On our trip to Florida this week, we saved some money literally by accident! Here's how we did it, along with some other ways that are almost by accident …
This past week, we took a family vacation down to the gulf side of Florida, in Indian Rocks Beach.
The first night we went across the street to TJ's Italian Cafe; they make a great pasta Alfredo and a delicious grouper plate. (Oh, and a fantastic tiramisu!)
We had budgeted for a few meals out, and this was one of them. After the meal, we paid with a credit card and figured that was that.
Saving money with a forgotten service
Even though this was a family vacation, all three of us got “peopled out” and needed some alone time. We all have our own laptops and phones, and we're completely happy just sitting in the same room doing things separately.
A couple of nights after that dinner, I was on my laptop rooting around in the transactions in my Swagbucks account and saw a pending transaction for 414 SB — which translates to $4.14 — from Swagbucks Local.
The story behind this is that I hooked up my credit card during a round of Swago (basically an event that gives you extra SB and chances to win a lot of SB). Swagbucks Local has thousands of participating businesses that will kick back SB when you shop (or eat) there.
There weren't a whole lot of restaurants in our hometown, but it just so happens that TJ's Italian Cafe gives a 5% rebate through Swagbucks Local. So, our $82.82 dinner (before tax and tip) kicked back 414 SB!
Set yourself up for some more happy accidents
This little extra savings really was completely by accident. There are only two restaurants in Indian Rocks Beach that participate in Swagbucks Local, and TJ's Italian Cafe just happened to be right across the street from the condo we were renting for the week.
We kinda beat the odds, actually!
Saving money in general, of course, isn't accidental. It takes planning and discipline to save money regularly.
Here are a few more ways that rely less on dumb luck and more on setting yourself up for saving success:
- Use credit cards with rewards. If you already use credit cards for convenience only and don't carry a balance from month to month, then you should be using a credit card with rewards of some kind. We use Chase Sapphire Visa — they have been good to us! — and we get a little bit of cashback with every purchase.
- Enlist the services of a money-saving app. There are a number of apps that will help you to save money in a variety of ways. Once set up, they work behind the scenes, automatically. (Some aren't free; Acorns and Digit are each a few bucks per month.)
- Use click-through rebate sites. These sites kick back part of your purchase simply by clicking through their links. There are dozens of them but some of my favorites are TopCashBack, Mr. Rebates, Ebates, and RebateFanatic.
- Install Honey. This is a browser extension that runs through coupon codes automatically for you. It's free. Get it here.
- Set up automatic transfers to your savings account. It's now fairly standard for banks, online and offline, to be able to set up regular, automatic transactions from a checking account to a savings account. Set it once and let your savings grow on auto-pilot.
- Don't ever let the money hit your checking account! If your workplace offers a retirement plan, you can be throwing part of your paycheck into a retirement fund. This is usually tax-advantaged. If your workplace offers to match, then you definitely should be throwing money there, because they're throwing extra money there for you!
Your turn! How else have you saved money completely by accident?!
