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You might not see Facebook as a way to save money or make money, but trust me it is. I have been an active member of Facebook for over 7 years now and over the years I have found ways to both save money and make money.
10 Ways Thrifty People Use Facebook To Save & Make Money
1. Borrow instead of buy
There have been times when we need a tool or a book and we only need it one time. In those times Facebook has been a handy tool to have. I will make a status update saying “does anyone local have a …..we could borrow” and I will also message those who I think might have just the item I want privately. 80% of the time my family finds what we want to borrow.
2. Purchase resale items
My family was in the middle of landscaping our yard when a friend put on Facebook that she wanted to sell her leftover mulch for half price. I also took advantage of a few local friends who announced on Facebook that they had free plants for the taking.
I also follow several Facebook buy and sell groups and although so far I have just sold on them I could also buy on them if something came up that we needed.
3. Earn points
If you have followed my blog for more than a week you will know I love point reward programs. One simple way to earn more points through a lot of these programs is to like their page on Facebook and then choosing the “get notifications” option. Whenever these companies announce free point codes you will be ready to earn.
4. Receive coupon codes
I love creating free photo books with Shutterfly. Once I got hooked on Shutterfly I decided to use the same method I used for the Swagbucks facebook page on the Shutterfly facebook page. I skim their notifications each day and once in a while find a code for free prints, free photo cards and once even a free photo book.
5. Find printable coupons
Bath and Body works often offers printable coupons for free travel sized bottles of their newest scents on their Facebook page when you fill out a form. Other companies do similar offers from time to time, so make sure to follow your favorites.
6. Sign up for free samples
I find out about most of the Facebook free sample offers through following the Money Saving Mom Facebook page (and again I clicked the notifications tab so I won’t miss a deal). These samples usually come with high value coupons making it a double dip of a save.
7. Resell items and crafts
I was getting really tired of friends hearing about what I sold at my latest yard sale saying “I would have bought that” , so I created a virtual yard sale album on my Facebook page to give my friends first dibs on items I want to sell.
If my items don’t sell to my friends I post these items to a few local Facebook Buy and Sell groups.
Every year from Thanksgiving to Christmas I create a crafts for sale album on my Facebook page for friends who love to buy my knitted dishcloths to give as gifts. The album keeps me from having to explain colors available when they text or call me. I simply send them a link to photo album full of all the items I have made up.
8. Learn about great book deals
I follow a few kindle book deal Facebook pages such as Spirit Filled Kindle and BookBub I also love Money Saving Mom’s weekday list of free kindle book deals.
9. Referral bonuses
If I find a company I love I share it on Facebook and my Facebook friends never seem to mind, as they know I only share great companies who offer amazing deals, or point programs that really work.
Some of the companies I share are:
- Ibotta : Often one of the tasks the ibotta app gives you money for is to share your deal on your Facebook page. For instance I did this when I claimed the rebate on my son’s movie ticket.
- Tyndale Rewards : I will shoot a picture of the book from Tyndale Rewards that just came in the mail and post the link to the program in my status. Bookworms attract bookworms so this works well.
- Zulily: I share and tag people that I know love the products Zulily is offering for sale in the comments. For instance a while ago they had Lucky Jeans on sale and I knew a friend who had teenagers who loved them so I tagged her. Another time Zulily had brooks runners 1/2 price so I shared the sale in a runner’s Facebook group I am part of where most of the ladies wear brooks.
As you can see I share only when I find a new deal that I am planning on taking advantage of , or I know my friends will like. I will also share a deal with a friend who I know was asking if I knew of how she could get …… (clothing, books etc…) for less. I try and share something no more than once or twice a week at most.
Since I am selective, I have had only positive feed back on my sharing. People often thank me for letting me in on the deal. I also make sure to send along deals that I don’t benefit from as well, like free samples, or free kindle book listings so that my friends never feel like I am only sharing for personal gain.
10. Save Money On Pay As You Go Smartphone Plans
My family uses Ting and Tracfone as our cell phone networks. Our plan costs per text and per minute so to save texts and minutes whenever I am at home or in a Wi-Fi hotspot I will send non urgent messages through Facebook to my friends private message boxes. Some evenings a friend and I will get really chatty through our message boxes chatting back and forth for extended periods of time so this really does create significant savings for our family over using texting.
For a list of 52 different websites, apps, and stores our thrifty family uses to help us keep our expenses low, click here to visit our Thrifty Tools Resource Page.
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Great tips! I have several thing posted on facebook to sell right now. I have made some money! Patience waiting on the rest to sell.
Make sure to re-share your post once a day at different times so new people will see it as Facebook moves fast, and posts get buried in a few hours.
I need to sell items on Facebook. I see (and hear) people make decent money or getting good deals. I just need to figure how to get my pictures from my phone to Facebook.
Great ideas. Some are simple yet you never think to do them like asking friends on facebook to borrow a tool or something instead of spending the money for a one time project.
If you are also interested in companies that give referral credit and that also have a pay as you go phone/data system, I have really enjoyed Google Fi phones and cell service. I don’t know if you would be interested, but I saw that you had two others posted and thought you might like them also. Thanks for your helpful posts!
Thanks for adding this suggestion. I have not heard of it before.