Money Saving Products I Use

As the owner of a personal finance blog, I always get asked questions like, “so…what credit card do you use?”, “what cell phone plan is the cheapest?”, “what is the best online checking account you’ve seen?”, etc. As a result, I’ve been pushed to do a ton of research in order to be a good resource in to the community here.

So I decided to not let all of that research go to waste, and compiled a list of my favorite money-saving financial services and products, by category. I have used or currently used all of these products or services at some point and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to my readers. Consider it a cliff notes of sorts from 20somethingfinance.com on how to save money.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links (at no extra cost to you). I have a strict policy of only recommending products or services I have used personally or have come highly from readers, not because of the commissions that I may earn from you using these products. Please do not spend money unless you feel it’s for something you really need and will help you reach your financial goals.

Credit Cards:

American Express Blue Cash Preferred: This is the best grocery rewards card out there. It offers up 6% cash back on grocery purchases (as well as 3% on gas & department stores, and 1% elsewhere). It also offers $150 cash back for a new account when you spend $1,000 in three months. There is an annual fee of $75.
Chase Freedom: Chase Freedom is a great all around credit card. It offers a $100 cash back bonus when you spend $500 in the first three months, unlimited 1% cash back, and quarterly 5% cash back categories. There is also no annual fee. Check out my Chase Freedom review for more info.
Costco American Express: 3% cash back on gasoline, 2% at restaurants & for travel, & 1% everywhere else. The 2% at restaurants is great for when I’m traveling. Plus, no annual fee with a Costco membership. American Express has the best credit card perks I have seen. Here’s my Costco American Express review.

Debit Cards:

PerkStreet Financial MasterCard: Most debit cards don’t offer cash back. The PerkStreet Financial MasterCard offers 2% cash back on everything with additional 5% bonus categories. This is more than most credit cards and more interest than any checking accounts are paying these days! It also offers free ATM withdrawals nationwide at 37,000 locations. Check out my Perkstreet Financial review for more info.

IRA (Roth & Traditional):

TradeKing: I house a Roth IRA & Traditional IRA with TradeKing. There are no annual fees or inactivity fees and trades are only $4.95 each. Customer service is great and research tools are too. Check out my TradeKing review for more info.

Discount Broker (non-IRA):

OptionsHouse: OptionsHouse is the cheapest discount broker with trades that are only $3.95 each. Accounts are free to start, and give you a free 23″ Dell monitor when you start an account with $10,000 or more.

Free Checking Account:

EverBank Yield Checking: $0 monthly fee, no debit card fee, zero ATM fees (and they reimburse on other banks fees if your balance is over $5,000), interest-bearing account, and they are even offering $60 to switch to them!
Ally Bank Interest Checking: $0 monthly fee, $0 balance to open, free checks, no debit card fee, zero ATM fees (they actually pay for fees charged by other banks!), and you earn interest earned on your balance (with a high enough balance you exceed 1%).
PerkStreet Financial MasterCard: $0 monthly fee with one debit card transaction, $0 debit card fee, free checks, free ATM withdrawals at 37,000 locations, 2% cash back on everything with additional 5% bonus categories. It’s one of the few checking accounts that has a debit card with rewards.

Online Savings Account:

Discover Bank: no maintenance fees and they pay a very competitive interest yield to you. Discover Bank was voted the best online savings account of 2011 by Money Magazine.

CD (Certificate of Deposit):

Ally Raise Your Rate CD: The best CD I have seen, with some customer-friendly features. You can open with $0 (no minimum), get a ten day rate guarantee (they’ll raise your rates if rates go up in that time), get daily compound interest for maximum compounding, FDIC insured to the max, and the best part is that you can call Ally to have them raise your rate any any point during the life of the term (once with a 2 year term, twice with a 4 year)! Early withdrawal penalty is only 60 days interest, so if you need your money back, you won’t lose much interest.

Home Mortgage & Auto Loans:

LendingTree: Based on your credit scores, the loan amount, and location, loans can vary widely. LendingTree.com works with a large number of lenders so that you can compare and get the best rates and conditions.

Home & Auto Insurance:

Liberty Mutual: I literally only pay $250 per year for my auto insurance and $400 for my home insurance via Liberty Mutual. Every time I get a quote elsewhere, it’s usually at least twice as much. Your mileage may vary, but definitely check them out and ask for multiple policy discounts & discounts for being an alumni of your university.

Health & Life Insurance:

eHealthInsurance: The health and life insurance options available are pretty extensive and prices can vary wildly based on age, gender, and health history. You need to shop around, and ehealthinsurance.com is a great place to do it. I found my term life insurance plan there and have looked for HDHP’s there too.

Credit Scores:

Credit Karma: Credit Karma is a 100% free way to get your Credit Score. It is also now offering free credit monitoring! It’s safe, with no catch, and no credit card required. Check out my Credit Karma review for more info. Credit Karma has also started offering 100% free credit monitoring, while competitors are charging $15/month+.

Credit Reports:

Annualcreditreport.com: Annualcreditreport.com is a government-mandated website that allows you to get 3 free credit reports annually – one from each major credit bureau.

