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Ten Easy Ways To Save 100 (or more ) AMonthI used to think it was impossible to save even the slightest bit of moneygiven my tight budget, but then one day I sat down and, well, made alist! I realized that there are plenty of super simple ways to savemoney--little things I could do here and there that would add up to bigsavings. The key is to start slowly, and find ways to slash costs. Thoseslashed costs money in YOUR pocket!Here are those easy-peasy ways I came up with to help put a few extrabucks back in your pocket each month. I say 100, but honestly, it couldadd up to much more!1. Put all of your change in a piggy bank--and I’mnot even kidding! Empty your pockets at the end ofthe day and drop that loose change into a piggybank (or a mason jar, big ass water bottle,whatevs). At the end of the month/quarter/year,take all that loose change and turn it into bills. Itmight not amount to much, but it will go toward theend goal of saving money!2. Return your “nickels”. We drink a buttload ofbottled water in this house, and I refuse to throwthose bottles in the recycling bin. If you drink a lot ofbottled water, soda or other beverages that have abottle return, save them up and cash them in. I returnmy bottles twice a month, and each time I manage to recoup about 3.50. That’s 7.00 I paid for in bottle deposits that I am putting backinto my pocket. It may not seem like much, but over the course of ayear it’s 84, and to me, THAT’S a lot!www.athomewithdaneen.com1

3. Coupons & ebates. Please, please tell me you usecoupons! Those little buggers are literal money inyour pocket. I know that “save 25 cents on a bar ofsoap” doesn’t sound like much--but what if thatsoap was on sale for 99 cents? And your grocerystore doubles coupons? Now you paid 50 cents for that bar of soap,and kept 49 cents in your pocket! So let’s do some math: 4 bars of soap@ .99 cents 3.96. 4 coupons doubled @ .50 cents each 2.00. 3.96- 2.00 1.96. You just paid .49 cents for a .99 cent bar of soap andkept 2 in your pocket! There, doesn’t that feel good?Coupons are not limited to Sunday paperinserts either. There are several sites on theweb that offer legit printable manufacturer’scoupons, and practically all major grocerystores (including big box retailers) accept them.Tbh, they are the only ones I use, simplybecause they are convenient. Here are a fewplaces where you can find .comAnd a few more sites where you can really learn how to be a odisney.com/www.athomewithdaneen.com2

Ebates. Is the easiest thing since sliced bread.Simply visit ebates.com and create an account. Ifyou use Chrome, you can add the ebates extensionto your browser, which I highly recommend. When you sign in to dosome shopping (say, at Macys, Kohls, or even Walmart) the extensionwill give you a prompt to let you know how much you can earn throughebates. Click activate, and that’s it. Once you checkout, you will earn apercentage of your purchase which is added to your ebates account,and 1x a month you will receive what they call a “big fat check” for theamount in your ebates account. You honestly do nothing but click, shopand EARN! Learn more here: www.ebates.comHere’s a great site for finding even MORE ways to save & make moneywith rebates and cashback cashback-websites/4. Speaking of cash back, opt for a cash rewardscredit card. I have the Capital One Quicksilver card(non-spons!) which I use for EVERYTHING--payingbills, buying groceries, gas, etc., and I pay it off in fullat the end of each month.Using this cardfrequently ensures I get the most cash back for mypurchases. I’m going to be spending the moneyanyway--why not earn something for it? Just make sure you can payoff the balance in full by your due date. At the end of each billing cycle, Igenerally take the cash I’ve earned as a credit on my account, but youcan also request a check. Depending on how much you spend, you canearn anywhere from 2 - 20 a month! Take a minute to learn moreabout applying for the Quicksilver card .www.athomewithdaneen.com3

5.Pay yourself first.This is super easy:Imagine yourself a creditor, and you owe you Xamount of dollars per month (let’s say, 20). Takethat 20 each month and put it into a savingsaccount. By the end of the year, you will have paidyourself 240!6.Change your electrical supplier.I know, Iknow.you get these telemarketing calls all the freakin’time. But why aren’t you taking advantage of lowerelectrical rates? The electricity market deregulated inthe 1990s, and if you live in any of the thirteen states thatparticipate (CT, DE, IL, MA, MD, ME, MN, NH, NJ, NY, OH,PA and TX), chances are you are not paying the lowestsupply rates with your utility company. I switch suppliersabout 4-6 months, depending on the teaser rate I get(there should never be a charge to change suppliers andif there is, skip that supplier, no matter how tempting the rate is). Togive you an idea of what your savings could be, the rate per Kw hourprovided by my public utility company is 7.874, but I only pay 0.0599through an alternate provider. Nothing changes--the poles and wiresare owned by the public utility company and all customer service(including that lovely monthly invoice) is still handled by them as well.So why not save yourself 20-ish bucks a month and switch providers?You can learn more about it here: www.houselogic.comwww.athomewithdaneen.com4

