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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

End of an Era


I am so incredibly sad today because it is the final broadcast of my favorite radio station, 97.5 FM WABB. This radio station has been in Mobile since the 70's and has always been a major part of the community. They revolutionized the way radio stations did contests and helped out those in need. When I was growing up, I didn't even know there were other stations, WABB was the radio to me! I loved listening to Matt and Jay in the morning on the way to school and longed to hear my birthday announced on the air. I listened to "Party Like It's 1999" on New Years Eve 1999, and wondered what it was like to be buried alive as a stunt. I entered the contests and felt my heart race when I dialed them up. I was angry at Hot 104 for trying to call them lame. No station could copy them or take away their loyal audience and I will await their return. (hoping they will even if it is just a podcast or streaming online, or that the new station flops).
You will be missed.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Hello All!

Hello Everyone!

I'm the new coauthor, Singingperson. I've been couponing, sampling, and using sites like swagbucks for the last few years. I'm a full-time college student and need to be able to save money anywhere that I can.

My favorite store for couponing is Publix. They have great B1G1(Buy one, Get one free) deals and they accept not only manufacturer coupons, but competitors coupons as well. My best receipts have been $0.42 cents for 43 dollars worth of food and $2.70 for 94 dollars worth of food. That said, I normally end up saving somewhere between $80-100 dollars and spend about $20 or $30 dollars.

See you all again soon!
-SP

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Meet the Coauthor

Next Time on The Stingy Student...

In an effort to make The Stingy Student blog's content more regular and relevant I invited a couponing friend of mine to be a coauthor.

She has been on the couponing bandwagon a little longer than me and in the shopping department she is my sensei. I have even mentioned her before on the blog. You may remember my short post Couponing! on May 26, 2011 where I posted a picture of a friend's transaction, our new writer was the one able to purchase $48 worth of goods for $0.42 (I'm still in awe).

So keep a lookout for her upcoming posts under the username SingingPerson.

Left- SingingPerson, Right-Leaora

Stingy Shopping Apps

This was written last Wednesday but it needed some serious work, I swear! >.<

As you know from my previous post about my Black Friday experience, I have a new android phone. This is the first smart phone I've ever had, so I went a little app crazy. I downloaded so many I ran out of memory, luckily the phone came with a 2GB SD card. I have since deleted many of said apps but I held on to the best and the brightest (like 50 or so, I'm still whittling it down).

After several conversations with fellow couponers about money-saving apps, I promised a few of them I would write a post about how to save money using your phone. Considering how expensive they can get it's awesome to get some money back right?

There are literally thousands of apps on the market. They range in purpose- some are informative, others are entertaining, and more than a few are just plain ridiculous. But there are rare, diamond in the rough apps, that can save you a lot.

Shopkick
It's the app putting a spin on the phrase "shopping for kicks"!

Shopkick is probably the most well-known shopping app. It is a rewards app that gives you points (kicks) for shopping. It uses the GPS in your phone to locate you inside sponsoring stores. Stores such as Best Buy and Old Navy reward you for simply walking inside the building while others give you points for scanning barcodes or QR codes on select items in store. This is great because you don't actually have to buy anything in order to get points.

Should you find something you wish to purchase Shopkick has more rewards in store. Depending on the store, you can use a linked Visa card (debit or credit) or give your phone number to the cashier in order to get additional points. Better still, Shopkick has special coupons and deals for users. Saving you dollars as well as earning kicks. There are additional bonuses for iPhone users.

So the burning question is, "What do kicks get you?" Well there's quite a bit to choose from! Rewards vary from Facebook credits (25 Kicks/credit) to gift cards (iTunes, Best Buy, Coach, and more) to a 4GB Xbox with Kinect (75000 Kicks)!

Join Shopkick!


Checkpoints

Check in, check out, Checkpoints!

Checkpoints is very similar to Shopkick, but not as well known. I learned about this app quite a while ago from one on my coupon sites, back when I was just getting into the whole discount scene. 

Just like Shopkick, you get points for going inside stores and scanning items. The difference being that you get less points per check in but more stores to get points from. Also checking in is easier than on Shopkick as the GPS locator gives you a bit more wiggle room on where you are but the trade off is having to wait a certain amount of time between stores to get points. 

Other advantages of Checkpoints is that it can be linked to other loyalty programs. Currently you can connect with Alaska Airlines Miles, Delta SkyMiles, and Swagbucks (I've mentioned Swagbucks before in a prior post). I get the feeling that this program is a work-in-progress so I hope they will add more soon.
There is also a toolbar available to download to your computer's browser to earn more points. You can get it on Internet Explorer and Modzilla FireFox with a Chrome Plugin coming soon.

