Comments on: Using Twitter to Save Money: Ten People I’ve Found Worth Following for Savings

By: Kim McGowan

Kim McGowan — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:52:14 +0000

Try markdown alert – http://twitter.com/markdownalert – for sales and coupons for womens clothing, home decor and kids stuff. We couple sale merchandise with percentage off coupons and free shipping deals for ultimate savings on your purchases.

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:49:53 +0000

I follow @couponlanding (the feed for http://www.couponlanding.com); they have some really fun and unique coupons and deals. Thanks for the ideas, Trent!

By: Meg from FruWiki

Meg from FruWiki — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:29:08 +0000

Forgot to add, @greenlasagna is another frugalite to follow. (Shame on me! I can’t believe I forgot her!).

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:18:48 +0000

I think this post is helpful. It was intended to offer bargain hunters another opportunity to keep aprised of good deals. I just recently started using social networking sites like facebook and twitter, and I’ve come to find that they are fun and can come in handy too. With Twitter, you can select different people that offer thoughts on different topics and sometimes they are nonsense and sometimes they are useful. If you see over time that a twitterer does not post anything that is useful, you can easily “unfollow” them, so no harm no foul. I am frugal, I watch where my money goes and I love to find a good bargain. Twitter is like a constant RSS feed and I see posts come up and sometimes it happens to be for exactly something that I could use. It’s not always a definite “need”, but if it’s for an items that I’ve already priced elsewhere and this turns out to be a great deal, then I may buy it. So I might decide, okay I’ll purchase that and forego a purchase elsewhere or forego going out to dinner or lunch during the week. Although some people say it’s easy not to spend altogether, I think saving money is all relative. For some people, they might think spending money on a vacation is completely frivolous while others will say it’s a necessity that is for someone’s well-being and state of mind (the latter is my thought, I definitely need me vacations). That’s the great thing about people, we can all have different opinions and express them.

By: corey

corey — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:13:01 +0000

Avoiding shopping and spending is the key to frugality, but….you do still need to buy things once in a while.

I try to avoid overspending by knowing what I need and patiently waiting until I find it at the price I’m willing to pay. I check the Amazon deals everyday, and probably only buy something from them 2-3 times a year.

Using Twitter in this way sounds like a great idea.

By: Eden (from SoS)

Eden (from SoS) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:26:47 +0000

Have to agree with Heidi on this. Just because you see a ton of great deals doesn’t mean you have to buy everything. Impulse control is the most important part of living a happy, financially-healthy life.

And why do t-shirts always get short-shrift in money-saving roundups? They’re a great way to look good without breaking the bank.

We tweet the best t-shirt deals we find every day, often saving people 20-50% off high-end affordable fashion: @Shirts_on_Sale

By: ThatGrrl

ThatGrrl — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:44:14 +0000

I follow Slickdeals on Twitter.

They have a supporting forum with additional deals on their website. They tweet the best deals of the day (usually no more than half a dozen). Very useful.

By: Chris @ BuildMyBudget

Chris @ BuildMyBudget — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:25:59 +0000

I have to agree, every dollar you save(do not spend) is 100 pennies you keep while every dollar you work extra for is only 70-80 cents you keep. One of the easiest ways to save is just to avoid spending altogether.

By: Sarah Eliza

Sarah Eliza — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:39:50 +0000

I’m surprised by the number of negative comments too — I thought this was a great article! Twitter can be very fun, and I’m already on several mailing lists for these types of services — it will be nice to be able to cancel them and empty my inbox a bit.

If people are worried about impulse spending, I’d suggest having a running list of items you actually “need” to buy or replace, or at any rate have given yourself permission to purchase because your budget allows it. Then, use these kinds of services to watch for those items, and no others. And, let yourself have a little fun. :)

Thanks Trent!

By: Heidi

Heidi — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:52:56 +0000

Wow, so many negative comments. I found Trent’s post very useful.