7.Raise the deductible on your carinsurance.A monthly car insurancepremium that is automatically debitedfrom your checking account probablygets overlooked as a place to save. Wehear all about good driver rates,accident forgiveness and the like, butdid you know by raising your deductible just 500 you can save roughly 20 on your monthly premium? Log in to your account online and playwith the numbers--nothing is written in stone until you confirm yourchanges--and see what savings you come up with!8.Ditch the big-name cell phone provider and it’sconvoluted contracts and go with a prepaid, month tomonth provider. Honestly, I can’t see why anyone shouldhave to pay more than 50 a month for their cell phoneservice (for a single line, that is). Straight Talk, BoostMobile and Metro PCS offer phenomenal rates for cellservice, and you can bring your own phone and currentphone number. Personally, I have an iPhone and useBoost Mobile and only pay 50 per month ( 53 with tax)for unlimited talk, text and web. The money is debitedstraight out of my checking account and they text me ahead’s up about 3 days prior to payment. In the past, I’ve also usedStraight Talk with a Droid at 45 per month unlimited. Stop makingthese phone companies richer, and put that money where it belongs--inyour own pocket! Check out pay as you go carriers tropcs.comwww.athomewithdaneen.com5

9. Give yourself a raise. Too many of us have fartoo much withheld in taxes from our paycheck. TheIRS is not a savings account; while it may be nice toget a healthy refund at tax time, why would you wantto 1-loan your money to the government and 2-wait tospend your hard earned money? Revisit your W-4and see if you can put a few more dollars in yourpocket (and not Uncle Sam’s).10. Consider switching to a no-fee checking account.Sounds impossible to find, right? Well, not quite.Capital One 360 Checking is practically fee-free (again,non-spons!). There are no monthly service charges, nominimum balance required (so no fees for dippingbelow a minimum balance), no minimum to open theaccount (bonus!), no atm fees, and if you do happen tobounce a check, they are only going to bangyou--ready?-- 9! Use direct deposit or securely deposit checks rightfrom your phone or tablet! Get rid of that fee-filled bank account andhead over to Capital One to learn more. Oh, btdubs, they also have aphenomenal 360 money market (savings) account as well! No fees, nominimums and the interest rate is crazy--0.60% for less than 10,000;1.00% for 10k or more!Just a few more honorable mentionsRetailmenot : Download the app and log in before you head out to doany shopping (or even while you’re out and about; retailmenot willsearch your location for steals and deals); or log in on your desktopbefore you online shop to see what coupon codes might be out there. Itry my best NEVER to pay retail for anything, and this site (as well asebates) truly helps.www.athomewithdaneen.com6

Swagbucks : Swagbucks is a fun one. I do this when I’m working andkeep them open in another tab. You earn “swagbucks” for visiting sites,watching videos, answering surveys, etc. You can also earn swagbucksfor buying things as well (usually from Groupon or Living Social, or evenfrom making donations). Once you have enough swagbucks, you cancash them in for gift cards from a number of retailers (like amazon,macy’s, payless, walmart, etc.). Check out swagbucks.com to learnmore.Check your credit report (for free) . Yes, we all have heard aboutCredit Karma or Credit Sesame (I actually use both), but did you knowthat once a year, you can obtain your report from all three creditreporting agencies--for free? Just visit www.annualcreditreport.comand follow the steps for obtaining (and printing) your reports. It’simperative to stay on top of your credit: old debts, collections andcreditors should fall off after 7 years, should not reage, and shouldnever be re-added to your report just because a debt is purchased fromone debt collector to another. Cleaning up your report better creditscore lower interest rates!I hope you found these tips and tricks for saving money helpful! Thanksagain for subscribing to www.athomewithdaneen.com . Look forward toseeing you on the blog!Best,Daneenwww.athomewithdaneen.com7

Ten E asy Ways To Save 100 ( or more ) A Month I used to think it was impossible to save even the slightest bit of money