10 Apps and Sites that will save your money

Too many online services claiming to save you money just end up costing you precious time without much in return. Here are 10 free websites and apps that will help you keep more dollars in your wallet. Those who know how to find a deal, whether coupons or rebates or rewards points, know the satisfaction that comes with slashing your bill at checkout. But too many online services claiming to save you money just end up costing you precious time without much in return.

Savings.com
With more than 200,000 coupons and local deals, there’s a good chance Savings.com will help you save money on something you want to buy.
Just search its database for your favorite brands to find coupon codes you can use online. A Local tab uses your ZIP code to surface printable coupons and daily deals for nearby brick and mortar retailers and restaurants.

RetailMeNot
RetailMeNot works similarly to Savings.com, claiming to offer 500,000 coupons from more than 50,000 stores, but what you might really appreciate is its app for iOS and Android devices.
Give it permission to track your location and find nearby deals, bookmark your favorite stores, save coupons for later use, find trending in-store and online deals and sort coupons by category.

PoachIt
Specifically created for online shopping, PoachIt works via a little button you drag to your bookmarks bar that you click once you’re on the product page of something you may want to buy.
Not only does PoachIt offer coupon codes you can use upon checkout, but it tracks the price of your chosen items and alerts you when they go on sale.

FatWallet
As a tool for earning and saving money, this website does what its name suggests.
Not only does FatWallet connect users with coupons, local deals and sales, but if you use it to shop online at other sites, you can earn cash-back rebates that accumulate within your FatWallet account.
Once you’re ready to get paid, FatWallet either sends you a check or transfers the money to your PayPal account.

Cartwheel
Frequent Target shoppers may want this app for iOS and Android. Select from hundreds of discounts mostly 5% off on brands such as Market Pantry and Archer Farms and add them to your Cartwheel barcode, which a cashier scans during checkout at the store.
Depending on how much you share on Facebook, you might like that the app makes you sign in with either your Target account or your Facebook account (with the latter probably being the easier and more popular choice). If you do, however, your friends will be able to see what you’re buying unless you select “only me” when giving the app permission to post on your behalf during installation.

Ibotta
This free app for iOS and Android gives you cash back for consuming or sharing advertising by watching a video, reading facts, taking a poll, getting a recipe or sharing on Facebook.
You can transfer money you accumulate to your PayPal or Venmo account or to various gift cards including Starbucks, Redbox or iTunes.

ShopKick
This free iOS and Android app shows you products and rewards available from stores such as Target, Macy’s, Best Buy, Old Navy, American Eagle, JCPenney, Sports Authority and Crate & Barrel.
With the app turned on, you get points just for walking in the door, as well as scanning or buying products there. Points build up to earn you gift cards.
ShopKick recently announced it has doled out $25 million in rewards to 7 million gift cards since launching in 2010.

SavingStar
Use this website to zap deals on products to the loyalty cards of more than 100 grocery stores and drugstores. When you use your card at a store to redeem a deal, the savings are applied to your SavingStar account.
Once you accumulate at least $5 in your account, you can have it paid out to your bank or PayPal account, an Amazon gift card or the nonprofit American Forests. Earn cash back with SavingStar by using its mall and coupon codes to shop online.
A few special features stand out. Every Tuesday, SavingStar introduces a new Healthy Offer of the Week that gives you money back on designated fruits and vegetables.
Friday Freebies give 100% cash back on a new product every Friday. SavingStar also offers high-value deals that let you save $5 if you buy a certain amount of a particular brand in one or several store visits.

Chippmunk
This coupon search engine lets you search for online coupon codes according to your budget, department, store or type of offer (coupon code, sale or free shipping).
Narrow your results according to delivery area, payment type and estimated delivery date. When you search for a particular brand, Chippmunk also shows you competitor deals. (When you’re looking for Chippmunk, note the double Ps in the name.)

PointsHound
While it’s not a coupon tool, the PointsHound website lets you earn points, miles and even digital currency when you book a hotel room at one of more than 150,000 properties around the world.
It’s worth checking out, since hotel rooms cost the same through PointsHound as they would booked via Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz or direct booking — yet you can tell the platform to translate the credit from your stay into one of 11 loyalty programs including several frequent flier programs, your My Best Buy account or even into a Bitcoin wallet, where you can accumulate digital currency to use to buy things online or at a growing number of physical stores.

Read more: 10 Apps and Sites That Will Save You Money | TIME.com http://www.techlicious.com/tip/10-apps-and-sites-that-will-save-you-money/#ixzz2u1OMPp4o

Cool websites and tools

Files to Friends: if you want to transfer a large file to someone, you are always restricted by file sizes, and which platform to use. Files to Friends allows you to upload files of up to 5GB (paid account), and 1GB (non-paid account), and then email someone the download link. File links do not expire either.

