Recommendations (Credit Cards, Savings sites, Cell Providers etc.)

Throughout this journey we've come across quite a few ways to save money, some of the most powerful being credit cards and apps/websites that provide cash back as well as our favorite cell provider so I thought it might be helpful to others to organize the info in one place.

Feel free to swing back by this page as I'll be adding things as we run across them. For posterity's sake I also wanted to mention that there are referral bonuses for some of these which I will be happy to use to buy you a cup of coffee if you're local!

Credit Cards

Believe it or not, we covered our Christmas expenses this year with cash back and plan to do the same for the years to come.  Here are a couple of our favorite cards that had a hand in that.

*Chase Sapphire Preferred
This card provides 2% on travel and restaurants but the biggest benefit is the 40,000 point bonus (redeemable for $400 cash back) you get for signing up.  Chase also offers a 50,000 point bonus when you add an authorized user within the first 3 months. The annual fee is pretty spendy ($95) but the initial bonus will cover that for quite a while.

*Amex Blue Cash Preferred
Food is our biggest expense and the 6% back on groceries is awesome.  With this card you also get 3% on gas and 1% on everything else and there is a $150 bonus for signing up which covers your annual fee for a couple of years ($75/year)

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*Discover
The original cash back card. With no fees, 1% back on everything and 5% back in quarterly bonus categories it's a solid contender especially if you exchange your cash back for gift cards which typically adds another $5-10 on top.  Use the link above for a $50 signup bonus and I'll use mine to buy you something nice :)

Cell Phones

From cheap phones to $150/month savings on service there are some good savings to be found here.

*Ting
Leveraging Sprint's towers (and soon T-mobile's as well) Ting gives you reliable service at the fraction of the cost of a traditional provider, more details on how that works here.  We were paying $202/month for our Sprint family plan (the least expensive of the big providers at the time) and now average $50-60/month for service on 3 phones.  Use the link above and get a $25 credit on your first month's service!

*Glyde 
Whether you're buying or selling there's opportunity to make or save some cash with Glyde.  With options to buy and sell used phones hassle-free with Glyde acting as the intermediary to purchasing refurbished phones directly from them, they have a multitude of budget-friendly options for all of your wireless needs.

Savings Sites

From groceries to online shopping, sites and apps like the ones linked below can actually provide quite a bit of cash back with minimal effort.

*Ebates 
We've earned $70 this year on *Ebates  just by doing our online shopping through the site. They frequently have featured deals offering 10%+ back so it's handy to have a running list of stuff you're planning to buy so you can strike while the iron's hot. A list will also hopefully help mitigate impulsive "what a deal!" purchases as well :)

*Checkout 51 
A large portion of our $ goes towards groceries and Checkout 51  is a great way to earn cash back on stuff you regularly buy. With the app and your smartphone it's as easy as taking a picture of your receipt and reaping the rewards!