I created this recommendations page to help you quickly find the products and services, and companies that I personally use and that I know will help you too. I use all of these on a regular basis, and have written detailed tutorials/review for most of them. This page could help you save thousands of dollars!
Many of the links below are affiliate links, but these are all products that I use and recommend because I have been very happy using them. I would never put something on this page that I have not been happy with or personally use.
Money Saving Websites
Republic Wireless: I have been using Republic Wireless for more than two years now and I am incredibly satisfied with their service. Their monthly cell phone plans start at $5 a month – seriously! You can read How I Save More Than $2,100 a Year Using Republic Wireless for more information.
eMeals: I am coming up on my 2 year anniversary of using eMeals to plan my meals and I am still loving how flexible the service is as well as their more than 30 different meal plans to choose from. They offer a 2-week free trial and their plans start at $5! Read about how eMeals Saves me $1,400 a year – even though I pay for the service!
Ebates: Ebates is a site that offers cash back on purchases just by shopping online like you normally would. All you have to do is start shopping at Ebates, click on the store you want to shop at, and shop like you normally would. Ebates has tons of sites such as Kohl’s, Toys R Us, Banana Republic, Walmart, Target and thousands more. Ebates makes their money by making a commission when they refer to you to a retailer’s site. Then, as a thank-you they give you back some of that commission. When you join Ebates through my link you will receive a $10 gift card to Macy’s, Walmart, Target, or Kohl’s!
$5 Meal Plan: $5 Meal Plan offers a 4-week free trial, and because the pricing is so inexpensive and straightforward, I decided to give it a try. It’s only $5 a month after the 4-week free trial, and the service sends not only your meal plan but a shopping list straight to you to save you time & money! Read my about How To Reclaim Dinnertime with $5 Meal Plan
4inkjets!: I used to pay ridiculous amounts of money for ink and felt like I was wasting money if I printed anything non-essential, but after being introduced to 4inkjets!, I’ve been able to print more and pay less for my ink. 4inkjets! provides a sort of “generic” ink cartridge that compatible with your printer, for a fraction of the cost. Read How I Save Money on Ink
Financial Websites
Personal Capital: I use Personal Capital at least weekly because it provides free financial software similar to Mint.com, but more tailored towards those with many investments, or who want to keep track of their net worth, asset allocation, or portfolio performance in more detail. Personal Capital offers budgeting tools like Mint.com but is much more detailed, so given the choice between the two websites, I would choose Personal Capital. Basically, Personal Capital steps up it’s game in the investment planning arena, which is somewhere that Mint.com lacks. Read Why I Use Personal Capital to Manage My Finances
Digit: Digit is my new online best friend because it’s free and it saves me money and I don’t even notice it! You link Digit to your checking account, and the program goes to work analyzing your spending to determine how much/when it can transfer money out and into your Digit account. You can transfer out your Digit savings at any time, and you’ll be suprised how fast the savings add up. In one month, I saved $400! Read Saving is Boring! Make it Smart with Digit!
Credit Sesame: Credit Sesame provides me with my complete free credit score as well as some very cool spending tracking tools, as well as identity theft alerts. Read my Credit Sesame Review
Credit Karma: Credit Karma is very similar to Credit Sesame in that it provides me with another one of my free credit scores, as well as financial recommendations.
Mint.com: There are many paid budgeting websites and applications out there to choose from, but I’m cheap, which is why I use Mint.com every. single. day. For years I budgeting on paper, and then on a spreadsheet of my own creation, so when I learned about Mint.com from a women’s magazine I thought I had won the lottery. Mint.com is completely free, and allows you to link all of you accounts, from checking and savings to credit cards and investment accounts. From there, Mint.com categorizes all of your transactions (don’t worry, you can change categories easily if Mint.com gets it wrong) so you can see where your money is being spent. Not only that, but Mint.com lets you set visual budgets for your spending, set goals, and even get your credit score for free! You can check out Mint.com at their website: Mint.com.
Mint Bills: Mint Bills is a simple & organized way to stay on top of all your bills. Set it up once and the app simplifies your life! Mint Bills keeps tabs on your accounts, bills, and credit cards so nothing falls through the cracks by aggregating your all of your monthly bill information. Not only can you pay all of your bills, from any bank account, in one place, Mint Bills lets you know how much money you have on hand at all times. Read Mint Bills: The Game Changer
Motif Investing: Motif Investing is committed to affordable investing for people like you and me. They have an easy-to-use investing platform that allows you to buy a portfolio of up to 30 stocks, bonds, or ETF’s for only $9.95 total commission. Plus, when you sign up under my link, you’ll receive $150!
