Tag Archives: savingmoney

All, Cash Back, Financial, Money Apps, Savings

Let’s Talk About Receipts

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Let me apologize ahead of time for the long post. As boring of a topic it may be for you, it’s actually profitable for me so I wanted to share a few points with you.

Let’s talk about receipts. You know that piece of paper that most of you either don’t take from the cashier or you just toss out right away. Do you know how bad I want to ask for your receipt? Seriously. It’s really awkward, so I don’t, but I’d like to.

If this is you, you’re literally throwing money away. Maybe not a lot, but it adds up. Eventually, it’s enough to pay for something you couldn’t afford before. Or maybe it will just be some extra pocket money. Either way, why not just take that receipt home and make some money off of it? Not to mention, with the cost of things going up these days, this helps to bring it back down. That’s how I think when I use my gas rewards points every month.

Okay, I got you take your receipt home. Now what? It depends on the type of person you are. I constantly change my routine. You can either just scan them right away, or place them somewhere till you have a few. Once you are ready, open the app and start scanning according to the instructions provided. They all seem to be slightly different.

I’ve tried most of them out and have a few favorites. Some of the apps let you link some of your loyalty cards, your email, or your Amazon accounts. I love this feature! Some let you forward receipts. There’s an app that makes you scan every single item purchased, which can be a bit much for me. Everyone is different so you may prefer that more than I do.

Oh, I know, it’s all just a pain in the butt no matter what. Who wants to bother with all that for a few cents? If it helps at all for you to know this, I do the bare minimum. I have all of my accounts linked for automated savings. Otherwise, I miss deadlines, I forget, I get overwhelmed, and so on. I often don’t stick to things for very long. Yet, so far, I’ve made a few hundred dollars back and I still continue to obsess over receipts.

I don’t expect to go through any of what I did when I first started out. I’ve spent so much time and effort trying out apps to get my money back any way I can. Then I share all the information I can with you. Also, I don’t just submit my receipts. I also use cash back credit cards, shop through cash back apps, use promotional codes, and more. Subscribe to follow my adventures of saving money.

Here’s just three of the many apps that I use for my receipts, along with some basic info. The links provided to each site are my affiliate links. In most cases, we both may receive a bonus when you use them to sign up. For more information about these or the other apps that I use, go to the Scan Receipts page.

  • Coupons . com

A lot of people know of the site Coupons.com for printing coupons. Now you can also get cash back from your shopping trips. You would need to add the digital coupons for each store you shop at. If your store loyalty card is linked, you’ll automatically receive a payment via PayPal when you shop. Some stores you will need to submit a picture of your receipt.

  • Fetch Rewards

Fetch Rewards lets you scan receipts, and also checks your email for digital receipts. This has been great for getting cash back from my Amazon purchases. I just added Giant as well. If you want to try them out, please use my referral link. My code is E4HFT.

  • Pogo

You don’t need to actually scan your receipts with Pogo. You can just link your Amazon, Walmart, PayPal, Walgreens, Target, and others. Every time the app picks up purchases, you’ll get a notification to claim your points. You can also take surveys, get location rewards, and more. Try Pogo with my referral link or use my code 7ZWBV, and connect an account.

To see the rest of the apps that I’m using, visit the Scan Receipts page.

For more financial information, see: Smile, Sparkle, Save!, Financial Basics, Money Saving Tips, Scan Receipts, Rebating, Savings Page, Extra Money Tips. Everything else can be found on the Site Map.

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All, Financial, Savings

Stress Free Ink Refills

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I’ve been seeing a lot of posts and comments out there recently about buying printer ink and all the stress that comes with it. Honestly, I didn’t realize that was still a thing. I haven’t dealt with this agony in several years. I never check my levels, I never run out, I never buy cartridges. I don’t do anything really, besides have a subscription. And, since I rarely print anything, it’s been FREE.

I have an HP Envy printer & use the HP Instant Ink subscription plan. They monitor my ink levels & send me new cartridges whenever I run low. They have a few different plans depending on how much you print and it can be changed as needed. I’m currently allowed up to 15 pages a month. If I go over that, I get charged $1 for each additional 10 pages, which is still less than the next price level.

* I haven’t checked their pricing recently, but for me its always been very affordable & helpful.

All, Financial, Updates

A Few Updates

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A lot has been going on so I haven’t had a lot of time to even grasp my thoughts long enough to share anything here with anyone. But, I have actually been doing a lot of updates around my site.

I added a new page called Smile Sparkle Save. It’s really just a table of contents type of page for the financial section of my site. I’ve made quite a few updates throughout those pages as well. They include Financial Basics, Extra Money, Savings Tips, Scan Receipts, and Freebies.

I also recently started adding a few picture pages. If anyone isn’t aware, I used to do a lot of photography and promoting of several local bands in my area. That’s how this site even originated. It’s focus has since changed quite a bit. At first, I moved anything LadySkullshine related to a tiny section on the About page. After a little bit of thought though, I decided that I would add a bunch of my old pictures. I have a lot more to add when I have a moment.

