When millennials lie about their age, they’re not driven by vanity  – it’s cash.  In fact, more and more people of all ages are giving a fake birthday to get a better deal when signing up for newsletters on e-commerce sites. (Many ask for that date as part of the subscription process.)  They know that retailers and restaurants want to help you celebrate your big day by offering you a special deal, or a discount. Call it enlightened self interest – they want your loyalty.

The downside of the fake-birthday trick? You’ll get inundated with promotional emails.

Other money-saving hacks:

• Clear Google search histories to get the best price on an item. Your search history in Google lets a site know if you’ve already seen a price on a specific item on that site. By clearing your history, you prompt the site to give you fresh information – the lowest current price. Follow these steps to clear your search history.
• Leave items in an online shopping cart. Many retailers have “abandoned cart” systems that automatically send customers a nudging email offer for the items they “forgot” to check out.
• Play the waiting game by holding off on purchasing an item until it goes on sale. You can  sign up on a free price-tracking site to set an automatic sale notification. One such service is PricePinx. Sign up for an account, enter the URL of the product you want to buy and wait for an email alerting you to a price drop.

Mark your calendars: a once-a-year money-saving online deal…

Once a year in June comes  Amazon Prime Day – this year on July 15 and 16 (learn more here).  It’s a festival of free shipping and unbelievable deals exclusively for people who subscribe to Amazon Prime. The cost is $119 a year but you could avoid that sticker shock by going month-to-month for $12.99 a month, using it for the highest traffic/shopping seasons like July, November and December.  You could share a Prime membership with a friend or relative and split the cost…and reap the savings:  free two-day shipping year round, free access to Amazon Reads, discounts at Whole Foods and much more.  (For a complete list, check here.)

…and Smile, you’re doing good 

Photo: Campaign Creators for Unsplash