I use coupons when I buy groceries, I shop at Goodwill and tag sales, I use Freecycle and Craigslist, and in general I put a great deal of thought and care into how I spend my money. I track my household expenses using finance software, and my costs continue to drop every year as I figure out new tricks and strategies.

However, I also watch on-line for deals and bargains. It’s very infrequent that I make on-line purchases, and I let the vast majority of good deals pass me by. I do, however, keep my eyes open year-round for Christmas gifts for my kids and select friends and family, as well as birthday gifts. I combine coupons with free gift cards that I get from credit card “points,” and I get really good mileage for my money.

Perhaps most of the negative comments come from people who misunderstood the intent behind Trent’s post about following deals on Twitter. I certainly did not interpret it to be encouraging impulse spending.

Oh, and the comment about living under a rock, I did not take that personally.

By: Mister E

Mister E — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:22:46 +0000

I’m not sure if being slightly behind on whatever the latest internet “social” fad is quilifies as living under a rock.

If it does though I’m happy to stay here, it’s a nice rock.

By: Meg from FruWiki

Meg from FruWiki — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:19:48 +0000

Hmmm… how about some real people to follow (i.e. not companies) for us frugalites that are looking for ways to really save money and not just spend less on stuff we probably don’t need?

Here are just a few I follow:
@Fru_Gal
@AlmostFrugal
@JennFowler
@Lynnae

And you can find me on Twitter as @mmmeg

By: Sandy

Sandy — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:34:42 +0000

Here I am, under my rock, with my 8 year old cell phone, that I have no idea whether I can even Twiter or not. Perhaps I’m missing out on a lot of good deals…oh wait, that’s right..I’m trying to be frugal and not spend any money!
Is it me, (it probably is) who really doesn’t want everyone to know exactly where I am and what I’m doing? To me, exposing oneself online in a constant stream of online “friends” seems very strange. Why not just go have lunch with a real live human friend? Catch up that way. I guess I m so out of it!

By: SockSaver

SockSaver — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:01:14 +0000

I for one, am living under a rock. Had no idea how twitter worked. Thought it was a “paid” service.
Thank you, Trent, for enlightening me.

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:28:23 +0000

Is anyone using Twitter to Tweet their thoughts and feelings each time they are tempted to buy something? I think that would be a great use of Twitter. Same approach might work for eating, too.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:36:49 +0000

Follow @gamerdeals for good video game sales.

By: losvegas

losvegas — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:58:40 +0000

I find this post very oximoronic.Why would I want to spend any more money on deals? I am happy spending less.I used to be always finding deals,which put me in 15000 in cc debt.I stopped looking for deals and paid it all off with my wife’s help.We only owe on our mortgage.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:48:17 +0000

@wanda: A gift is something that you give someone because you want to give it. It does not “demand” reciprocity. It was very nice of your bf’s parents to remember your birthday. As the mother of a 22 y.o. daughter, I would say that although I might give her BF a birthday gift, I would NOT expect a gift back from him on my birthday! I am well aware that I have more money than she and her friends, and I wouldn’t expect him to spend his limited funds on me.

As for your mom, she too can choose to “be nice” if she can afford it and if she wants to. But if she can’t afford it, or doesn’t feel as if it is appropriate, she is not obliged to keep up with your BF’s parents. I was actually in the exact same situation–my daughter’s ex-BF’s parents were very nice too. But I didn’t give him a birthday gift–I wasn’t ready to take that step. (BTW, the gifts from the parents are, I think, not just niceness, they are a way of indicating approval of the relationship.) Do what feels right to you.

By: Elisabeth

Elisabeth — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:47:36 +0000

@ Camilo Payan who says “I hope that it’s obvious that this is for those that are already very discriminating with their spending.”

Then it probably shouldn’t be tagged under “Getting Started”.

By: Karen M

Karen M — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:42:10 +0000

Wow. Living under a rock, huh. Sounds a bit judgmental, if you ask me. Maybe I’m the cheapskate who doesn’t want to buy just to buy. I thought I was being frugal by not purchasing unnecessary items in the first place.

One should be careful with words.