Your budget is working well, but you want to see if there are ways to stretch your money a little farther. These programs will do just that. Click each of the categories to the right to find out how to make your dollars flex instead of fold!
Groceries
Save a ton of money using coupons too! Check out Coupons.com for FREE COUPONS! Coupons REALLY WORK!
In order to get the best deals on groceries you are going to need at least one subscription to your local newspaper. These papers not only provide the sales fliers but valuable coupons that can save you a ton of money. Check out the Discounted Newspapers web site where you can get 50% off or more on newspaper subscriptions.
Visit SavingFreak to see a well-organized list of the outstanding (many times – FREE!) grocery and drug store deals – usually with free printable coupons included! Obtain FREE daily e-mail updates from SavingFreak.com by clicking HERE.
A fantastic couponing website that has quickly grown to become one of the largest FREE coupon websites in the nation!
CouponMom.com is a free site that matches up coupons from the Sunday newspaper and coupon websites with the deals offered at local grocery stores and Pharmacies. This means you get the best prices on groceries without having to do all the time consuming hunting for deals. The initial sign up is a little tedious but after that this site is very informative and the tutorials are very instructive.
TheGroceryGame.com is very similar to Couponmom.com in the way it lists the best deals matched with coupons to give you unbelievably low costs on groceries. However, the sight is not free. It costs $10 for each two month period for the first grocery store and $5 for each additional grocery store. The advantage to this site is that it has a much larger database of available stores. So if your local grocer is not on the Coupon Mom list you will probably find it here. The site does pay for itself many times over and is worth the money if you cannot get the stores you need from CouponMom.com.
Dining
Restaurant.com
This is a great site for anyone wanting to save money on dining out. Their gift certificates only cost $10 and are redeemable for $25 at local restaurants. There is usually a minimum you must spend in order to redeem the certificate (typically $35), but this remains a great way to consistently save $15 at your nicer restaurants. NOTE: Be sure that you get a PROMO CODE for the best price – you can obtain the latest codes at RetailMeNot.com HERE – a good code will give you 70% off – a great code will give you 80% off or more.
Entertainment Book - Loaded with money saving coupons the Entertainment book pays for itself many times over and saves you money on both dining out and entertainment. Upfront cost is $25.
Entertainment is an area where people can spend a lot of money for very little reward. Here are a few options to help those entertainment costs drop to a minimum.
Netflix
A great service that allows you to rent DVDs through the mail or you can watch many titles instantly with a high-speed internet connection. The base plan is $4.99 per month and you can get 2 DVDs in that time frame. The most popular plan is $16.99 per month for unlimited DVDs and you can have three out at a time.
Blockbuster Total Access
Blockbuster’s Total Access service is very similar to Netflix. Its only real advantage is that five time per month you can take the movies you receive in the mail and exchange them at a local Blockbuster store for a free rental. The service is a bit more expensive than Netflix at $19.99 per month for unlimited movies and three out at one time.
Hulu.com
Watch a ton of TV Shows and Movies – Old and New – for FREE at Hulu.com! Chances are good that your favorite TV Show from several years ago is at Hulu.
Entertainment Book
If you are dying to get out of the house, the Entertainment Book has many great coupons for different events in your area. In the one for our area we found coupons for golf, paint ball, theme parks, and baseball games just to name a few. The book is $25 and has thousands of dollars in savings.
Rewards Programs
The reward programs we get involved in take little effort and allow you to earn extra gift cards so that some months you are able to splurge without changing your budget.
When you join BigCrumbs you gain access to exclusive deals and earn BIG cash back at top retailers and member stores. Sign up for BIG CRUMBS
SwagBucks is a search engine just like Google or Yahoo!. You even get the same search results as Google. The main difference is that Swagbucks rewards you for using their search engine. Every time you search using their site, you have the potential to earn from one to five Swagbucks. Accumulate enough swagbucks, and you can cash them in for gift cards or prizes. It’s free and you get paid for searching the internet, which we all do everyday anyway. Rewards range in value from five dollars to hundreds of dollars. Sign up for Swagbucks
Mypoints is a free rewards program that rewards you for reading e-mails, taking surveys, and shopping at merchants who have partnered with the program. Most of our team members just click on the e-mails each day. The process takes less than a minute. Once you have accumulated enough points you can trade them in for gift cards. Sign up for MyPoints
Rewards Credit Cards
If you are here to acquire new debt, this is not the page for you. I highly recommend that you prepare a written budget, calculate your debt freedom date, find out just how much interest you are paying every month, and pursue debt freedom.
Need help learning how to use all of these tools? Purchase a copy of I Was Broke. Now I’m Not. HERE.
Next Steps Rewards Credit Cards links were created for people who pay off their balance every single month and want to leverage their spending to generate rewards.
Best Cash Back Credit Card
Blue Cash from American Express
5% cash back at Supermarkets, Gas Stations, Drugstores once annual spending reaches $6,500 (1.5% cash back on everything else)
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Best Gas Credit Card
Discover Open Road Card
5% cash back from any gas station or auto repair center and get 1% back everywhere once annual spending has reached $3,000. You can double your rewards by redeeming them for gift certificates instead of cash.
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If you have high speed internet and are paying more than $25.00 per month for your home phone service then you are overpaying for that service. A good alternative is VOIP phone. The two options we feel the most confident in are …
MagicJack
MagicJack is considered a breakthrough in the VOIP world. You need to be able to plug it into a computer and it is a little more sensitive to internet speeds than other standard VOIP providers. The benefit of MagicJack is the price. You can order MagicJack service for $40 for the first YEAR and only $20 for each additional year. MagicJack is now E911 capable and cannot be beaten for overall value.
Phone Power
Using normal VOIP technology you can cut your monthly phone bill to half of the cost for service with the traditional phone company.
If you already have internet and television service from your local cable provider check with them first to see if bundled pricing makes more sense.
FREE 411 Service
If you are paying every time you use 411 directory service with your cell phone, you will save money with the following two FREE 411 services.
Google 411 Go ahead and program this number into your cell phone – [800] 466-4411 – It is FREE from Google.
Free411 Program this one into your cell phone too – [800] 373-3477 – It is FREE from Free 411.
Upromise is the leading program for free money towards college savings. simply register your promotion cards from different grocery stores and pharmacies and rewards are automatically put into a 529 college savings plan for the future college student of your choosing. Family and friends can also participate in saving for a child’s education. Sign Up for Upromise
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BabyMint is the direct competitor of Upromise and also provides cash back rewards for shopping at specific merchants. The program is a little more difficult to use but the rewards tend to be higher and you can direct them to the 529 of your choosing or toward paying off student loan debt. This program is best suited for those who enjoy online shopping for anything from electronics to home goods. Sign up for BabyMint
I Was Broke Now I’m Not uses many service to save money while we push forward with the Crusade. Here are just a few:
Print Place
Print Place is the low cost leader for your printing needs. The quality of the printing is great and the customer service unmatched. If you have attended a Financial Learning experience, Financial Freedom Experience or any other IWBNIN event then you have held Print Place product.
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GoDaddy Web Hosting
GoDaddy is a great quality web hosting service and the only provider used by the IWBNIN team.
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