Recently we wrote about how social media can ruin your finances.  But, what about the flip side?. 

Can we use social media for financial help?  Can it really help us save money, become more frugal, and help us be more successful with our finances? 

There are plenty of ways that we can use social media to help our pocket books. Here are just a couple, but I’m sure we can come up with some more!

Find Items You Need

One of the biggest trends I see on Facebook, especially with mothers of small children, is asking for baby/kid’s clothes. 

This is genius!  Kid’s clothing is getting more and more expensive these days!  By finding used items in great shape, you can save a ton of money.

Before Facebook if you wanted to get kids clothes from your friends or even extended friendships, you would have had to call each one of them up on the phone and ask.  Let’s be honest, was that easy to do?  Calling a friend and asking for kids clothes seems to me as being a little intrusive and needy.

Now, with Facebook or even Twitter, you can just throw it out there on your feed.  If people have it and want to help out they can!  Also, now you don’t feel the rejection of the other person saying “No” to you over the phone.

You may not want to do this all the time though.  A person that constantly is asking for something through Facebook can give their friends the feeling of being used.

Sell Items You Don’t Need

Looking to unload a few items for some extra cash this holiday season?  Let everybody know exactly what you have and how much you are selling it for!  You never know if one of your friends or followers have a need.

Another tool you can use that most people don’t even know about yet is Facebook Marketplace.  It’s a great way to find and sell your things locally.  It could be a Craigslist killer if it catches on!

You see that Xbox 360 in the corner that has been just sitting there for months?  It could give you a little coin to go towards your savings, night out, or for new Christmas presents!

Get Coupons and Discounts

Have you heard of foursquare?  This is a fun little phone app that allows you to “check-in” at the places you go.  If you check-in the most at a particular place you can earn the title of “Mayor” for that particular venue. 

One example is Starbucks.  They were giving $1 off coupons for coffee products for the Mayor of that location.  If you go to Starbucks as often as I do, this could save you some good money!

Even if you are not the Mayor of the venue, you can still earn savings just by checking-in to the location through your phone app.  The screenshot above shows a coupon you could receive from Bath & Body Works just by checking-in.

Go ahead and download the app from your favorite provider and see what places you go often provide discounts.

Lower Interest Rates

On our post about how social media can ruin your finances one of the commenters made an excellent point.  Finance and loan providers are doing searches for you through social media networks when you apply for a loan. 

They can deny you or give you a higher interest rate if they see something on your profile that would scare them into thinking you are a greater risk than you really are.

Goes the same if you seem to be a model citizen on your social media profiles.  Keep your profiles clean, this could give your loan officer a warm fuzzy feeling and could make them more willing to help you out.

Use Social Media To Your Advantage

These sites are out there and they are FREE (for now).  Why not use them to leverage your finance needs too!  Just remember to not get addicted, because it can ruin your finances just as easily as it could help.

Let’s hear from you…How are you using Social Media to save money?

Social media is all the rage for spending time online these days.  Facebook has over 500 million users and Twitter’s micro blogging service is maintaining their hot trend.

If you are not using one of these services you are now in the minority.  These social media services seem to be running our lives, which isn’t a bad thing if you keep it under control.

You may have heard stories about stalkers, failed marriages, and relational fights that started due to an addiction to one of these social media sites.

This addiction can also have a major effect on your finances if you aren’t careful.  Some of these might seem obvious but, hey, sometimes you have to read it just to see it in your own life.

You can lose your job

A recent study in the UK polled 1,000 workers and the results showed 6% of those workers spent at least an hour of time on social media sites during the work day.

These corporations are losing some major productivity and even more; money as a result.  If they haven’t already, companies are going to start monitoring your time on the computer and take the next step of blocking these sites on their internal network.

You will be on a fast track out the door if you have a problem with controlling yourself on the computer at work. 

Unless you have a major bankroll or savings, you are going to be taking a major hit on your finances with no income coming into your pocket.

How embarrassing would it be to answer the question of ”Why did you lose your job?” with “Uh…Tweeting too much.” 

You can tell you really have a problem if your update looks something like this:

“Getting hauled out of my cubicle by two security guards for updating my FB status too much. Jerks, lol!“

You need to have a data package on your phone

The addiction to social media starts off so innocent. Your friend persuades you to give it a try.  The first couple times you shrug it off and laugh at them.  “You’ll never catch me on one of those sites” you probably said often.

One night, your at home watching “The Biggest Loser” and you pull out your laptop.  You stare at the front page of Facebook and you start to have this massive warfare within you. 

No… yes… no…..yes……… no…………… okay, I’ll give it a try. 

2 weeks and 120 friends later you’re addicted.

The desire to stay connected ALL THE TIME creeps up.  How can I have access to these sites everywhere I go?  My CELL PHONE!  Ah man, I don’t have a data package with my provider.

Adding a data package can increase your budget by $30-$60! 

Do you really have the money for this service? 

You will begin to to have the same massive warfare within you all over again.

If you need to justify the cost in your mind, chances are you can’t afford it.  Stay away, until you know you can easily spend money each month for access to the internet on your cell phone.

Spam and Internet Scams

Spammers and scam artists have realized that you no longer spend as much time on your email and now spend more time on social media sites. 

“Get rich” scams are everywhere!

These people  are clever and well informed.  They go where you go, and will always stay in front of your face.

The idea of making money online from your house is very appealing.  Waking up at your leisure, watching TV and sipping coffee from your computer sounds like the dream job to most. 