Please take a look around and check out the new look so far. Let me know what you think. If you get lost or want to discover more pages, visit the Site Map.

Thank you!
– LadySkullshine

All, Updates

It’s Been A While

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I feel like I’m so very far behind on everything. Not having a laptop for about two weeks definitely set me back quite a bit. I think after that, everything just pretty much snowballed out of control. My last post was on January 8th. I knew it was a while, but didn’t realize it was that long.

I feel like a lot has gone on since then.

To start, a few of our pet rats have found new homes. The remaining ones are getting quite large, especially the boys. The girls haven’t tried to escape lately. I think this last cage repair might have finally did it. If you like, you can follow Malakai_the.rat.king‘s adventures on Instagram.

I haven’t been couponing. I slacked with scanning my receipts. However, I have been ordering lots of freebie items. I am in the process of organizing some upcoming projects, and I’m reevaluating of a lot of things in the financial realm. I’ve also been making some updates to my site.

I have a ginormous list of so many things I want to get done. I know the majority of it will just get bounced around in my head for quite a while. I have trouble remembering, or even retaining a thought process. It’s pretty bad. It doesn’t help that I’ve been out of my ADHD meds for over a week. My OCD doesn’t stand a chance these days.

I just hope to keep up my momentum. At least, things are still getting done.

All, Financial

Keep An Eye On Your Bills And Reduce Them Now

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I’ve noticed that a lot of people are complacent with their bills. They may just be comfortable dealing with the same company. If anything, they’ll complain that they are going up. And, that’s if they even notice the increases or any extra charges. I was one of those people, for a long time.

Now, every few months or so, I go through all of my accounts to see how much I’m paying. Depending on the bill, I may contact them to see if there’s anything that can be done to decrease it. When I first started doing this, I contacted every company I owed money to. It doesn’t hurt to ask. For some, the answer was no and I would kindly move on. In other cases changes could be made, discounts applied, and even credits were given. Make sure to keep notes so you keep track of what was able to be done.

It’s definitely worth the extra time spent doing this. After a while, you have an idea which bills won’t budge versus which ones can be worked on. For example, I had massively horrible phone service for a few years. They refused to admit they had no coverage in my area, and I was stuck in a contract. So I would often call complaining about this, requesting credits. I got them most of the time.

Another thing I’ve seen a trend with, is that people have a habit of subscribing to multiple things that add up really quickly. This happens a lot when people cancel their cable service. They will often start ordering different streaming services that end up costing more than the cable did.

As always, I hope this helps. I’m not an expert, and I’m not rich. I’m just obsessed with saving money and sharing with others. Please let me know if you have any tips as well. I love hearing from everyone.

All, Financial

Affordable Ink Replacement

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Are you still paying a ridiculous amount of money on ink for your printer? Confused when trying to find which cartridge or refill is compatible? Do they dry out before you even use them?

I have an old wireless HP Envy 4500, that takes two ink cartridges. I hate buying ink, it drying out, wasting money, and so on. So I signed up for a replacement ink program, called HP Instant Ink. They monitor my ink levels, and then send me new cartridges whenever I’m running low. That’s super convenient for me.

What’s even better, is that I’m paying per page and not by the amount of ink used. I listed their current plans below. Right now, I have the FREE one, which allows up to 15 pages a month. I get charged $1 for each additional set of 10 pages. So, when I go over my pages, I still stay below the next plan’s price. I also still get ink cartridges sent to me.

So far this year, I have spent $5 for ink.

I have been using them for several years now. I rarely ever need ink, but they are always right on schedule when I do. I recently noticed that I was completely out. So, I quick sent them a chat message. They said I should have one laying around from the last shipment, but I honestly can’t seem to locate it anywhere. They advised not to worry, and that they are sending me a new one free of charge.

I really love this company!

If you would like to try them out, please use my referral link. YOU will get a FREE month of printing. I’m supposed to get a free month too, but it’s already free for me. Let me know what you think, or if you use another service that you’d like to share.

Current plans per HP Instant Ink‘s website (10/6/20):

  • FREE PRINTING. $0.00 a month For up to 15 pages . Each additional set of 10 pages for just $1.00. Unused free pages do not roll over
  • OCCASIONAL PRINTING. $2.99 a month. For up to 50 pages. Each additional set of 10 pages for just $1.00. Roll over up to 100 unused pages.
  • MODERATE PRINTING. $4.99 a month. For up to 100 pages. Each additional set of 15 pages for just $1.00. Roll over up to 200 unused pages
  • FREQUENT PRINTING. $9.99 a month. For up to 300 pages. Each additional set of 20 pages for just $1.00. Roll over up to 600 unused pages
  • HEAVY PRINTING. $18.99 a month. For up to 500 pages. Each additional set of 10 pages for just $1.00. Roll over up to 1500 unused pages
  • BUSINESS PRINTING. $19.99 a month. For up to 700 pages. Each additional set of 20 pages for just $1.00. Roll over up to 1400 unused pages
  • HIGH VOLUME PRINTING. $49.99 a month. For up to 1500 pages. Each additional set of 15 pages for just $1.00. Roll over up to 4500 unused pages