I love shopper rewards, but not the kind that require me to take out a credit card. Yes, I know there are tons of personal finance gurus that would disagree with me on this, but I do not feel comfortable using a credit card. Call it lack of discipline, call it sheer fear…heck, you could call it pure laziness, but I am trying to avoid using credit cards for any reason.
No, the rewards that I like come from shopping that I am already doing. You can find great shopper rewards from places you are probably already visiting- your grocery store, the gas station, or doing your online shopping for the holiday season.
As someone who is frugal, I tend to overlook signs that advertise reward cards because I automatically associate them with credit cards. For example, our local Speedway had advertisements that were hanging over their pumps, advertising gas savings and I immediately got that glazed over look and would ignore them. There was no way I would sign up for a gas card, nope, not me!
Fast forward to a day trip with my sister and she whips out her Speedy Rewards Card, which credits her three cents per gallon and then gives her an additional savings on other items in their store. She explained that you could get points for buying your gas there and then you could credit those towards gift cards. This was an opportunity that I would have lost out on if she had not explained that this was not a credit card, but just a reward card. Now I happily swipe my free card and get my three cents back on each gallon. Yes, it is a drop in the bucket, but why not take advantage of it? Many of my frugal endeavors might only save me pennies, but pennies do eventually add up to dollars, and I am looking forward to putting some of that money in my secret account.
There are also rewards at grocery stores. Many grocery stores offer gas savings or savings on your groceries, just for using their free card. There could also be rewards available for your child’s school, as many grocery stores offer a percentage back on your spending for non-profit organizations and schools.
Finally, there are great rewards programs for doing your online shopping. I have always been a fan of MyPoints because I could do my shopping and use my points on gift cards for myself. I also love Ebates and enjoy getting my big fat check every now and then. I won’t go into detail, but these are two shopper programs that have some great benefits IF you are already planning to shop online, not shopping just to get points & rewards.
Since I often have that glazed over look when it comes to reward cards, what are some of the cards in your wallet that you find have been beneficial to your family? What rewards do you cash in on?
This doesn’t benefit ME, but my church is enrolled in the Meijer communities plan, I believe the money earned through the church-people’s purchases is put to use by the youth department. So I try to remember to swipe my Meijer card each time I shop! =)
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I have started using Mr. Rebate, it has a higher percentage payback on a lot of stores than ebates does.
I also get about 300.00 – 400.00 cash back from Discover card that we use to purchase gift cards and they are great because you get more than you paid for, like for Omaha steaks, 25.00 gets you 35.00, same for Borders, ands Red Lobster, etc. And yes, we pay our credit card balance off in full every month. It works for us! Plus Discover offers extra cashback every month for different retailers, like 5% extra for gas, entertainment, school supplies, clothing, etc. Love it!
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Just a note on Mypoints-you don’t actually have to shop online. I rarely buy anything online-but I do rack up points at Mypoints just by getting their emails and clicking on the “see offer” link. Then I close out that window and don’t buy anything-usually netting me 5 points for my time. Those do eventually add up. Last year I was able to get $5 gift cards to Red Lobster for all 4 preschool teachers and a $50 card to Old Navy for myself-and I didn’t buy anything.
Oh, and on the grocery store shopper cards-if I’m in a store that I rarely shop in and don’t have a card for, I do the slightly dishonest thing and tell them I forgot it at home. Usually the cashier has a card they can swipe instead. Do this only if it doesn’t bother you ethically. . . or if you honestly did forget your card (like when I have YB’s truck, and all my shopper cards are on my keyring. .. )
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We have been using the Speedway Reward card. So far we have earned a $25 gas gift card and are saving several cents each time we pump gas.
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