How to Save Money on ANYTHING

FTC disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.

Every couple of months I receive an e-mail asking, "How can I save money on going to Disney World?"  I've received the same question about XBox Ones, PS4s, flights to Hawaii, and more.

Did you know you can save money on anything?   Well, kind of.  So often I see people who only want to save towards big purchases and don't think about the smaller ones.

Here are a few tips.


First:  SAVE ON OTHER THINGS:

Save money on things you can.   For instance, as part of your Christmas budget or vacation savings, use SavingStar all year long.  Cash out right before your purchase or trip.  If you do this diligently, you can rack up quite a bit of money.  I have a friend who did that with Ibotta, and cashed out when her husband wanted to buy a bullet blender and used her $100 savings for that.

There are sites you can earn from by doing small things or changing your search engine.  I got a free Kindle from Amazon certificates I earned and saved from Swagbucks.  All I did was change my search engine to them.  InBox Dollars is a site where you can search, and get paid to open and click on e-mails.

My absolute favorite site for online savings is Rakuten  I have saved over $400 with them over the years.  I just start my online shopping from there, and get cash back.  One of my biggest tricks to lowering home improvement costs was to go to Lowes, figure out the SKUs of the items I needed, order online starting at Rakuten and I'd receive a percentage back on my purchases.  Even better was the order would be pulled for me and I wouldn't have to lug everything to the front of the store myself!

Get a credit card that works FOR you.  Discover has a no annual fee credit card that gives you 1% back on all your purchases.  I put everything on my credit card and pay it right off.  This is only a savings if you have the discipline to do this.  You can save your rewards and cash them in when you want to make a big purchase item.  There are even certain rewards that you can turn in 90 reward dollars for a gift card of $100.  (Again, another thing I did to help lower home improvement costs was instead of redeeming my rewards for cash, I used them for gift cards.)

Second:  SHOP AROUND

Now that you have been saving money where you can, start looking for the best deal.  Search the internet for coupon codes, specials, and deals.  Some bargain sites allow you to set up notifications for what you want to purchase. It is possible to  find something on sale, use a coupon code, go through Rakuten, and pay with your Discover Card and then pay it off with cash you have saved from Ibotta.  None of these will make your item free, but it sure can help make a dent in your purchase.  My mechanic called me one time to tell me my car needed a really expensive part.  I asked him for the part name and number, and found one on eBay for about $150 less.  It was used, but it didn't matter to me.  Sometimes you just have to think a little creatively to be able to shop around.  (Plus I didn't need my car immediately either as I had to have the part shipped.)

Third:  DOUBLE DIP

What I mean by double dipping is buying gift cards where you can earn other savings.  Some grocery stores will give you bonus discounts on gasoline if you buy gift cards at their store.   So if you are going to have to spend $400 on airfare, why not buy the gift card at the grocery store with a rewards credit card and not spend as much when you fuel up next time?  You can add the savings from the gasoline to your fund of whatever you are wanting to get a good price on it.

Fourth:  MAKE EXTRA MONEY

Ben Franklin "coined" the phrase:  "A penny saved is a penny earned."  But sometimes you can't stretch your money far enough.  Sites like eBay, Facebook groups, Craigslist, and Etsy give you a chance to sell some items for extra cash.  Don't forget about having a garage sale or taking items to a consignment store.  Plan on this ahead of time because if you want to work extra hours, your boss will have to schedule you and then you'll have to wait until payday for the money.  It's rare you can decide to just sell something and it sells immediately.

Fifth:  SET OUT TO WIN IT

This is something that most people don't think about, but there are legitimate sweepstakes and contests out there.  Most of the travel I have done is because I have won trips.  It's a long shot, but it is possible.  My advice is to follow all the other advice, and if you do happen to win your dream item, then you'll have extra money saved up!

While sometimes you can't save on certain items, you can save in other ways, and you can apply these tips to help you afford whatever it is you are dreaming about.  I believe frugality should be applied in some extent to every day, not just large purchase items.  Even if I was set for life, I would still do some of these things.  There just isn't a need to spend money when you can save!