Cash Back Sites
Why pay full price when you can get free cashback or reward points every time you buy online? A growing number of cashback shopping sites offer you exactly that. They make a commission for every sale they generate when you follow a link from their site – so they share that commission with you. The shop sells more, the cashback site gets paid, and you get some money back. So everybody wins with cashback shopping!
LATEST: Wow, things have certainly changed. A new breed of cashback sites has appeared and has really shaken things up.
Scottish Cashback.com
Rating:
Scottish cashback a sister site to greasypalm.co.uk are now firmly one of the top cashback shopping portal – with cashback deals for an amazing 1650+ online shops. They also have a killer tool in the form of the fabulous ‘Rebate Catcher’ – which means you don’t even have to follow links from the Scottish Cashback site anymore. You just go straight to your normal online shops and a popup window appears to remind you that you will earn cashback from that store. Zero effort – it just works!
Members also get Exclusive discounts and coupon codes (e.g. an extra 10% discount off all orders, or £5/£10 discount coupons) – so you can take advantage of the very best deals AND still get cashback to boot!
Not only is Membership FREE, but it only takes 30 seconds to sign-up. AND you even get an instant £2.50 credited to your account when you join. How could it get any better than this…?
Oh yes, one member recently won a shiny brand new Citreon C2 car worth £8,000… AND you could be the member to win £5,000 in cash in the next Members Only draw 
Click For Scottish Cashback.
ei42
Rating:
Well this is different. This one can turn cashback from your online shopping into actually making some extra money! When you join ei42, you instantly get your own cashback site. And there are 3 things you can do with that site. 1. shop there yourself and earn cashback (just like the other sites reviewed here), 2. send family or friends there so they can shop as normal but you earn cashback, 3. tell family and friends to join up so they get their own site and they earn cashback.
Now, no.3 is where things get very different. Not only will your family and friends get their cashback, but you also get a small amount of cashback too every time they do. And when they tell their friends to get their own site, you get a small amount every time they buy something too. And so it goes on. And all those small amounts add up!
Will it work? Well, it certainly has done so far and is proving VERY popular. It’s entirely free, so why not give it a try. Click For ei42
eCashback
Rating:
eCashback, not surprisingly from the name, are a cashback based shopping site. They have a very good range of stores, over 500 so far. They do also have some stores that GreasyPalm currently don’t, such as Amazon – and GreasyPalm have some that eCashback don’t. So it is worth joining both! eCashback also give you a bonus £2-50 when you join. And they have some coupon deals, although not as many as GreasyPalm. Click For eCashback
e-Poll
Rating:
Earn points for completing surveys and opinion polls, exchange points for e-Poll Rewards (anything from gift certificates to movies). Points rack up faster with Premier Membership which gives you more paying activities. The downside is the extra 2000 points for shipping outside of the states. 500 Free reward points when you join. Unfortunately the site always seems a little slow to respond. Click For e-Poll
Discount Vouchers
Discount vouchers have become increasingly popular in recent months as cash-strapped shoppers are looking for more ways of saving money as the recession bites. A number of websites now publicise these promotional discount codes, allowing shoppers to save money on a range of branded goods and services.
Every internet shopper has seen the boxes at the checkout stage that ask you to put in a discount code. After entering the correct code, the cost of the item falls by 10% or more. When they first appeared, the discounts seemed real, but with voucher code websites proliferating, some people are asking whether these discounts are genuine or just marketing gimmicks.
This week, consumer group Which? investigated the five biggest voucher sites, and found that many discount codes are out of date or didn’t work at all. More worryingly, it found that prices were sometimes lower on standard comparison sites than at retailers offering discount codes.They offer discounts on a variety of products and services including fashion, financial services, gifts, gadgets, books, CDs, DVDs, hotels, travel and eating out. The offers range from a specific price to scaled percentage reductions to free delivery. Most sites also have vouchers that you can print off and use to get discounts in high street outlets, such as two-for-one meals at popular restaurant chains.
Some sites acknowledge that codes may fall out of date, and allow you to register for offers via email. It’s worth registering with more than one site because each negotiates its own “exclusive discounts” with retailers that, they say, you won’t find elsewhere.
Most of the major players now subscribe to a new code of ethics introduced from 1 January this year by the Internet Advertising Bureau, the trade association for the internet marketing industry, which has reduced the number of fake discount problems.
Most of the codes on the sites have been negotiated directly with retailers. Some, often the most valuable, are meant for select groups of customers but leak on to the internet. A great saving tip is if you are buying online and are presented with the opportunity for inputting a code, simply open up a new tab and search through Google for the code. That way you are earning a real discount on something you were going to buy anyway.
The new code of conduct bans the practice of “click to reveal”, when there is no valid or current offer. Many websites used to (and, in defiance of the IAB code, some still do) encourage consumers to click on to a retailer’s name and go into their website, only to discover that no discount code is on offer.
All in all, discount vouchers should be an ideal opportunity for saving money, but just don’t forget to have a quick look around to see if you can get an even better deal elsewhere.
Shopping – Food
With the ongoing recession everyone is looking for saving tips to help make their money go further every month. One area that simply cannot be dropped is food shopping. Fortunately, however, there are some sensible ways of significantly reducing your shopping costs and here are 10 simple ways of doing so.
1. When doing your weekly shop, consider your chosen supermarkets ‘economy range’ as often the products are the same just in different packaging and a huge amount cheaper.
2. If you don’t do your grocery shopping online then do it at night if you can, as supermarkets such as ASDA or Tesco often reduce the price of food like bread, milk or cakes at the end of the day to make sure they sell it .
3. Before you go shopping, make a list of what you need and then stick to it, if you don’t know what you need, you’ll be more likely to overspend, also never shop hungry as this makes you buy lots of snacky items which you wouldn’t buy if you weren’t hungry.
4. Invest in a flask to stop you having to call at coffee shops where a cup of coffee could end up costing you around £2 a cup!
5. Get organised and make your own pack lunches for work, this will save you pounds against going out every day to buy your lunch.
6. Try to avoid ready meals as overall they will cost you more. By making your own meals you will find that it won’t take too much time and will certainly save you money.
7. Check sell by dates on the food you buy and check if it is freezable. Otherwise you risk buying too much food which cannot be eaten before it is out of date.
8. Try to make use of leftover meals, by either putting them in the fridge or taking them to work the following day.
9. Look out for special offers, but don’t be tempted to bulk up on your buy if you know that it will go to waste, but for washing up liquid, toothpaste or shampoo it could save you pounds in the long run!
10. Join cash back sites and earn cash back while you shop, the cash back can vary dependant on your purchase and sites having different terms and conditions so check them out to see which suits you the best. Also quite often these sites will promote discount codes which you enter at checkout and are not offered in store.
Follow these simple saving tips and you will discover some extra money in your pocket every month. Good luck!