An even blacker Black Friday

Looking to save some dough this holiday season? Look into ShopAtHome.com. Seriously.

I’ve written about this before... but I'm going to tell you again because I heart it so much. My friend works for ShopAtHome and it is AWESOME. (She doesn't make any money when I write this though, I just wanted to share how I learned of it's existence...)

I live in the middle of nowhere, so when it comes to gifts, I’ll make most of my purchases online. If you too, live where only corn grows or you like to avoid the crowds, shop in your pajamas, fear daylight, etc., perhaps you’ll shop online too. 

More than 352 merchants offer discounts and deals through shopathome.com... oh wait... 352 merchants whose name begins with “A”... 375 with “B”... 444 with “C”... etc. for a total of more than 2,000 different stores. You’ll find what you want.  

Don't forget to buy locally if you can though....

But for stores 50+ miles away... here are some of the discounts shopathome.com offers:

Buying gifts?

Kohls: 4 percent cash back

Barnes and Noble: 8 percent cash back

Cabelas: 4 percent cash back

Target: 5 percent cash back
Verizon: $35 dollars cash back

Pictures/Holiday cards?

Shutterfly.com: 25 percent cash back

Snapfish.com: 25 percent CASH BACK 

Wal-Mart.com: 3 percent cash back (you pick them up at your friendly, neighborhood branch)

Shoes?

shoes.com: 12 percent cash back
Famous Footwear: 13 percent cash back

DSW: 8 percent cash back

Crocs, Inc.: 7.5 percent cash back

Traveling?

Priceline.com: 3 percent cash back  <---- this one RoCkS the hiz-ouse! "Name Your Own Price" is already a bargain!

Travelocity.com: 3 percent cash back

Holiday Inn: 6 percent cash back

Choice Hotels: 7 percent cash back

Home improvement?

Home Depot: 5 percent cash back

Even Ebay offers 3 percent cash back... :)

All you have to do is visit shopathome.com and register. Search for the store you want using the toolbar, or type in search words like: “computers,” “video games,” “Barbie” or “Silver jeans” and chose the merchant with the best deal. 

Click on the store of your choice and shop as usual. You’ll receive the cash back once you’ve earned at least $20 in total cash back. You can use that extra money to pay off the credit card bill OR better yet, the after-Christmas sales :)

If you find any good/better deals, let me know. I'm always looking to save some cash myself :)

Happy bargain hunting! 

Save cash when online shopping this season

If you’re a little short on the dinero as the holidays approach, don’t fret. You’re not alone.

After having a baby in the NICU for five days followed by another 11 weeks of unpaid maternity leave (save my vacation time), the budget is tight in my household this year too. So I’m finding ways to save a buck without altering my lifestyle and/or uh... starving.  :)

I live in a rural area where the nearest grocery store is 12 miles away. I plan to do some shopping locally (Strive for Five has a point :)  ) but for some gifts, I must shop elsewhere. I doubt a trip to Fargo or Bismarck are in store this year as my newborn is acquiring oral and fine motor skills but doesn’t have bargain-hunting ones mastered just yet.

I plan to shop online.

My first stop: shopathome.com which gives CASH BACK for purchases I’m already making.
ShopatHome is a little toolbar you install... it’s kind of like the Google search engine toolbar you likely already have.

Let’s say you’re like me and want to buy a Nebraska Cornhuskers t-shirt for your brother. Easy. Just type in something like “college football apparel” into the toolbar and shopathome gives you a variety of stores selling such items.

If I purchase from FootballFanatics.com, for example, I get 9 percent cash back. The money goes into a little account and once you reach $20, shopathome sends a check at the end of the month. Each store offers a different cash-back percentage.

So, if I wanted to shop at Kohl's, for example. I can type “Kohl's” into the toolbar, click the link and *boom!* anything I buy qualifies for 4 percent cash back.

The site has coupons for in-store purchases as well.

And speaking of coupons, my second favorite online saver is retailmenot.com. I rarely go to the site itself, I just google words like “Kohl's coupons” and find codes for free shipping or 15 percent off my purchase. All you do is copy and paste the code when you do your online checkout. Some of the coupons work for in-store purchases too.

No one in Jamestown sold the baby travel system I wanted and the store I tried in Fargo had sold out. So, I googled “Babies R Us” coupons and found a deal through retailmenot.com. PLUS Babies R Us offers 2 percent cash back through shopathome.com.

So, are you tight on cash this year? What are your money-saving tips?