Up To $50 In Savings Just For Logging On
Call it want you want ... A recession or not, there's no question Americans are looking for to get more bang for their buck and cash is king. While there are scams online offering "get rich quick" schemes or promising tax refunds (one of the most popular "phishing" scams), AOL’s Regina Lewis shows us some savvy, legitimate resources worth taking advantage of.
Here are FIVE SITES THAT CAN PUT $50 IN YOUR POCKET FAST:
1) CLICK FOR COUPONS
www.couponmom.com; www.shortcuts.com
TOTAL MONTHLY SAVINGS: $50.
Grocery prices are up almost across the board. People are really feeling it when you consider food accounts for about 15% of the average household budget. Consumers are paying as much as 36% more than last year for common kitchen staples, like eggs, bread, milk, and chicken. Shortcuts: A new technology has just been launched in which you'll select the coupons you want & instantly they'll be transmitted to your grocery membership card (81% of people have these). It's like turbo-charging your card with extra savings. It is expected even sometimes coupon-shy men will get in on the action.
VIDEO & MORE SITES AFTER THE JUMP...
You can also print coupons at home from sites like couponmom.com. Manufacturers want you to have these, but only if you need them to pick their product. Retail 101. In a matter of minutes, we selected $12.50 in coupons. Shopping once per week, would yield $50 a month in savings. If your store doubles coupons, $100. And this is conservative. True bargain bees are all over this site - a
quarter million of them are regular users.
Coupons on Demand
And, looking further ahead, you heard it here first - coupons can be requested & downloaded right to your cellphone & you'll scan it across the scanner. Acuity Mobile debuted a prototype. Think of it as coupons on-demand.
2) CASH IN OLD CELL PHONE
http://www.cellforcash.com/
TOTAL CASH OUT FOR OLD CELL: $5.00-$50.00
Log on, locate your make and model and get a quote in seconds. You do need to know your exact model - find this wherever the battery is on your phone - pop out the battery and look behind it. If you're satisfied with the price they offer you (anywhere from $5 for a regular cell to over $50 for a higher-end Blackberry), request a postage paid box. The phone must be able to power up and complete a call and you'll need to send in the charger as well. Cellforcash.com will mail you a check within 30 days. The site takes the old phones, refurbishes them and resells them in developing countries ... A win, win.
3) CASH IN A GIFT CARD
www.swapagift.com
TOTAL CASH OUT: $75.00 SEARS card currently going for $48.75
$26 billion worth of gift cards were sold this past holiday season alone. Thousands will go unused by consumers. You can't redeem them for cash in-store, but you can online. Generally, you can expect to receive about 65% of face-value. I spoke with a top executive from swapagift.com and he says business is booming. Makes perfect sense ... cash is king in this economy.
So, if I had a $75 Sears gift card, I enter this info on the site in a matter of seconds and get an "instant" quote. There is a $1.99 fixed fee, but they make their money on the spread between what they pay you for the card & the price they re-sell it at. So, on the flip side, if you're doing a kitchen renovation and wanted to really get the cost of a new dishwasher down, you could buy three $100 gift cards on this site for $90 each (the current going rate). Essentially, you'd be getting "discounted cash." If the dishwasher is $300, that's $30 off right off the bat before any other sales or discounts the retailer may be offering.
4) SAVE AT THE PUMP
www.mapquest.com
TOTAL MONTHLY SAVINGS: Save 30 cents per gallon X 2 tanks per week = $48.
Are you picking the cheapest path? In many cities across the country, going one block or one mile could save you precious pennies at the pump ... As much as .30-.50 cents per gallon. If you're filling up a 20 gallon SUV once or twice a week, it adds up fast.
To use Mapquest's Gas Prices feature, type iin an address or zip code and it will give you gas
stations with the lowest prices within a 50 mile radius. The stations appear plotted on a map. In a given area prices (updated up to 7 times a day) range by as much as 50 cents per gallon.
5) CHEAP SEATS GUARANTEED
www.yapta.com
TOTAL CASH BACK BASED ON NEW LOWER FARE = $400
(original fare) - $275 (new fare) = $125 - $75 (change fee) = $50
The average airline ticket fluctuates by 400%. Who can keep up? If you book your airline ticket & the prices drops, it's not game over. You've got a move to make AFTER the purchase. Plug your itinerary into Yapta.com and it will alert you if/when prices drop. Because of something called "guaranteed airfare policy" you're eligible for a refund if the fare price decreases on any
major airline. When you get your itinerary, just email it to Yapta at flights@yapta.com . It's literally just a matter of forwarding what the airlines send you. Couldn't be easier. Even after deducting any change fee levied by the airline, if your $400 round trip ticket is suddenly $275, you might have $50+ bucks headed your way. If you're booking a trip for your family, the savings could be exponential. Yapta does the math & alerts you accordingly. No more
feeling like you paid more than the person sitting next to you.