Paste to Grid: This is a site where you can make a photo collage. Start by selecting a grid. Once you have selected a grid, you just have to paste a picture to the grid. You can drag and drop the picture to the grid if you prefer. Photo collage rendering is better when the picture is large.

Tapiture: Here is a place to discover, share and buy the best stuff online. Whether you are in to tech gadgets, stuff for your home, traveling abroad or just looking good, Tapiture makes it easy to explore and get the best stuff around. You can “Tap” all the great things you find on the web, organize them into collections, and then explore other Taps.

Flappy Generator: The Flappy Bird game may now be unavailable but that doesn’t mean that Flappy is gone forever. Flappy Generator is an app which enables you to make your own version. Replace the image and pipe with your own versions, and off you go.

Docs Quickly: There are more and more documents are making their way to cloud storage, but opening Google Drive to create a new document can be a monumental pain. Docs Quickly is a simple app that saves you a lot of time. Create a Google Doc, Spreadsheet, Presentation, or Drawing directly from your Chrome bar. Just a single click, and you have a new document.

Protect your ID theft

Understanding the link between Social Media, ID Theft and Your Credit

I. Chances are, not everyone on your social media site is someone you would haphazardly hand your credit card to. Yet, many people are treating social media sites like a trusted best friend or even an ATM when they share photos, travel plans, birthdays and addresses publicly with the world. Because of the lasting damage that identity theft can have on credit scores and long-term financial health, it’s important to break the link between social media, ID Theft and your credit.

See more in this short movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2lfT2aF0vTU

II. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, identity theft is broken down into three segments:
- Unauthorized use or attempted use of existing credit cards
- Unauthorized use or attempted use of other existing accounts, such as checking accounts
- Misuse of personal information to obtain new accounts or loans, or to commit other crimes.

III. Consumers most at risk of identity theft are those who don’t regularly check their bank accounts and credit scores, which are most often children and the elderly. According to a 2012 report from Carnegie Mellon CyLab, children are targeted 35 times for identity theft more than adults, and 15 percent of the victims are under the age of five. Kids that have grown up in the social media environment are not afraid of what they share. They also don’t apply for credit and don’t have as much activity around their bank accounts so it takes longer to see if their identity has been compromised.

However, 12 million Americans fell victim to identity theft last year and they certainly weren’t all children and elderly. In fact, every three seconds, someone in the United States becomes a victim of identity fraud, according to Javelin Strategy & Research 2013 Identity Fraud Report. This means over 5% of all U.S. adults were affected by identity theft in 2012.

Think you’re not at risk? Go to http://protectyourprofile.org/ for a realistic look into what criminals could obtain from your Facebook account. It recently won a 2013 Marcom Gold Award for the realism of the experience.

IV. Social Media’s Role:

Information in social media can let criminals piece together enough of a story to steal identities without being caught. “Hackers can take family names, addresses, phone numbers and use that data to try and figure out passwords. These people can sell your information to other criminals in their network and it’s worth a lot on the black market,” says David Anderson, directory of product at Protect Your Bubble.com.

For example, a Facebook user can be duped into giving up personal information through fake posts asking for likes, votes, or clicks. These messages look legit because they appear to be sent by a friend. The user many not think twice about entering contact details like a phone number to participate in a contest, special or poll. Once they enter this personal information, they become susceptible to identity theft as criminals start to share data that may ultimately result in capturing payment credentials like credit or debit card numbers.

In fact, just this December hackers swooped in to capture login information from over 2 million Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google accounts. Facebook accounted for over half of the compromised accounts and left victims vulnerable and uncertain about just how much information the hackers consumed.

V. How to Break the Link:

On social media, consumers must personally self-manage information and stay on top of security settings to keep their credit secure. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, no individual, business, or government entity is solely responsible for securing the Internet.

Everyone has a role in securing their part of cyberspace because individual actions have a collective impact on making the Internet more secure. What role can you play? Here are five simple steps you can take to unlink your social media account from your credit and from the risk of identity theft.

1. Take the time to review credit card statements each month for fraudulent charges.
2. Remember when you share information on social media, it’s not in a bank vault.
3. Choose a secure password that doesn’t include your birthday or pet name. Make passwords at least 8 characters long, combining uppercase and lower case letters, numbers and symbols.
4. Alternate passwords for different accounts. Using the same password on Facebook as your online banking is a huge risk.
5. Never send money based on a Facebook post or message. If you get a request from a friend that seems out of character, be aware that their account may have been hacked and ask them directly rather than assuming it is a legitimate request.

Don’t let thieves ruin your credit or financial stability. Learn more about keeping your identity and finances safe at http://us.protectyourbubble.com/id-theft. Please take steps to protect yourself and share this information with others to help fight against identity theft.