Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links

When we first started this blog, our main goal was to keep all of our friends and family up-to-date with our life and travels.  As a result of our move abroad, and using financial planning tools like Personal Capital, we have gone from two teachers in Florida struggling to make ends meet to being well on our way to financial independence.  

Since our interest in personal finance, we have found some tips and tricks to optimize our spending habits.  While these may seem small and insignificant, when compounded, they will make a world of difference.  We hope that you find these tips useful, and if you can even save a few dollars, maybe it was time well spent reading this post.  Also check out our homework at the bottom for more ways to optimize your finances!

The tip in this post is about optimizing your online shopping.  The key is to not spend money that you wouldn’t have anyway.  That would defeat the purpose!

A summer shopping spree!

We spent way too much money this summer.

For those just catching up with the blog, we live in Saudi Arabia.  Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly if you are worldly travelers), there is not a lot that you can’t find here in Saudi Arabia.  We have stores like H&M, Zara, and Bath and Body Works. You can eat at Applebee’s and TGIFridays.  Many items on Amazon ship here.

The problem is that many of these imported items cost a pretty penny.  Case in point – A medium box of Lego blocks may cost $50-60!

As a result, when we came home for the summer, we loaded up on items that we would need for the upcoming year.  The obscene amount of spending we did this summer is balanced by the fact that we spent virtually nothing the whole rest of the year.

This spree-like fact may skew some of the data (we dont normally buy lots of things), but hopefully, you can take some actionable tips regardless.

Cashback websites

According to Pew Research, 79% of Americans now shop online on a weekly basis.  The default for many (ourselves included) is to go to Amazon and buy from there; however, with some planning and know-how, you could save money by using cashback websites.

How do these cashback websites work?

One way to ease the cost of paying full price is to use cashback websites.  Two examples of cashback websites are Ebates and Top Cashback.  Retailers give these cashback sites a commission to direct consumers to their websites.  These cashback sites then pass a portion of this commission on to you (usually in the form of cash given back to you periodically via Paypal)

The great thing about this is that it costs you nothing.  All you have to make sure is that you go to the cashback website like Ebates first.

You get money back on something that you would have bought anyway and all it costs is a few seconds of your time!  I call that a win!

How do I find the best deal?

Our go-to site to find the best deals is Cash Back Monitor.  This gives you an easy comparison to all the site that offer cash back.  It also includes Airlines that offer points for shopping through their portal.

Let’s say that I need to buy something online at Home Depot.  I just enter it into the search box and click:

I see that Top Cashback is offering up to 8% cash back.  Alternatively, if I need more British Airways Avios I could get 3 points per dollar spent.  Just choose the deal you want and the links go straight to the website.

Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy!

Here is an example:

I needed a new suit for work.  My black suit was about 7 years old and was looking pretty shabby.  I noticed that Macy’s was having a clearance sale on men’s clothing.  Looking at the sales, I was able to get two Ralph Lauren suits for $537.96.  (I think that was about 40% off) . Just by spending a couple of minutes on cashback sites, I was able to get back $64.56 through Ebates.  Another 12% saving! It also equates to about $2000/hour.

That is time well spent!

Buying unwanted gift cards

Another way to avoid pay full price when shopping online is to buy unwanted gift cards.  According to the Washington Post, Americans spend $130 billion on gift cards each year and $1 billion goes unused.  I know that many of us have received gift cards that we don’t really want.  You can now sell them online for a slightly discounted price.  That means that you can also make some money buying gift cards and avoid paying full price.  One of the more popular sites (and the one that we use) is Raise.  It is surprising the types of gift cards that you can buy.  Many of them are e-gift cards but you can also buy physical ones.  The more popular stores will have smaller discounts. (maybe 1-2%).

I bought a $20 Kohl’s gift card for $18.74

It also appears that the more you spend the bigger the discount, which makes sense because it is harder to off-load these larger amounts.

I bought a $250 dollar Hotels.com gift card for $234.38

These may not seem like big discounts, but considering they took very little actual work, it seems like free money!

Another good thing is that Raise has an app that you can use on the go.  Let’s say that you are out and going to get Panera for your family.  You can use the app to buy at $25 gift card for $23.31 (saving 6.8%). This may not seem like a lot, but if you are able to do this as often as possible, then you can save quite a bit over the course of a year.

Here is another example:

In 2007, I was living in Milan, Italy.  I needed a new bag for work, and I bought myself a lime green Eastpak messenger bag.  Fast forward a decade and I still used that bag for work.  It was pretty nasty (despite multiple washes) and worn where it rubbed up against my leg.  I decided I needed a new bag, and thought quality over frugality.

I decided to support local industries and splurge a little bit and got a Shinola messenger bag (didn’t I tell you that we spent too much!) Considering a fairly cheap canvas bag lasted 10 years, a nice leather one should last me longer.  Also, I travel occasionally for work and need to bring something a bit more professional.

I was able to offset the costs of the bag by buying $750 worth of Shinola gift cards for $677.64.  That is a savings of 9%.  Once again, a pretty nice savings rate for a few clicks.

Hey I just want to use Amazon

So after reading this, you might just say, “Hey I want to do the easiest thing possible, I only want to use Amazon.”  Well, there is a smart and efficient way to not pay full price there as well.

Camel Camel Camel is a website that will track the price fluctuations in Amazon goods.

Let’s say I want to buy a 6 quart Instant Pot.  Who wouldn’t! The Instant Pot is awesome!

It is currently selling for $119.95.  Using Camel Camel Camel, I can see that the lowest is sold for in the past year is $74.95.  If I am in no rush to buy, I can set up alerts to track the price and buy it when the price is low, with the possibility of saving $30-40.

Once again, with a little flexibility and time, I can save money on something I was probably going to buy anyway.

It really is simple

Not paying full price on items you are going to buy anyway is not rocket science. 

Over this summer, we received about $160 in cash back.  Saved $147 in buying discounted gift cards and got about 4000 miles from airlines.  All for doing our normal online shopping. You can also combine these tips. Buy discounted gift cards and then use a cashback site for even more savings!

By being flexible and researching, the small savings you make on everyday purchases will amount to big savings if you do it consistently.