ideas for saving money

I am all about saving some money and finding deals, and thought I'd share some of them with you. If you have used these, let me know how you liked them or if they worked for you!

The first thing I found was a website called Mr. Rebates. I have started shopping online more lately, and if I can find what I'm looking for or the store I'm looking for through Mr. Rebates, then I link to it through there. Then, simply by making purchases, I earn rebates. Each store is different in the amount that you can earn, and I haven't requested my check yet so we shall see. I plan to let my account build up and closer to Christmas request my check. So far, I am up to like $15. You get $5 just for joining.

The next several all of you have probably already heard of, but I did learn something about one of them today. Groupon: Love this one, it's been all over facebook, so I am sure you've heard about it. BUT, I just found out that you can get to Groupon through Mr. Rebates so you can not only get a deal, you can earn money on it too!

Living Social is just like Groupon only they also do getaways. They have had some great deals on their getaway page, and if I could just talk Steve into staying at a B&B, we might take advantage of some of them.

My City Mommy puts all kinds of deals in one spot! If you are a couponer (which I am about to have to be!), then this is definitely the place for you. Each week, this site takes the weekly ads and pairs them with the coupons available and tells you where to get the coupons. I like the ones you can just print off of the internet. I am starting to get a little more interested in the coupons, but they take a lot of time if you want to do it right. However, this site takes a lot of the work out of it for you! The site also tells you where to find restaurant deals, retail deals, and freebies.

Daily Steals gives several deals a day that are generally great prices. Fridays are free shipping days, but of course, I haven't found a thing on their site on a Friday that I wanted! I have ordered from them several times and have been VERY pleased with their customer service and the quality of the products. For example, I got a watch that sells in stores for $15-$25 for $2.99 plus shipping and it was EXACTLY like the one I wanted.

Restaurant.com Have you tried this site? I have used it several times. When Steve and I went to the mountains last week, I ordered a gift certificate (they are all electronic) from here for a restaurant in Gatlinburg. I got a $25 gc for $5, and the food was TERRIFIC. Honestly, if the food had been horrible, we'd been out $5 so it wasn't a huge risk to try it! There are conditions...like they add the gratuity to the bill and you generally have to spend a minimum. The gc cannot be reused so you have to use it all. We got so much food that we both ate and then Steve had leftovers for dinner that night. Best thing? Link to them through Mr. Rebates, and get a 25% rebate on your purchase. My city mommy always has the latest code you need to get the gc for the best price!

Cardpool  I've only used these guys one time, and I found them through...you guessed it.....Mr. Rebates! They sell gc at discounted rates. They also buy gc that you may not want. For example, I purchased a $25 Gamestop gc for $22.50 so I saved 10%. I also will be getting a 1% rebate (which is not that great!), but I'll take it. I was curious about their buying program, so I did an experiment to see what you get for selling a gc to them. You can sell them for three different options of payment....cash, amazon gc, or cardpool gc. They were willing to purchase a $25 American Eagle gc for 19.29 for cash and 19.95 for amazon. I didn't try the other option because I didn't really have anything to sell. I believe that their inventory was low because it seemed as though the selection was low. Some of the "gift cards" are actually merchandise credits so you couldn't use those for gifts, but if you were going to shop somewhere, you could save some money.

Homeaway is the last one for now. If you like accommodations that are not the typical hotel room, you can rent from owners and save some of the ridiculous middle-man fees. We did this when we went to the mountains, and saved a ton of money.

Hope these help, and if you have others, please share!!