Save While You Earn – New Weekly Series

While it’s true that money saved is money earned, it’s also nice to get a direct payment for participating in things that save you money at the same time. This is the inspiration for my new series, saving while you earn! I’ve been noticing more and more sites popping out of the woodwork that offer this double advantage, so I decided that it would be a great idea to highlight one or two each week.

There are a handful of “save while you earn” sites that I have already reviewed on this blog, so of course there is no need for me to do it again with those sites. Instead of reviewing them again, I’ll use this first post in the series to list them with a little bit of info and then direct you to the full review:

Saving Star

This is hands down one of the best “save while you earn” sites out there. If you are not using Saving Star and you have a grocery store loyalty card that you use regularly at one of their supported stores, then you are missing out on some great extra cash!

Basically how it works is you sign up and connect your loyalty card with their site (very easy to do). Then, you check to see what coupons they have available. These change each month. If you see anything you know you’ll buy, just select those items. The next time you purchase the items you selected (provided you checked out using your loyalty card), you will receive the discount amount that the coupon was worth in your Saving Star account. This discount is NOT taken at check out, instead they just pay it to you via either Paypal, Amazon gift codes, or bank deposit and you only need $5 in your Saving Star account to get your money!

Saving Star often has a lot of really popular items listed, so it does not typically take long to reach the $5 cash out amount. They also have a smartphone app you can use while you are in the store shopping!

Read my full review of Saving Star here or go ahead and sign up for Saving Star here.

Ebates

Ebates is a very popular site and I would bet that most of you probably already know about it, but it is one of the best ways you can save while you earn. If you shop online, there is really no reason not to go through Ebates first because they will give you a certain percentage of cash back on your purchases if you do. Almost all of the really well-known stores that exist online (and some of the not so well-known ones) are supported like Wal-Mart, Ebay, and even Amazon.

Ebates pays quarterly and you only need $5.01 to be eligible for a payment at the end of each quarter. You can choose between Paypal, check, or a charity option to get your money.

Read my full review of Ebates here or go ahead and sign up here.

BeFrugal

BeFrugal.com is another cash back shopping site similar to Ebates. They have over 3,000 stores listed and they will pay you with a check. There are actually a lot of these cash back sites out there, and while Ebates is the most popular it is still good to check the other sites before you make your purchases to see who is offering the highest percentage of cash back at any given time. The rates will likely differ from site to site.

You can read the review of BeFrugal here or go here to sign up.

And there are many more sites I have never reviewed! Be sure to check back next week for an in-depth review of another site that lets you save while you earn.