MrWarner.com

After hearing all the news reports about the economic climate around at the moment, I thought I’d share a few ways that I use the Internet to save a few extra pennies and pounds. Many of these may only work for UK residents, so sorry to any international readers out there… I’m sure that there are similar sites wherever you live.

Quidco –  If you shop online with any kind of regularity, you’re throwing away money if you don’t use a cashback site. Quidco is my favourite as it pays good levels of cashback with monthly payments. They charge £5 per year (which is taken out of your cashback earnings), but it is possible to earn hundreds of pounds by simply visiting the Quidco site and then using it to access your usual shopping sites. So, if you’re buying DVDs from Play.com, booking a holiday from Virgin, downloading new songs from iTunes, or even ordering a new Mac from Apple, go through Quidco first (or any alternative cashback site you know of) to earn yourself some cashback! 

Nectar – For anyone who owns a Nectar card, this is a useful site to visit. They work in a similar way to Quidco and other cashback sites, but they give you Nectar points instead of cash (which I like using to get free cinema tickets).

Discounts – Lots of sites offer discounts for teachers, so investigate this before you go through the online checkout. As a teacher, I’ve used the Apple Educational Store quite a bit to get discounts on my purchases. Also, check if your teaching union offers discounts for you… my union has links to lots of companies who offer cheaper products and services for me, simply because I’m part of that union.

Green Metropolis – If you have any books sitting on a shelf which you no longer need, why not sell them? Green Metropolis let you list your books online, which others can then buy. When you receive an ‘order’, you simply post the book to the person who bought it and Green Metropolis pay you for the transaction. It’s a great way of recycling and reusing books, and it also lets you earn a few extra pounds for each book that you sell.

eBay – As well as being a good place to find bargains, selling on eBay can be very addictive. eBay is a great way of earning money from things you no longer use. I generally eBay my old DVDs and games as they usually sell quickly. I use Garagesale to list and keep track of my eBay sales, but you don’t really need to use separate software at all. 

Finally, if you haven’t seen Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert site, take a look! It’s where I originally found out about most of the sites I’ve listed here, and it’s a great place to learn new money saving ideas.

Do you have any other tips?

Image: ‘Coinage‘