Paribus: Paribus is the app that gets your money back! Stores offer price guarantees, so that if the price of an item you bought drops lower than what you bought it for soon after your purchase, you can request the difference back. Honestly, who has time for that? That’s where Paribus comes in: they request price adjustments, and even help you claim a coupon that you might have missed – and it’s completely free. Read Love to Shop? Paribus Could Save You Hundreds
Blogging Websites
Fat Cow Hosting: I have been with Fat Cow Hosting for nearly 2 years now and as an some who is not at all tech-savvy, I love them! And, did I mention that Fat Cow Hosting is very inexpensive? I pay on $3.25 per month, but if you’re a first-time Fat Cow customer, they have packages for even less per month. If you purchase through my link you’ll get your domain name for free!
Restored 316 Designs: I purchased my current theme through Restored 316 designs and I have been floored not only because of how beautiful yet easy-to-use it is, but how affordable such a professional looking design can be. They have beautiful, feminine designs complete with launch guides for people like me who aren’t good with the technical stuff. You can find Restored 316 Designs here.
AWeber: AWeber is a must for blogs with subcribers and newsletters. If you are using a service such as Feedburner, you need to switch to make your emails look more professional and personal. You can try AWeber for $1 here.
PicMonkey: I use PicMonkey multiple times a week (along with Canva, see below) because it is an incredibly user-friendly and flexible photo editor/designer. One of my favorite features it the ability to use your own fonts, as I have a client who uses a specific font on the
ir graphics. A PicMonkey subscription is $2.75 per month or $33 per year, and you can check it out here.
Canva: If you are not great with graphic design, or need lots of inspiration, then Canva is an incredible resource. Canva is free to use, and they even have some stock images that are free, and others that are $1 that you can purchase in the design program. Between the easy-to-use design templates and their huge assortment of fonts, Canva is my go-to graphic design program when I don’t have to upload a specific font. You can check out Canva here.
Tailwind: My go-to Pinterest scheduler, Tailwind is an official Pinterest API partner, and not only provides pin scheduling to group and regular Pinterest boards, Tailwind provides Pinterest analytics that are far more in depth than the ones in Pinterest for Business – for as little as $10 per month. One really cool tool is called the Pin Inspector, and with it you can see which of your pins are performing the best so you can recreate that success again and again. Read all about Tailwind here, and if you use my link and the code SAVE10, you’ll save 10% off of the annual plan.
TapInfluence: If you have a reach of more than 10,000 per month over all of your social media channels combined, and blog about nearly any topic should check out TapInfluence! Included blog topics are: fashion, lifestyle, fitness, travel, education, food, sports, and many more. I make more than $400 nearly every single month from TapInfluence, just by promoting brands and products I believe in through my social media and sponsored posting. Check out TapInfluence here.
PostPlanner: Postplanner easily saves me 2 hours a week, and only costs me $5 a month. This tool helps me to schedule not only my own posts to Facebook and Twitter, but helps me schedule funny eCards, viral content, and articles that are relevant to my audience – all from one dashboard. Then, once my posts have published PostPlanner gives me incredible analytics to learn what content and what posting times resonate with my audience. To learn more about PostPlanner, find them on their website.
Search Engine Rewards/Earn Extra Money
Swagbucks: Swagbucks is the search engine that I use every day. Basically, it gives you points for searching through their search engine, which then can be redeemed for gift cards to Walmart, Target, Amazon, and many more retailers. Points per gift card vary by retailer, but a $5 Amazon gift card is 450 points. Points can also be earned by doing short tasks, shopping through Swagbucks, and even doing surveys. You can sign up for Swagbucks here.
Bing Rewards: Sometimes work computers block Swagbucks, so I also use Bing Rewards. With Bing Rewards each 2 searches earns you 1 point, for a maximum of 16 points per day. Bing Rewards can be redeemed for a variety of gift cards and coupon codes to retailers such as 1800Flowers, Amazon (475 points), Target, and many more. Read about how You Can Earn A Few Free Amazon Gift Cars Per Year
