The mall gives me the dry heaves. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but I really hate being in the mall…and WalMart. Target, however, is a delightful experience, as are my local mom-and-pop shops. This leads to me doing a lot of online shopping, especially around Christmas time. This also helps me save money. How does it do that, you ask?

EBATES!  

What is Ebates? It’s a super awesome service that basically pays you to shop. All you have to do is go to the website, sign-up, find the store you want to shop at, and then click through. You’ll get a percentage of whatever you spend back in the form of a check from Ebates.

Whenever I see the Ebates envelope in the mail, I get a little excited. I’ve been known to go try something on at a store and then order it online just to get the ebate…and sometimes a better price, or color you can’t find in stores. Of course you have to also weigh shipping fees and the like against the percentage you might get back on your purchase, but if you’ve got free shipping available that’s a moot point.