When I know what I want but don’t need it urgently, I use Amazon to help me stay on budget. With a little planning and a lot of patience, you can save money on the items you were going to buy anyway. Why not let the system work for you? Get discounted prices for the stuff you want.
Amazon. Amazon. How I love you so.
Have you ever come across something that instantly changed your life?
Amazon was that thing for me. From what I’ve been told, the same thing happened for at least 5 of my friends as well.
This one website, single handedly changed the way I do birthday and Christmas shopping. I no longer read store circulars or pay attention to store deals. Why bother when all of the info is online.
Get the stuff you want at a price you can live with
Generally, I think the prices are pretty good. If you get in on their daily deals, you can really save some money.
But…Sometimes you just want an even better deal. Or that thing you want isn’t currently discounted.
Step 1
The NUMBER 1 thing you need to do is plan to search before you need to buy.
For example: If you know your kid (or husband) wants a LEGO Star Wars Battleship for Christmas, go searching for one in February or August or any number of months ahead of time.
Step 2
Put it in your wish list.
You can create as many lists as you want on there. Make one for birthdays, weddings, baby, each kid, home, etc… Fill those suckers up with the stuff you want.
Step 3
Wait
And wait, and wait and wait. Until either 1.) you get an email about it 2.) a big holiday sale happens (Like Cyber Monday or Back to School Days)
Amazon will send you emails for multiple reasons. Either the price dropped, or they just want to remind you it’s still on the list.
Step 4
Go to your list. Amazon shows the dropped percentage if the price is lower than when it was placed on the list. This is good way to see immediately how much you would save if you bought it right then and there. 
Sometimes its nice to have someone else do the math for you.
These are a few from my wish list. As you can see, the price drop is pretty significant on some of the items.
I like to make note of the price at regular intervals, then again during seasonal sales. If the price goes down even more, then I buy it and feel like a got a great deal.
If the price goes up, (and I notice) I just wait until it drops back down.
Increase the deals- Use cash back apps and websites
Ebates and Ibotta are 2 great apps you can use to increase your savings. I wrote about how to use these 2 apps on another post==>> How I earned $10 last month by doing nothing!
Groupon and Living Social are 2 of the websites that are easy to use and can save you big bucks.
If you combine using those apps or websites with the steps above you can really save a lot of cash.
****Important****
If you do want to use any of the sites or apps above, there is one important step to make sure the discounts apply.
You have to remove the item from your wish list before you begin. Let me explain this better.
When you decide you want to go ahead and buy an item, it has to be cleared from the wish list or the discounts from the apps will not be eligible. You cannot take an item from your wish list directly to your cart and get a rebate/ cash back.
Actually using the apps for the first time is a bit confusing, but it gets easier and faster each time you do it.
While every purchase may not be eligible, why not try and see if it works? The only thing you have to lose is a few minutes of your time, but you could gain real money back. To me, that’s time well spent. Especially since the apps and websites are free to use.
This Info May Change
Companies change their policies and techniques all the time. Currently, this works very well for me and it can work for you as well.
If you have a different/ better/ easier way of saving or know that one of these steps has changed, please let me know either in the comments below or join my mailing list and email me.
Have fun saving money!!
North Carolina, USA