Hiya! I’m Amanda – a Certified Financial Education Instructor, and fierce-lover of smart money strategies (made simple).
I’m all about helping women get their money lives in order so that you can control your money, save for the things + experiences that you want, and get back to living your life.
That means I show you how to shine a light on the guts of your finances – warts and all – and then work out the kinks.
In the end? My strategies boil down to creating money systems that allow you to get out of debt quicker, tick off your list of money tasks faster, and save more for what you actually want to be saving money towards.
Below, find the resources & tools I turn to MYSELF to save more money.
Tools
Note: this page contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a commission when you take a specific action. However, there is no extra cost to you! Here’s my affiliate disclosure.
Ibotta Cashback App (Scan Receipts)
Get some serious cashback on your groceries with this free app.
Here’s the iPhone version, and here’s the Android version.
What I like about this app:
- They frequently give out free food deals, where you buy the product at full cost (or with a coupon – which means you earn cash off of this deal) and then you get a full rebate through the app.
- It’s super easy (and fun, dare I say!) to scan your grocery store receipt in for the cashback, and offers are automatically credited to your account.
- They give lots of bonus cash opportunities for using a certain number of offers in your shopping trip (i.e., do 5 offers and get an extra $1.00).
- They have generic cashback offers. For example, earn $0.25 cashback for any wet cat food item (so you get to choose the brands you like!). These also count towards the bonus deals (score!).
Fetch Cashback Rewards App
Did you know you can take the same receipt, and scan it into multiple cashback and reward apps?
Score!
Here’s my second favorite free one: Fetch Rewards.
What I like about it:
- You can scan in any receipt, not just certain receipts
- You don’t need to choose offers ahead of time, you just scan in the receipt and it’s all automated
- You can connect your Amazon.com account and get rewards for shopping on there, too!
Rakuten Rebates ($30 just for signing up!)
Sign up for this free service, and each time you shop online, you could earn rebates (that’s cash back!).
Not only that, but you get $30 back in rebates (sign up through this link) after spending $30…that’s getting $30 in free stuff online!
Could be a great way to start holiday shopping.
Score!
Swagbucks (cash for searching the internet)
It’s hard to overstate how much I love Swagbucks. I’ve earned over $4,000 in actual cash since joining (2009)!
Here’s what I love about it:
- Free to sign up
- You get random SBs (Swag Bucks) just by searching the internet.
- Sometimes, they throw you bonus SBs!
- You can cash in to a PayPal, meaning actual cash sent to you (or lots of gift card options).
- You can refer people yourself, to earn even more SBs.
I absolutely love using this free site to get products completely free, and also to score products at a high discount (like 75%+).
Here’s more info:
- You DO NOT have to leave any review, whatsoever (what?!?! That’s awesome!)
- Limit of 5 items per day and 50 items per month
- To get free shipping, you need to either have Amazon Prime, or order other products to cross the $25 free shipping threshold (however, you need to make sure the product you applied for offers free shipping – I’ve found that the majority do)
- They offer tons of other products at severely discounted rates, too
- There is a 35-day waiting period to get your rebate
- Your rebate can be paid out either by a gift card, by PayPal ($0.50 processing fee), or by sending a check ($1.00 processing fee)
So far, I’ve gotten $41.99 in rebates! Start getting your free products, here.
Resources
In this section, you’ll find some really great resources to turbo-boost your saving efforts.
Pssst: in case you need this, here’s my article on emergency financial assistance resources.
Coupon Match-Up Blogs
- MoneySavingMom.com: Great for drugstore coupon match-ups (the drugstore game), as well as discounted deals at retailers.
- CouponMom.com: Great for grocery store coupon match-ups (the grocery store game)
Creative Ways to Stop Spending
Check out these resources to creatively help you to spend less:
- Shelftember: Once a year, in September, join this challenge to only spend $25/week on groceries (you find the rest by using up what’s in your pantry, freezer, and cupboards). Great Facebook group with lots of ideas and help for how to use up ingredients you have.
- No Spend Challenges: My free guide on how to set up and survive a no-spend challenge.
- No Spend Challenge Trackers: Track your no-spend days to help keep you going.
Grocery Savings
- Batch Freezer Cooking: This woman offers a list of tons of free freezer batch cooking day meal plans.
LET’S GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER BETTER.
Here’s how to connect with Me:
- Are we friends on Facebook yet? Come on over!
- Pinterest has become my online playground for all that makes me smile (did I mention finding awesome ways to never pay full price is a surefire way to make me smile?).
