walmart, for teaching me to pull product reviews when I am purchasing something. When I purchased my new faucet for my sink, I pulled a ton of reviews on various brands. I finally came across this one. It had great reviews on it. A little pricey, but it’s worth to pay for quality and get it right the first time! All in all, I then saved a ton of money by purchasing it on eBay, rather than at my local Home Depot!
See my nice doggy gate back there. Those superyards are super-awesome! I portioned a whole section in my back yard to keep doggy uh…droppings..yeah, that’s a nice word (lol) out of the kids section. Don’t want them coming in my house with doggy ‘droppings’ on their shoes! I just hook a bunch of the superyards together and put them in a diagonal pattern, so they don’t blow over from the wind. Been doing that for years. It works wonderful! You can get the gates for about $25-$35 for a set of 6 panels off Craigslist and Facebook groups. Depends on how big your yard is for how many sets you’d need. I needed 5 sets for my yard.
Read the newspaper online
Reading the newspaper online is not only a great money saving tip, but it also saves trees, which are responsible for cleaning our oxygen. Super important to breathe, right? 😉
Use bill pay
Use your banks’ bill pay service instead of paying for the cost of postage. Likewise, send an email instead of snail mail. Seriously, postage fees have gotten way out of control. To save yourself money on postage when you’re sending a package to someone, simply do it all online! You can go to the USPS website, buy your postage online, and you save like 25% off than shipping from a USPS location. The reason being because a store location, they are charging you retail pricing (at least that’s the reason they gave me when I asked). 🙂 You can easily use a blank sheet of paper to print your label, tape it to your package and if it’s Priority Mail, even have the Post Office come pick it up at your door. Seriously cool! Not only does shipping Priority Mail save you a trip to the Post Office to drop off your package, it’s also most of the time CHEAPER than shipping Parcel Post AND they give you $50 free insurance (at the time of this article; rules change frequently, so double check on that).
Get magazines online
Visit magazines on their websites, rather than paying for a subscription. I have this really bad habit of buying a magazine subscription because it’s on sale, and then just throwing them all away when the pile gets too big on my bookshelf. I’ve had to stop buying subscriptions. I just don’t have the time to read them. When I want info. I go online.
Join banks online
Most banks and credit unions now have change machines behind the counter. Instead of paying to redeem your change with CoinStar, simply turn it into one of those financial institutions. If your bank or credit union doesn’t have a machine, find somewhere that does, join for free, keep a few bucks in the account so you’re considered a “member” and can use that service for free. Turn in your change there, then withdraw it, and deposit it into your regular bank account, or just keep it in the first bank for a nice savings account. You should NEVER have to pay to redeem your coin! I’ve lived in several different states in my time across the USA and never have I paid to turn in my coin. Just call around. Start at the credit unions. Banks like US Bank even have the machines, but I would NEVER encourage you to bank there. Sorry, but I worked there. They were the evilest of banks I’ve have ever worked at.
Sell items online
Sell stuff online for cash. You can list your items on Craigslist, instead of in the newspaper. Craigslist or now they even have Facebook groups for your local city is a lot more effective for selling things than the newspaper.
There are so many reasons to shop online besides saving money. Here are my favorite 37 Reasons to Shop Online.