Well, take it from me, they don’t work, …okay, some DO work but it requires a lot of time and effort to get to that point of making a descent living from the comfort of your own home.

The scam artists are starting to spam more on social media sites and are hitting the nerve/desire of yours to make good money.  Always keep an eye out for these scams, don’t let them get the best of you and steal your money.

Don’t get addicted

Social media sites are great! They really are fun.  Sharing your life, pictures and videos with your family and friends is a great way to feel connected. 

But just like any addiction, it can also ruin your life.  In particular, if you are not careful your finances can take a hit and that is one area in your life that you can’t afford (pun intended) to lose, especially during these times of unemployment and market scares.

Have any other examples how social media can kill  your finances?  Please share below!

We finally got our internet hooked up at our house this week!  It’ll be good to get back to a regular posting schedule next week.

I’m excited for this weekend because I get to teach a class to a Young Marrieds group at church on Money.  I’ll try to post some of the content from that class in the next few weeks!

Anyways, This Week in Personal Finance takes a look at interesting articles, posts and news from the past week in the personal finance arena. 

So give these articles a click!

• Kevin at Out of Your Rut shares his experience and gives us the do’s and don’t of finding Social Media friends and followers.
• Here’s a cool story with a great point!  Being the  most driven person isn’t always the best route as you’ll find out from Brip Blap
• You might want to think twice before you order that bucket of popcorn at the theatre or a glass of pinot grigio at dinner.  Here’s CNNs look at America’s Biggest Ripoffs!
• I’ve been wanting to put this in a round up, but just kept putting it off – Eric from Living 2 Excess gives some tips for overcoming procrastination.
• Coveting is something that isn’t talked about much in Personal Finance circles, but Pete over at Bible Money Matters gives us some tips on how not to covet.

Have a great weekend!!

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Guest Post

This week I was able to do a guest post at Suburban Dollar called Navigating Your Finances.  Just like GPS looks at your current location, your destination and your direction, we too need to look at those things from a personal finance stand point. 

Where are we now, where are we going and how do we get there are the big three questions being asked with some practical suggestions on how to answer them. If you haven’t checked it out yet please do.

Friday Finance Round Up

Friday Finance Round Up is a weekly post that includes interesting articles and blog posts on money found during the week from across the web.

In no particular order:

How Healthy Are Your Finances? – CNN Money

This is a very cool financial calculator that walks you through a few questions to give you a grade on your finances.  It’s a great place to start for those who are new to personal finance and also a good place to just “check in” to see how you’re doing.

Obama Health Care Reform and Wait Times Visualization (In Lego!) – Political Math

The guys at Political Math are very creative, insightful and provide good entertainment value.  I posted their video on the National Debt Road Trip a while back also.

Government Redistribution of Wealth: Is It Right? - Christian PF

This post is designed to get you thinking about whether redistribution is right or not.  Bob doesn’t pretend he has all the answers, but tries to look at it and ask how we as Christians should view this.

Use Spending Filters to Save on Just About Everything - Debt Free Adventure

Good post on being vigilant with thinking about your purchases before you go out and spend.  Matt runs through 6 filters he uses to help them save money.

Social Media Update: Quitting Facebook, or Maybe, Quitters Do Win – Owen Strachan

Interesting post looking at the NY Times piece on people quitting Facebook and why it might be a good thing.  Basically what Owen is getting at is can we redeem Social Media and use it for kingdom purposes?  Not a personal finance post, but interesting nonetheless.

This Week’s Links

Blog Carnivals are a way of reaching a larger audience for your blog posts.  You submit your posts to other bloggers who then pick out their favorites and post them in the carnival edition.   One of the requirements of getting picked is a link back to the site that is hosting the carnival.   Here are this week’s linkbacks: 

• How Much Money Do You Need to Retire was picked for the Best of the Financial and Investing World – August Edition held at 20′s Money.
• That post was also picked for the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights #22 held at Canadian Finance Blog

 Friday Finance Round Up is a weekly post that includes interesting articles and blog posts on money found during the week from across the web.

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Average Retirement Savings by Age – Bargaineering

 ”I don’t put much stock in most “averages,” whether they’re rules of thumb or average net worth, but every once and a while it’s good to know where you stand.”

How Facebook Ruins Friendships - Wall Street Journal

“Amidst all this heightened chatter, we’re not saying much that’s interesting, folks. Rather, we’re breaking a cardinal rule of companionship: Thou Shalt Not Bore Thy Friends.”

Who’s Underwater?! A Look at US States with Upside Down Mortgages - Go Banking Rates

“Over half of all negative equity mortgages can be accounted for by just 3 states”

The Final Numbers on ‘Clunkers’ - NY Times

“The top 10 traded-in vehicles were American brands and 8 of the top 10 purchased vehicles were foreign brands.”

A Price Comparison of 10 Sandwiches – Len Penzo dot Com

“…I was curious to know which sandwiches were the most economical and which ones, if we weren’t careful, could end up putting the squeeze on our grocery budget.”

This Week’s Links

Political Calculations declared If You Want to Get Ahead Stop Taking This Path “The Best Post of the Week, Anywhere!” in their On the Moneyed Midway section.  Wow, I don’t know about that, but I appreciate the sentiment!

Your Money Relationship included Who Can You Count on For Retirement in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance #219.

Hundred Goals made If You Want to Get Ahead Stop Taking This Path the Editor’s Pick for this week’s Carnival of Money Stories!

Wise Money Matters discussed Who Can You Count of For Retirement  in this week’s Wise Money Podcast.

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