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For Blogging
Blog Hosting
When I decided to take my blog more seriously, I spent hours researching hosts before I finally choose Siteground.
Siteground plans start at $4.95 a month, and their customer service is seriously the best. They also have free site transfer (which was such a lifesaver!) if you use WordPress like I do.
Read more about why I chose to self-host with Siteground here. If you’d like to learn about Siteground, you can do so here (affiliate link).
Domain Hosting
I had originally purchased my blog domain (the rights to ‘kristenshane.com’) from WordPress, so I transferred my domain to NameCheap after hearing good reviews about their hosting services. Their prices are great and they offer WhoIs protection to keep your identity safe!
Blog Theme
Picking a blog theme is even more difficult than choosing a host! Your theme is such an important part of your overall brand and blog image, so it’s important that your theme works for you. I’m still not totally satisfied with my theme like I talked about in this post, but I found my current theme with SiteOrigin (they have lots of nice free options for WordPress-compatible themes if you’re looking to save money like I am!)
For Saving Money
Online Shopping
If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know I love saving money! I’ve always been the coupon queen in my family, and I absolutely love finding good deals. I also love online shopping, which is why Ebates is so great! Ebates is a free extension you can add to your web browser to earn extra cash back and coupons for shopping online, without any extra work! You simply add the extension, activate the cash back feature before you check out, and voila!
If you sign up for Ebates with my link, we both get a bonus 🙂 happy shopping!
In-Store Shopping
One of my newest favorite ways to make/save money is with the Ibotta app. Ibotta is amazing because you get cash back for in-store shopping,
unlike most other cash back resources. To use Ibotta, you simply find the coupons that apply on the items you purchase at whichever retailer, snap a picture of your receipt, hit ‘redeem’, and chaching! I got my sister and a few of my friends hooked on Ibotta, because it’s so easy and fun to use. Once again, if you sign up with my link, we both get a bonus, so yay!
Making Money Online
Swagbucks is one of my oldest resources for saving and making a little extra money online, without much extra work! Swagbucks is a little more hands-on than Ebates, and I wrote a full post about making money with Swagbucks where I explain all my best tips. With Swagbucks, you can earn a little extra cash through watching videos, taking surveys, and shopping online as well! Click here if you’d like to sign up.
I also have some favorite apps for making or saving money from your phone, so you can read my post about those if you’d like!
Book Shopping
I recently learned about Thrift Books from another blogger, and I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of
this site before! Thrift Books is a site that sells new and used books, and the used copies start at $3! (I made my first order for 4 books, for $12 dollars, like what?! That’s 4 books for the price of one!) I love to read, so this is an incredible resource. I actually like the idea of used books, I think it’s cool that books can continue to have purpose and still read just as well, even if they’re a little worn! If you sign up for Thrift Books with my referral link, you can get 15% off your first order! I don’t make money from this code, I just want to help you save money & read some new books 🙂