Tax Software:

Turbotax & H&R Block: Both Turbotax & H&R Block are great tax software programs that I have used and would recommend. I’ve found H&R Block to be slightly cheaper than Turbotax.

Budgeting Software:

Mint: Mint.com is a 100% free budget planning software that consolidates all of your financial activity into one graphic-enhanced web browser interface.
Budget planning spreadsheet: This is a monthly budgeting spreadsheet that I created and use personally to this day to manage my budget. Free to copy from Google Docs.

Cell Phone Plan:

Net10: Net10 is a prepaid wireless provider that allows you to get plans for as low as 300 minutes over 2 months for $30 (or $15 per month). I currently use the Net10 LG 900G, which is a Blackberry-styled phone that only cost me $30. Texting is only 1/4 of a minute. Paired with my Ooma VOIP (see below), I only pay $15 per month for all of my phone communications.
Tracfone: The same company (different division) as Net10, if you are able to get by on minimal minutes, you can pay as low as $7.50 per month for a plan. Check out the phones that offer triple minutes for life to boost the value.
Virgin Mobile: If you want a more advanced phone that uses Android, the cheapest unlimited data/text plan with call time is Virgin Mobile’s Beyond Talk plan. You get unlimited data, text, and 300 minutes per month for $35.

VOIP (landline phone):

Ooma: Ooma is a sleek VOIP device that offers free VOIP home phone service forever (you only pay local taxes). Audio quality is excellent & the features are awesome. Unlike MagicJack, you don’t have to have your computer on to use it. Simply plug in any standard phone into the unit, which plugs into your modem, and you’re good to go. It pays for itself within a few months and then you never have to pay for phone service again! Check out my Ooma review for more.

Gift Cards (Buying & Selling):

Plastic Jungle: One of the coolest exchanges out there, Plastic Jungle allows you to purchase gift cards that others are selling. For example, you can get Home Depot and Lowe’s gift cards at 7% discount to value, iTunes for 5%, Baja Fresh for 13% discount, and Kohl’s for 16%. Whether you suck at gift buying or you just want to save money on your next purchase from a retailer you were going to buy from anyway, or want to sell a gift card you’ll never use for cash, this is a great way to do it. No credit card will give you a discount that big. Check out my Plastic Jungle review for more info.

Money Saving Green Devices:

Honeywell Digital Thermostat: A great Energy Star digital thermostat at a good price ($61 – 39% off). Vs. a non-programmable, it’ll save you $150 per year. They also provide a huge convenience factor in that you don’t have to mess with the thermostat every time you go to bed, wake up, go to work, or get back from work. And all the CO2 savings is good for the environment.
Belkin Energy Conserve monitor: is a nifty little device that tells you how much energy each of your electrical devices is using. You plug it into the wall and then your device into the monitor to get the readout. The goal in using the device is to figure out how much that electrical item is costing you if you keep it plugged in (on or off). Standby powered appliances are a bitch. This device will actually tell you exactly how much money you are wasting with each device. And how much CO2 as well. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to wasting energy.
Belkin Conserve Energy Saving Power Strip: A surge protector that allows you to control if your TV peripherals are getting electricity. You simply plug your TV into the control outlet and if your TV is off, it shuts down standby power to the other outlets so they aren’t draining energy while your TV isn’t even on. If it’s on, it turns on standby power. It could save you $67 per year.
Delta Low Flow Showerhead: A 2.5 gallon-per-minute (gpm) unit can literally save a family of four $260 per year in heating costs alone vs. an older 5.5 gallon unit. That’s a whopping 640% ROI in one year! Not to mention the positive environmental impact. The Delta low flow showerhead can switch between 2.5 gpm and a super economical 1.8 gpm. I own it and love it.
GE Water Filtration System: If your water smells or tastes not so great, get this system. I’ve used it, and it works. I calculated that the cost of bottled water can be more than $1,000 per year more than tap water. That’s ridiculous! This system will save you serious money in the long run.
GE 26-Watt CFL’s: If you don’t have a CFL in every light or lamp by now, you’re either batshit crazy or Michelle Bachmann. Wait a second… Anyways… replacing 6 incandescents would save you $65 per year in lighting costs.
A New Air Filter for your car: A clean air filter in a car can save up to 10% in fuel costs. If you propose to change the filter yourself, you can save someone the typical $35-40 that mechanics charge for the part and labor. Not sure if you can do it? It’s easy. Here are instructions on how to change a car air filter. Cost: ~$10. Cost Savings: ~$250/year (Assumptions: Average miles driven/year by Americans is 15,000, average mpg is 20 mpg, $3 per gallon cost, $2,250/year in total fuel costs).

Web Hosting:

Hostgator: Web hosting at Hostgator starts at only $3.96 per month – which provides a service that is more than sufficient for anyone just starting out. It is what 20somethingfinance launched with. Hostgator has great customer service – they are always quick to respond and live chat is always available, with short wait times. If you have a website with a lot of traffic, check out their VPS service, which is what I use now.