Baby Steps to Saving: Ebates and Shop At Home

Ok all you newbies to savings...has all this saving money caused you to go into cardiac arrest yet?  I know when I first started saving I was astonished by how much I would save, and without sacrificing all the luxuries.  That is what we are aiming for here, saving money without feeling deprived, hence my tag line "Champagne Life on a Beer Budget."  Can you believe we are already on our 3rd installment of the Baby Steps to Saving series? 

The 1st installment covered Swagbucks the AMAZING search engine that gives you points just for searching.  You can redeem these points for gift cards.  Last year I earned over $200 in gift cards for just searching the web like I would normally.

The 2nd installment focused on Amazon Prime, and must for any of you that frequent Amazon.  A free trial service that will give you FREE 2nd day shipping on all orders.  You may be shopping Amazon more frequently after you get all those gift cards from Swagbucks.

So here goes...another step towards saving.  How many of you like shopping online (ummm, me too)?  How would you like to save a percentage off each online purchase, that will be sent back to you in the form of a check. Seriously every ones hands should be raised right now...yes even you reader from Russia (yes I have the ability to see where I have readers).  Well then you need to join Ebates and Shop At Home.

Both Ebates and Shop At Home give you a percentage of each purchase made (to thousands of store online), that will be saved in an account.  Once you reach a certain amount, you can cash out and a check will be mailed to you. 

An example of the savings (keep in mind that you can earn percentages back on each purchase, combine with coupon codes, and sales to make for AWESOME deals)

 Target 3%

     Walmart 2%

    Ebay- 1-3%

JCP- 3%

  Sears- 4%

Ebates currently has a deal, that you earn $30 when you refer 3 friends....this is a great time to join if you haven't already.  Only catch is the your referrals have to make a $25 purchase for your referral to count.