Every week on the Easy Money Podcast, I dig up clever, creative ways to
make more money, save big money and find your unclaimed money. My
CBS Valentine’s Special tips and tricks were just a sampling. I invite you to check out the podcast for so many more. Meanwhile, as promised, here are more details about how to save money on greeting cards, candy, flowers, restaurants and diamonds. Plus I share how to search for unclaimed money for your sweetheart and interesting ways of making more money.
HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON VALENTINE’S GREETING CARDS:
CBS Advice:
•Look down low. Low on the rack of greeting cards, that is —think
toddler level!— because that’s typically where the cheaper cards are.
•Buy blanks. Better yet, look low on the rack ANY time of year for
beautiful, but blank cards. When you find deals, stock up, because you
can use blank cards all year round. Just write your own heartfelt
message inside.
•Pass the same card back and forth with your significant other every
year. How romantic to re-read what you wrote to each other in past
years!
More Advice:
•Dollar Stores can be a great source of inexpensive greeting cards.
•You can create your own photo cards online and use them for multiple
occasions. Look for coupon codes and this can be very affordable.
•Trader Joe’s supermarkets sell high quality cards at a low price.
HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON VALENTINE’S CANDY:
CBS Advice:
Stack your way to savings. For example, find candy on sale and then
STACK coupons on top of that sale to deepen your discount. YES,
retailers allow you to benefit from a store sale plus a manufacturer’s
coupon! Many thanks to the “Krazy Coupon Lady” for these links.
More advice:
Links to stores with great sales on Valentine’s Day:
Valentine’s candy on sale at Walmart.
Valentine’s candy on sale at Target.
Valentine’s candy on sale at Walgreen’s.
Valentine’s candy on sale at CVS.
Valentine’s candy on sale at Rite Aid.
Links to manufacturers with coupons for Valentine’s candy:
Mars
Werther’s
Ghirardelli
Godiva
Snickers
Hershey’s
M&M’s
Brach’s
Trolli
HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON VALENTINE’S FLOWERS:
CBS Advice:
•Avoid roses. Roses —especially red roses— are marked up to two or
three times their regular cost around Valentine’s Day, so skip them!
•Buy favorites. Instead, buy your sweetie’s favorite flowers instead and
they will be so much less expensive that you can even afford a bigger
bouquet! Pssst! My favorite flowers are tulips, honey!
More Advice:
•Go grocery shopping. Grocery store flowers come from the same
suppliers as florist’s flowers and some have special wrapping stations
set up on Valentine’s Day. Bring your own vase to save even more and
personalize the bouquet.
•Shop locally. Instead of ordering from big, international companies
online, call or visit the website of a less expensive local florist located
near your loved one.
•Snag coupon codes. If you must use a big online florist, search for
coupon codes online before you place your order. They are often
available for 15 to 20 percent off.
HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON VALENTINE’S DATES:
CBS Advice:
•Local restaurants: If you prefer dining at local restaurants, check out
Restaurant.com gift certificates. Go to the specials page, where I
recently spotted $75 gift certificates being offered for $15.
•Chain restaurants: If you like chain restaurants, then head to
Raise.com, a site where people buy and sell gift cards they don’t need
or want. When I checked, gift cards to popular chain restaurants were
discounted by as much as 24%.
More Advice:
Alternative dates: Be creative! Instead of a dinner date, take your
sweetie on a more adventuresome outing. Groupon is a great source
for discounts on stained glass classes, bird watching, movies and more.
HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON A DIAMOND THIS VALENTINE’S DAY
CBS Advice:
•Understand fractions. Instead of buying, say, a 1.5 karat diamond,
consider one that is 1.47 karats. That tiny difference is not discernible to
the naked eye, but IS to your wallet. It could save you as much as 15%!
•Halo effect. You can also save money by buying a smaller center
diamond surrounded by a halo of even smaller diamonds. Together they
look big and blingy, but the combo costs far less than a single large
diamond.
More Advice:
•Save on the band. Alternatively, spend your money on the diamond,
but save on the band, by selecting gold or white gold instead of platinum or titanium.
HOW TO SEARCH FOR UNCLAIMED MONEY FOR YOUR SWEETIE:
CBS Advice:
•Just do it. Every week on the Easy Money podcast, I encourage
people to search for unclaimed money and give advanced strategies for
finding it. So far, I’ve helped people reclaim nearly $2 million dollars!
The 50 states are holding billions of dollars for their citizens and one in
every ten of us has money waiting, so taking 5 minutes to check is the
real hurtle. Here’s how you do it:
More Advice:
•Step 1: First search at the free website MissingMoney.com, which
automatically checks its 40 member states at once for you.
•Step 2: Then, if you want to be really thorough, go to unclaimed.org
(note, that’s .org) to search the other 10 states individually, especially if
your loved one has lived or worked in: Arkansas, California, Connecticut,
Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Oregon, South Carolina or
Wyoming, which don’t participate with the first site.
HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY FOR FUTURE VALENTINE’S DAYS:
Every week on the Easy Money podcast, I talk about clever, creative ways to make more money. Join me to find YOUR way! Here are some
examples:
•Charmaine Pocek, a former recruiter from Houston, has made more
than $1.2 million dollars editing resumes for online clients.
•Ryan Heenan of Orange County, California used to make $30,000 a
year as a preschool music teacher. Now he makes $30,000 a month
producing jingles for businesses.
•Military mom Candace Hatch didn’t even know how to sew when she
started making her Lili Lane children’s clothing and selling it on
Instagram.
•27-year- old Alicia Chew started a fashion blog in her dorm room and
built up such an impressive following that brands from Banana Republic
to Pepsi pay her to talk up their products.
•Jake Bartlett, quit his day job when he realized it was taking away from
his freelance career teaching courses on Skillshare.
•When Jessica Craddock’s fiancee became disabled, she started selling
clothing on Poshmark, and has done so well, she may not bother to use
her law degree
•Kyle Clark has traveled around the world thanks to the extra money he
makes renting out cars on Turo, “the AirBnB of cars.”
