Pinching Pennies

I found a few ways to get a little extra trickle of income over the past weeks, so thought I'd share and see if you use the same or have any other ideas for pinching pennies.

I got the Varage Sale app on my phone a few weeks ago as another place to advertise the items worth reselling from our ongoing purging of extra stuff and outgrown boy toys.  We have often listed things on Kijiji and Used Regina (we find more people use Kijiji around here), but Varage Sale seems to be better for smaller items, and it really is simpler to use; just take a photo and add a caption, category, and price. Done.  I've had a few sales from there.

I signed up for Ebates last fall and never used it, since we rarely shop online, but I remembered to use it last month when we ordered my new sewing machine from Amazon, then used it for a coffee order from Keureg, then again with Amazon for some new faucets for our broken tub that we couldn't find anywhere in the city.  This is super easy to use, too - sign in, then click on the store you want to shop from, and get 1% cash back or more.  Our coffee order was 6% cash back, which was sweet.  If you have to shop online, or like to, you may as well get money back for it.  It looks like they transfer you whatever you've earned every few weeks or so.

Checkout 51 is an app I read about a few times; I rarely jump on an idea the first time I hear about it.  This one is a list of items that get you cash back when you buy them - sort of like a coupon but in retrospect.  You take a photo of your receipt and upload it, then get credit for each listed item on it.  The items change every week; the first week there were 3 things I actually needed and had on my list, but this past week there was nothing.  So we'll have to wait and see if it actually is worth doing in the long run.  You can request payout once you reach $20, so you'll have to stick with it for a while to make it pay.

The loyalty card that makes the biggest difference for me on a regular basis is PC Points - I have the PC Mastercard that I use for all my groceries, so the points add up quickly.  It doesn't take long to get to $20 off.  It does grow exponentially, so I do try to save this one up for Christmas or when I have a larger than normal cartful, or when I know we have extra expenses coming up.

Another one I save up with is the Plum Rewards Card from Chapters.  I am a book borrower & rarely buy them, but Chapters is a good place for gifts and magazines, so usually by Christmas I have enough on there to help with the Christmas shopping.

What are your go-to money back tools?