Do you remember going to the mall? The thrill of walking from store to store, adding more bags to your arms, paying cash (!) for your splurges â€" it was a whole experience, and it might have helped you stay in budget, too.
But not online shopping. The ease of finding everything you need â€" and plenty of things you don't â€" makes it way too easy to *click* *click* *buy now* and deal with the credit card bill later.
Let's be real. Online shopping is here to stay, but overspending doesn't need to be. Here are some of the best tricks to save you money and earn you cash back.
1. Find Out If You're Overpaying and Save $1,825/Year
Wouldn't it be nice if you got an alert when you're shopping online at Target and are about to overpay?
That's exactly what this free service does.
Just add it to your browser for free, and before you check out, it'll check other websites, including Walmart, eBay and others to see if your item is available for cheaper. Plus, you can get coupon codes, set up price-drop alerts and even see the item's price history.
Let's say you're shopping for a new TV, and you assume you've found the best price. Here's when you'll get a pop up letting you know if that exact TV is available elsewhere for cheaper. If there are any available coupon codes, they'll also automatically be applied to your order.
If you buy online 25 times a month â€" including each item in your Amazon cart and your restaurant delivery â€" you could save an estimated $1,825 each year. The extension will estimate your savings at different levels. At five monthly purchases, you could still save $365 annually, and at 10 purchases, you could save $730.
You can get started in just a few clicks to see if you're overpaying online.
Capital One Shopping compensates us when you get the extension using the links provided.
2. Get Paid Every Time You Buy Toilet Paper
Grocery shopping was never exactly pleasant. But these days, it's a downright struggle. Fighting crowds; keeping six feet of space â€" just buying toilet paper is a feat. Shouldn't you have something to show for it?
A free app called Fetch Rewards will reward you with gift cards just for buying toilet paper and more than 250 other items at the grocery store.
Here's how it works: After you've downloaded the app, just take a picture of your receipt showing you purchased an item from one of the brands listed in Fetch. For your efforts, you'll earn gift cards to places like Amazon or Walmart.
You can download the free Fetch Rewards app here to start getting free gift cards. Over a million people already have, so they must be onto something…
3. Knock $489/Year From Your Car Insurance in Minutes
OK, OK, we know buying car insurance isn't nearly as fun as winning a bid on eBay, but it's still an online purchase! When was the last time you even checked car insurance prices?
You should shop your options every six months or so â€" it could save you some serious money. Let's be real, though. It's probably not the first thing you think about when you wake up. But it doesn't have to be.
A website called Insure.com makes it super easy to compare car insurance prices. All you have to do is enter your ZIP code and your age, and it'll show you your options.
Using Insure.com, people have saved an average of $489 a year.
Yup. That could be $500 back in your pocket just for taking a few minutes to look at your options.
4. See if You Can Get More Money From This Company
Here's the deal: If you're not using Aspiration's debit card, you're missing out on extra cash. And who doesn't want extra cash right now?
Yep. A debit card called Aspiration gives you up to a 5% back every time you swipe or buy online.
Filling up the tank? Extra cash.
Have eight Amazon boxes headed to your porch? Bam. Even more extra cash.
You were going to buy these things anyway â€" why not get this extra money in the process?
Enter your email address here, and link your bank account to see how much extra cash you can get with your free Aspiration account. And don't worry. Your money is FDIC insured and under a military-grade encryption. That's nerd talk for 'this is totally safe.'
Kari Faber is a former mall rat and current staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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