31 Days {Day 19} Online Rewards Programs

I'll be honest, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this one.  You see 3 years ago not long after I got married, I delved into the world of couponing.  I had a lot of time and wanted to see if it was worth the effort.  It took me a little while to realize that it wasn't.  

As I was reading all about how to make the most of your coupons, I discovered websites that offer you rewards.  I signed up for three.  It was free money for little effort I thought, so why not?

The first one is called My Rewards, which is a total crap program.  I tried to look it up to put the link and it must have gone out of business.  I answered so many surveys trying to accumulate enough points to get what I wanted, the problem was I only wanted one thing they offered, which was a year's subscription to Martha Stewart Living.  The other options were Spanish Cosmopolitan and airline rewards for Alaskan Airlines among other enticing rewards.  When I got enough to get it, it disappeared from the selection.  Besides that, after I had over $50.00 in my account, they started reducing it because it was only good for a certain amount of time.  Complete scam and as soon as they started expiring my rewards, I deleted my account.

The second one is called Inbox Dollars.  It is a similar concept but you get mailed a check.  I've probably earned about $60 in almost 4 years.  Every email I open I get 2 cents.  Do you see why I am embarrassed now?  2 cents!!  You can also earn money faster by shopping and filling out surveys.  A survey might be 25 minutes and you earn $1.00.  I rarely did surveys and especially not the long ones.  No more though.  We are cutting off this idiot machine right now on Day 19.

The third one and really the easiest is called My Points.  All you do on this one is click through the email and close it.  I have never redeemed points on this one, but I just now have enough for a $100 gift card to a store I choose, like Williams Sonoma or West Elm.  I will also not be continuing to do this.  I kind of got used to clicking on the emails so it really didn't bother me to do it, but when I think about earning $25 a year for answering thousands of emails, ugh.  

I think that these rewards programs can have their place in someone's life.  If you are at home on the computer all the time, why not earn even a little money, especially if you have a limited income.  For me though, I have to cut this out of my life.  This is going to be a fruitful day of simplification.  I know this is going to help me with another goal which is getting my emails under control.

I'm still sticking to programs like Ebates, where I have gotten $211 cash back and Retail Me Not where you can get instant discounts on what you buy.  They are easy and don't take up much of your time.  

Please tell me I'm not the only one to fall for this.  Has anyone joined these or other programs?  What's your favorite way to save money or earn extra money?

   

Is There a Coupon for 5 Pounds Off?

Over the last few months I have been buying my Sunday paper and cutting my coupons diligently. I want to save money as much as anyone and since I have tons of time and not tons of money, it was an untapped budgetary experiment. So I am here to report how coupon cutting worked for me.

There exists an entire blogging community of coupon junkies and money savers that helped me figure out how to get the most of little.  At first I thought that it was time consuming because I was new to all the double deal talking, but no, this coupon business is very time consuming. Not only does it take time to clip the coupons, sort them, organize them, pull out expired ones, etc., but I could easily spend an hour roaming the aisles trying to find what item matched my coupon. I found it a challenge at first and didn't even mind the strange stares as people maneuvered around my buggy, but I gradually lost patience.  After the first newspaper, then on and on, I had acquired so many coupons that I couldn't manage them well.  I realize there are coupon organization systems out there, but what can I say?  I just couldn't be bothered.

No matter the inconvenience of all that, the real test is did I save money?  I'm going to say yes and no on that count.  Yes, if you add up all the coupons I used, I did save money.  However, I would have not bought many of those items if I hadn't had a coupon, so that would be no.  At first I clipped all the coupons, even Depends and hair dye.  The thing is that I would read one of the blogs telling how they got items for free because they had the coupon, and I didn't want to miss out on the free stuff.  Never mind that I wasn't going to use it, I could give it away!

I really tried to buy things that weren't terrible for me, but I was often seduced by the Lucky Charms, Pop Tarts and yet another mediocre body wash.  The truth is that there is a reason for most of the coupons being high priced, heavily packaged, processed food.  The companies make the most money on these items and they want you hooked.  I can't remember the last time I had a Pop Tart and now I am strangely addicted to maple and brown sugar with it's crusty edges and sugary frosting.  In fact, I had one today-out of a vending machine, but I digress.  There are some companies like Cascadian Farm that offered some great coupons from their website, so they are not all bad.  

This leads me to the most disturbing effect of all during my coupon experiment.  I gained 5 pounds.  My eating patterns have been fairly fixed for a lot of years and this is the first time I've succumbed to the processed food like this.  I am not impressed.  Rice Krispy treats homemade are way better than the individually wrapped ones.  Yes I know that all Rice Krispy treats could be considered processed, but you get the point, right?  I didn't think I was overeating, but the basic changes in food can be attributed to the weight gain.  That's my story on that.

