Have you ever thought about making money as you spend money? It may be a foreign concept to some, but there are great tools out there to help you earn money when you need to spend it. I wanted to share a few that I use to help make my money work for me as I spend!
1. Keep the Change Apps
Qapital is the free, easy way to save money toward your goals by rounding up your change on your everyday purchases. I recently used my savings to painlessly save for a trip to see my best friend for her birthday in May. This is part of my travel savings. Whatever is in the account, is what I use to purchase my flights and use my spending money.
They have just recently offered a new feature that puts your savings on a Visa debit card, so you no longer have to switch the money from your Qapital account to your linked checking or savings account. You can just save it to the card and take it from there. Here are my top three saving apps:
2. Ebates
Ebates pays you to shop. Rebates are a big deal for shoppers and you can still reap the benefits of rebates electronically by using Ebates. You can even search for stores that give double cash back like Walmart, Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Amazon.
Most of us already use Amazon way more then we should, so why not get free shipping and the added value of getting cash back? For example, if you have your account already linked to Qapital or another savings app and you use it to shop on Amazon through Ebates, you save, get free shipping, and cash back on your purchase from Ebates. You can download the Ebates plug in your browser. Whatever site you are on that partners with Ebates, you reap the same benefits.
3. Coupon Sites
I found out about Honey while searching for ways to save more money while shopping online. Honey is similar to Retailmenot. However, once you install the plugin, much like Ebates, Honey will automatically start applying coupon codes.
There you have it, folks! I have covered both the savers and the spenders. Above all else, be mindful about your spending. If you have to shop, get paid to do it and then take that savings and put it in your emergency savings fund. Make your money work for you!
