If your budget is currently on a diet, here are some tips to nickel and dime your way back to financial wellness.
1. Sell old electronics.
Do you have an old flip phone lying around? Or, is an older laptop collecting dust on a shelf? Maybe you’ve been meaning to sell these devices or at least recycle them properly. Gazelle.com gives cash for used consumer electronics.
The site gives cash offers for your old electronics. Search their site to see what kind of offer you can receive for your pre-owned electronic devices. Shipping is free. If you’re scrambling for cash, no need to wait. See if a Gazelle ecoATM kiosks are available in your area to trade your device in for cash on the spot.
2. Get money for damaged phones
Gazelle even buys broken phones. Research by Plaxo shows that one-third of smartphone owners break their phones. If your cell phone provider can’t help you, getting a new phone can be costly to replace. Before retiring it to a box that serves as an electronic device graveyard and promising yourself to be less clumsy, consider selling it.
The money you recoup can go toward the purchase of a new one or you can buy a pre-owned one from Gazelle.com as well. Shipping is free and you can even score an extra ten dollars per friend when you refer them to the site.
3. Fight for your money
I was recently tweeting with a podcaster. We were commiserating about how certain stores will offer you a coupon on an item you just bought. You receive the coupon with the receipt right after check out.
It’s very irritating especially if it’s not something you need the following week. The coupon is useless unless you immediately return what you bought and use the coupon in that moment before you leave the store. Sometimes the offer is for the following week so it really doesn’t make sense to use the coupon because you don’t need an additional item.
Another thing that irks me is when you buy something and it goes on sale shortly after. Do you really want to return to the store to save five dollars? You might lose some of that savings in transportation costs.
I’ve previously written about how to boost your bottom line by handling email better. The new app called Slice Drops takes it to a whole new level. The makers of Slice, an app that kept its’ promise to “help you keep track of everything you buy online” have just launched a new app called Slice Drops.
No need to feel jaded and perhaps, litter your Facebook feed with complaints about how you got duped. Like a mini digital consumer advocate that fights to get your money back, Slice Drops emails on your behalf to reclaim the difference and snags a refund for you.
Slice Drops gets money back for consumers when items they purchased go on sale through e-receipts. If you purchased an item last week and the price drops, no need to go back for a price adjustment, the app will take care of it for you.
The Bottom Line
Use technology to your advantage to put money back in your pocket. Whether you sell old devices or recoup money back through digital price adjustments, your wallet can breathe a sigh of relief as you score bragging rights on social media.
