Frugal Tip :: How to Buy Apps for 20% Off!

In these tough economic times, finding the spare change in your couch to buy the latest $0.99 game gets tougher and tougher. So I'm going to try to make it a little easier for you. That is if you have $40 in spare change.

iTunes gift cards allow you to add a balance to your iTunes account without using a credit card. You can buy these gift cards at just about any retailer these days. And you can occasionally buy iTunes gift cards for a discount at retail stores.

In the US, Costco has iTunes gift cards for about 5% off their face value. There's no tax on gift cards (at least here in California), so to me that equals a 5% discount on apps. Of course you have to pay a membership for Costco if you don't already have one. If only there were another way...

Oh wait, there is! Occasionally iTunes gift cards go on sale at big box retailers. Right now, Best Buy has $50 iTunes gift cards on sale for $40. That's a 20% discount on apps. Buy 2 and you can get TomTom and $20 worth of games for $80 total!

You can't buy these discounted cards online though. You have to go to a BestBuy to get them. Most still have them in stock check here. Hurry, the BestBuy sale runs out on Saturday.

So now, you can get that $0.99 for $0.80. And if we all buy enough $0.99 games, our economic problems will be over. Right?