As for the rewards? Items available for redemption change frequently so you have to check often to see if there's something you like, although some items stay constant. Currently there's $25 giftcards for Starbucks, Amazon, Subway, and Home Depot and items such as an as-seen-on-tv keyboard and a 250GB Xbox bundle with 2 games and a 3-month gold membership to Xbox LIVE for 115000 points.

One last note, when you register your app with checkpoints there is a space to put in a bonus code. If you put in the username of a current user you both get bonus points and the more your code is used, the more points it is worth. A simple search will yield codes but many will no longer be in use (been there, it took me a half-hour to find an active code) and many will claim to get you thousands of points (the cap is 300 I believe) so this is my code and I have no idea how much it will get you: leaora.


Find out more at Checkpoints.com

Smoopa



Getting paid to get a good deal? Heck yeah!

Smoopa is the only app (to my knowledge) that will pay you is cash instead of points. While I love Shopkick and Check Points, cash is cash.

How it works is you find an item that you wish to purchase and scan the barcode. Smoopa will then ask you where you are and what the price of the item. Drawing upon scans of others in the area and the all-knowing internet, Smoopa tells you if the price is good or bad and if there is a special offer.

My favorite thing about this app however is the price tracker. After checking a price, you have the option to "track" the item. You put in the price you want to pay for it and Smoopa alerts you when it falls below that price.

Want to give it a try? Here's a boost, Use code 38366789e7 when you join and get $2 credited to your account.  Find more info on the Android Market or at Smoopa.com.


Some other apps I want to touch on:

Key Ring: Before I found this app, I was considering using a second wallet for just my rewards cards. Key Ring stores the bar codes for all your cards on your phone, making it easy to find and use. For an added bonus there are Key Ring exclusive coupons you can add to your cards on your phone.
learn more



Grocery IQ: This app is the product of Coupons.com, the site we know and love for printable coupons. The app is primarily to make and organize shopping lists but it has some awesome options. You can search through coupons on the site to have emailed to you as well as some you can add instantly to membership cards for stores.
learn more


Grocery Pal: This too is a shopping list app. Where it differs from Grocery IQ is that in addition to coupons (a service provided by Cellfire) you can search through the sales of the grocery stores in your area and add items directly to your list. This makes coupon match-ups a cinch!
learn more

GeoQpons: I was informed of this app while shopping one day. You can search through stores in your area to find discounts. The discounts on the app are typically coupons the store has online most of the time but having it on the phone eliminates the need for printing. And the occasional unplanned splurge.
learn more

Know of any other awesome shopping apps? Feel free to post them in the comments section.

Apps Awaaaay!!!!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

New Year'$

Say hello to 2012!

It's a brand new year and I've been noticing that many new year's traditions center around money. So I thought that for my first post of the year I would give an overview of some of these traditions and some money-saving tips for the season.

One tradition that I grew up with was eating black-eyed peas to bring wealth. I absolutely despise black-eyed peas but once a year I gritted my teeth and ate as many as I could stand. One year I carefully ate then one at a time until I had eaten exactly 100 in order to get the corresponding amount of cash during the year (back when $100 was the largest amount I could concieve of).

Another tradition I heard of only recently was that during the first few days of the year you shouldn't make any frivolous purchases because you would be doomed to debt for the rest of the year. I think this is more of a correlation effect than anything else. The kind of people who would make such purchases are the kind to make such purchases throughout the year. Correlation doesn't prove causation.

Lastly is making resolutions. This is the only tradition I put stock in. If you can actually resolve to save more money or to earn more money in the coming year, typically you will. As with any resolution though it needs to be reasonable and you need to keep it for more than two months. Try to tell someone to keep on track.
On that note, my own resolution is to focus on my writing. I have decided to call it Writing Wednesday. One day of my week that will be dedicated to working on my novel, blog, diary, or my other miscellaneous musings. That isn't to say that I won't be writing while multitasking, but the other tasks will probably be more relaxing such as soaking in a foot bath while wearing a spa mask, etc.

But back to the money, it is probably tempting to shop right now with all the post-holiday sales and clearance events. However I recommend attacking the deals the same way you go about shoping prior to the holidays: know what you want, what you are willing to pay, and don't get anything else.
That's all I have for now. Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday. Thank you so much for putting up with an inconsistent blogger.

Stay stingy, my friends.
:P