The holiday season is here.
And with it, comes holiday shopping.
We spend a lot of money shopping online, especially during the holidays.
How much money do you think you spend shopping online?
According to a report by Forrester Research, shoppers spend an average of about $1738 per year on online shopping.
Now, how much cashback, if any, do you think you get from all that spending?
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$10?
$50?
$100?
What if I told you, you could earn double, triple and in some cases even quadruple and quintuple that amount?
Wouldn’t you like that?
There is actually a very easy way to save money by getting more back for every dollar they spend on shopping.
I’m sure you’ve heard of coupon stacking.
For beginners to couponing, it’s basically the strategy of using both store-specific coupons and manufacturer coupons to get bigger discounts.
But we’re not talking about coupon stacking.
We’re talking about a hack that does use the same strategy, but with more than just coupons and with much much bigger and better results (read SAVINGS!)
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You could, with a few tweaks, use the same strategy for in-store shopping as well, but this is especially helpful if you do the bulk of your holiday shopping online.
I simply call it the “Stack Hack!”
Ready to save money with the Stack Hack strategy?
Let’s find out how Stack Hack works…
Table of Contents
1. Sign up for Microsoft Rewards
What is Microsoft Rewards, you ask?
It’s a loyalty/reward program for Microsoft’s search engine, Bing.
It basically rewards you for using Bing instead of Google.
What does it have to do with you and Christmas shopping?
Well, don’t you compare prices when you’re buying stuff online?
Don’t you look for coupons and promo codes, black Fridays, Cyber Monday deals?
How do you find that information?
Searching online, right?
Well, instead of using Google, use Bing and get paid for it!
For every search you do on Bing, you earn points that you can redeem for gift cards, cash, and other prizes.
This will come in handy for the next few steps.
By the way, if you wanna learn how to earn more money with Bing, read our detailed review of Microsoft Rewards program.
How does this earns/saves me money?
What about all the points I earned with Microsoft Rewards?
Simple…
Redeem them for cash, prizes, or gift cards for the stores/sites you shop at. It’s like getting free gift cards!
2. Buy Gift Cards at a Discount
Before you start shopping, get a discounted gift card on sites (more on where to find them, below.)
Get yourself either gift cards for the main stores/sites you plan to shop at or a prepaid Visa gift card.
You can get gift cards for very deep discounts, sometimes up to 90% or more.
Doing this means you save a bunch of cash before you even start your holiday shopping.
How does this earn/save me money?
Well, you save money by buying gift cards for much cheaper than their face value.
Shop at Target a lot?
Get a $100 Target gift card for $80.
That’s like exchanging $80 for a $100 bill!
It’s like you also earn reward points by searching for the highest discounted gift cards as well as discount gift card sites you want to buy from.
Pro tip
Instead of going directly to CardPool or GiftCardGranny, search for them on Bing and access the sites through Bing.
Also, use Bing to search and find gift cards with deepest discounts. That way you also earn some points for the searches!
Top discount gift card sites
For more awesome sites where you can buy gift cards for deep discounts, read our post on the best places to buy discounted gift cards.
3. Get a Rewards Credit Card
A Rewards Credit Card is basically a CC that earns you cashback and rewards on your purchases.
This is an easy way to essentially get 1% to 5% discount on every purchase you make.
Some of the best Rewards Credit Cards include:
- Discover it® – Cashback Match: Through December 2017 earn 5% cash back at Amazon.com and Target on up to $1,500 in purchases. You also earn matching cashback – Discover will match the cashback you earn, dollar per dollar, so you earn twice the cashback. There is no annual fee.
- Chase Freedom®: You earn 1% unlimited cashback on all purchase, plus 5% on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. No annual fee here either.
How does this earn/save me money?
Well, when you buy something you’ll have to pay for it one way or another.
Wound’t make sense to pay with a credit card that gives you cashback for the exact same purchase?
But what about the interest I have to pay on the card?
Good question!
I mean, if you earn $20 cashback by using the card, but have to pay $25 in interest, then you’re not really saving anything, are you?
You’re actually losing money!
The trick is to pay your balance in full each month so you don’t pay interest fees.
Pro tip: Again, use Bing to search for the best Reward Credit Cards and earn some easy points.
4. Find Exclusive Coupons
The next step is finding promo codes, coupons and exclusive deals and discounts.
Going through the Sunday newspaper isn’t the only way to find coupons anymore.
Coupons websites have made fining coupons as easy as typing the product you are looking for, followed by the word coupon into a search bar (hint; use Bing!)
Some of the top websites for coupons include:
How does this earn/save me money?
This is another double saving/earning situation.
First, you, obviously, those coupons save you money on what you are buying.
Second, you have to search for coupons or coupon sites, right?
Instead of Googling, Bing it!
Using Bing will earn you more points for doing what you were going to do anyway.
Pro tip:
If you don’t want to deal with searching, finding and applying promo codes one by one at the checkout page, use a free app like Honey to automate the process.
I have talked about it in our Honey extension review post before.
What it does is very helpful…
Honey applies the latest available promo codes and coupons automatically at the checkout page and finds you the one that gets you the most discount.
You can get Honey by going to https://www.joinhoney.com.
5. Sign up for a Cashback Site
The next step is joining a cashback site if you aren’t already a member of one.
Why?
So you can earn even more cashback on your online purchases.
There are tons of awesome cashback sites that earn you anywhere from 1% to 10% cashback (sometimes you may even get lucky and get up to 20-30% cashback.)
Some of the best cashback sites that pay include:
How does this earn/save me money?
This is pretty much self-explanatory…
You earn cashback on things you were going to buy anyway!
And again, you can earn more rewards points by searching (on Bing) for the best cashback sites that offer the highest cashback on stores/sites you want to shop from.
Stack Hack in 5 steps
Now that you have everything in place, it’s time to shop.
You’ll need to put all of what you just read together so you can maximize your saving and cashback.
Here’s how:
Step one: Search (on Bing, so you can earn more points) for the cashback site you signed up with. Instead of directly going to, for example, eBates.com, go to Bing (make sure you are logged in to your Microsoft Rewards account) and search for eBates.com and click on the link to access the site.
Step Two: Once you get to your preferred cashback shopping site – in this case, eBates – login. Then go to the shopping portal and find the store/site you want to shop from and click the link to visit the site.
Step three: Next, browse and search for what you want as you’d normally.
Step four: When you get to the checkout page enter your coupons/promo codes (if they’re accepted.)
Step five: When it comes time to pay, use the gift card that you bought earlier. If they don’t accept gift cards, or if the cashback site says it won’t credit you if you use a gift card, then pay with your reward credit card. Either way, you earn some more cashback.
Happy Shopping
Combine what you earn/save with each step, and you’ve got yourself a money saving strategy that will save you more money than you ever thought possible.
With this simple hack, you can more than double or triple your cashback and savings.
You can actually quadruple or even quintuple the amount of money you save and cash back you earn!
Please leave a comment and let us know if you have used this money saving tip before and if so, how much did you save?
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