Using coupons created a sense of urgency to use them and that made me shop more.  I would look for "deals" from other blogs to see what store had the great coupon and store sale match-ups.  The deals may be at Target, Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreens, and I would feel compelled to go there and see for myself.  At first, I was suckered in and ending up spending way more than I normally would have.  Previously and from now on, it's back to business as usual.  I will go once a week to Central Market with fill-ins to Wal-Mart or HEB.  Some things are just cheaper at Wal-Mart and just because I'm not gung ho clipping coupons, I still want to save money.  The bottom line is that I want to eat what I have learned over the years is good for me.  I stay away from processed, faux foods and like to cook from fresh ingredients.  That is a choice I made a long time ago and we decided it's better to save money by eating less.

One of my favorite things about clipping coupons is the makeup deals.  I was completely enchanted when I realized that when a store has a buy one get one free (BOGO), and you have a coupon BOGO, you get them both free.  Very cool.  Previously I wouldn't have used drugstore makeup but I have to say that I'm loving my Cover Girl foundation.    

My last note about coupons is the phenomenon of "stock-piling".  Being someone who doesn't like a lot of extra clutter, I found this notion intriguing and disturbing at the same time.  Maybe it's because we are only two in our house, but already we have enough body wash, razors and deodorant to last two years.  I had to just stop the madness and stop buying these products no matter what the deal.  I don't want all that stuff in my house! 

The verdict is that I will still use some coupons, but will no longer put all the effort and gaming that is involved in all-out couponing.  I'll miss those makeup coupons though.  And I will still do CVS because they have an internal savings system that doesn't require coupons for saving money.  Each family has to do what works for them and for now I think all coupons and Pop Tarts must be taken in moderation.

Coupons 101: Who Turns Down Free Stuff?

I'll bet we're not the only family tightening our belts lately.  Since I haven't taken any new projects with my company, I have a lot of time to contemplate how we can improve our personal finances by spending less.  This goal is greatly enhanced by the fact that most days I do not have a car to go shopping out of boredom and thus spend all our fruitful savings.

Never in a million years did I think I would write a post about coupons.  Unless it was a coupon for Starbucks, clothing, shoes or my blessed Central Market grocery store, I would ignore them or throw them away.  I thought that I wouldn't use any of those products anyway.  And, it's true that I normally wouldn't have, but with my newfound pursuit turning into a hobby, I have reconsidered the way I shop for groceries and toiletries.  

I am truly amazed that with coupons and a lot of super savvy combinations of sales with coupons, you can get many items for free or nearly free.  It does take a lot of time to find coupons, cut them, organize them and compare them to the weekly sales.   Sometimes I still think it isn't worth the trouble, but since I do have the time I'm going to continue on and see how it works out. 

It must be said, that using coupons can become like a game because it's such a challenge.  The downside of this is losing complete perspective and buying things that you really won't ever use.  If you think this will be a temptation for you, then plan ahead to donate what you get for free or nearly free to a food bank, women's shelter or a school.  It is hard to pass up items that will be free after all.  

The basic concept is this:  

1-Find coupon for what you regularly buy or would like to try.

2-Try to find item on sale in your grocery store.  If it is convenient, go to several stores to take advantage of their "loss leaders".

INSIDER TIP:  Grocery stores put items on sale a month after coupons come out.  You can save your coupon until that time and save even more.

3-Find a grocery that doubles or triples coupons all the time.  I haven't done this yet, but I think Kroger does it.  They will double or triple your coupon up to $1.00.

4-Double up a store coupon and manufacturer coupon.  Some stores have their own coupons like Target.  For each item, you can have two coupons.  

INSIDER TIP:  Don't let the cashier tell you that you can't do that, because you can!!!  This is a definite Beware of Embarrassment Warning!!   The cashiers and managers sometimes aren't really nice, but that's ok with me.

If  you have a CVS where you are, they have a program called Extra Care Bucks.  You have to have a a free Extra Care card to take advantage of this.  They have two sales flyers, one is weekly and one is monthly.  The monthly will tell you most of the ECB that you can earn.  For example, last month I bought, among other things, a Listerine mouthwash for $3.49 and they give you $3.49 ECB.  So you purchase it, and when you get your receipt there is a coupon for $3.49 for you to use immediately to buy something else.  I reason that if I am going to buy something there anyway, why not take advantage of these and get the other item for free.  This process took me a while to figure out.  The best site for a CVS Primer is Money Saving Mom. Go visit her and you will be inspired.

If you don't get the Sunday paper where most of the coupons come from, you can print your own coupons.  There are several websites where you can choose the coupons you like, print them and use them the same as the ones from the paper.  Try coupons.com (in the sidebar) each week for new ones.  

Always look at Retail Me Not for online coupon codes before you make an online purchase. Thanks Renee for that link!

Let me know if you have some tips for me.  I am new to this and would love to learn some new tricks too.  Saving money on groceries leaves more money for my perfume and lipstick account!